First Impression:
Hm. A Naruto game. I'm no big fan of the franchise but I need something to tide me over until the release of Bleach 3. It's a brawler, right? Let's get cracking.
Gameplay:
This game tries to be everything. Seriously. It tries to be a topdown RPG, a fighting game and a roguelike/dungeon crawler all at once. I have NO idea why.
Naruto Shippiden: Ninja Destiny 2 is NOTHING like the first Ninja Destiny game. NOTHING LIKE IT AT ALL. The first game was a straightforward fighting game with powerups on the touch screen you can activate during a fight. Ninja Destiny 2 has that... as well as some... extras.
First is Story Mode.
Much like the first game, Story Mode takes you through several episodes of the Shippuden season with you fighting key battles in the series. The story is told in visual novel style with a dialogue box and static pictures appearing on the top screen. However, Tomy decided that this needed more...
So the decided to add a map and a dungeon feature. Why? I have NO idea. The map feature doesn't do anything apart from adding an unnecessary thing to wade through. There are no NPCs to talk to, no shops to buy items from and your next destination is merely pointed out on the map. There is only one place you can do this in though and that's the Konoha village.
Still pretty pointless.
The dungeon feature acts much like a roguelike. You end up wandering through a mazelike dungeon in hopes of finding an exit. There are random encounters in the dungeon against nameless ninja looking characters. These end up with a fighting game battle system. Again, why? I have NO idea either. These battles don't reward you with anything at all. No experience points, no power ups, nothing. Random power ups can be found in the dungeon though so I guess it's not a total loss.
After you finish Story Mode (which can be done in a matter of hours), you unlock quest mode and an extra character for your playthrough. Quest Mode is basically just a really long dungeon with the exception being that your character can level up. Why? Again, I do NOT know. Quest mode is slightly more fun, a little less tedious.
As a fighting game, I guess it's alright. There isn't too much to look at though. You have a small cast of characters (No Akatsuki?! Tomy, I'm hurt. Unless I haven't played enough to unlock everything...) and there are no button combinations you can do to unleash special moves. Well... you can unleash combos of weak and strong attacks but... no down, diagonal down, forward, A, B for you.
Last words:
As an RPG, this sucks. As a dungeon crawler, it's marginal. The battles can get annoying, though... as a fighting game, it's pretty basic. I suppose that this game was targeted to the younger Naruto fans. Sadly, there isn't much to go by for that. I wouldn't say it's a horrible game. I'd say that you should probably rent it rather than buying it. Unless you're a rabid Narutard, this game is SO not for you.
Protip:
-Make sure to keep your fingers on the L and R buttons. These are used to teleport behind your opponent and block, respectively. Spam for major pwnage.
-After you unlock a certain character, the game gets HORRENDOUSLY easy.
-Kyuubi Naruto... is HELL to control.
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Rating:
Graphics: 3.5/5
During fights, the 3D models look pretty good. On the field, though, they look kinda weird.
Gameplay: 3/5
It's a pretty basic fighting game and a rather basic dungeon crawler once you unlock Quest Mode. Apart from that, there isn't much to look forward to.
Soundtrack: 3.5/5
The background music's pretty ho hum and some parts are stereotypically asian. Mebbe. I can't really tell if they were faithful to the Naruto soundtrack. Someone confirm this? As for the voice acting, it's there. Not as grating as I thought it would be and strangely, Naruto didn't say "Believe it!" every ten minutes.
The Look and Feel: 4/5
Everything is in-your-face and clear. No need to go digging around multiple options. The buttons are responsive and a simple tap on the control pad moves you quite well. Very colorful and pretty obviously targeted at the youngins.
Rating: 6.5/10
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