Don’t believe it!

So, I’ve played a decent amount of Naruto games for reviews mainly, the fighting game titles like Ultimate Ninja Storm. I’ve always found them impressive both mechanically and visually, and they were always a fun time both single player and online versus. While I know nothing of the story or plot in this series, I still found enjoyment out of them. Cut to Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, a game that tries to change the formula from the Ultimate Ninja Storm series and try to hit on the Dragon Ball Xenoverse genre while it’s still hot. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really hit the mark.

Players take on the role of a new up and coming ninja that aspires to be a great warrior and fight in the World Ninja League, a ninja tournament that is all the rage in the Hidden Leaf Village. Here, players take on other players in ninja competitions in various stages and modes. Training is all done via a virtual reality hub that allows trainee ninjas to experience the well known battles of the Naruto series while training under a popular trainer from history.

Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
MSRP: $59.99
Price I’d pay: Maybe $20

Online focused, Shinobi Striker plays out much like a co-op game with a few MMO elements mixed in. The hub world has players running around doing their own thing. Of course, I could interact with them and possibly team up with them for VR missions if I so chose to. VR missions were where I did most of my playing. Here, players earn XP for both their character level as well as their trainer. Leveling up trainers would allow players to learn new abilities and obtain rarer items than from the random drops.

Missions could be taken on solo or with a group online with up to four people. Here, players are tasked with gathering certain things, protecting a place or person, and other such events. After a while, I began to notice that things really didn’t change up too much, and within a few hours I found myself doing the same kinds of missions over and over. It got dull rather quickly. To top that off, many missions would get so difficult and long that players are almost forced to take them on with people online just to complete them. Solo players will not have an easy time here.

Players also have the choice of four different classes that fit into roles for a party. There are attackers, ranged, healers, and tanky classes that allow for different play styles, but don’t change up as much as one would expect. It mainly changes the special moves that can be used.

The combat mechanics are simplified from the Ultimate Ninja Storm series. Players have a light and heavy attack combo, two special jutsus that play a lot like a super attack, and their secret technique that is more like a super power-up move that allows for fast combos and harder hits. Traversal is the one standout from the mechanics, where running up walls and super jumping can be fun to maneuver, but it all leads to a combat scenario that revolves around button mashing with a few super attacks thrown in. To make matters worse, many enemies seem to take forever to bring down and it just feels like a jumbled mess when there are four players wailing on a single enemy slowly chipping their health bar down.

The worst part of the action is not even the action itself, it’s the camera. It seems to do whatever it wants at times, and the lock-on system is so liberal that I could lock on to an enemy and they could then run 300 yards away, enter a cave, and then sit down, and my character would still be targeting them. It makes the already chaotic combat even more so due to the sporadic camera.

Scrolls are obtained as loot and special rewards that can be identified and turned into items that players can equip on their characters. There’s a ton to obtain here, and players looking for the coolest outfit or top tier gear for maximum defense and damage will have to grind to get them all. In fact, the majority of this game revolves around a major grind mechanic.

The other section of Shinobi Striker is the online versus mode. Here, players take on another team of four in different multiplayer modes. With some players actually trying to do something here, the lock-on is a nightmare. I found it easier to just not lock on and wish for the best. It felt like while in multiplayer, everyone was just flying by the seat of their pants and no one really knew what they were doing, myself included. Sure, I knew I need to capture this flag, but doing it felt so chaotic, that I never felt in control of what I was doing.

Shinobi Striker could have had some decent material if the combat and camera wasn’t so clunky. The issue is that because of this mixed with the overly dull mission structure and chaotic multiplayer makes for just a bad experience overall. If only there was some redeeming quality to it, I would suggest it to maybe hardcore Naruto fans, but aside from the visuals looking pretty good, that’s all I can say. My time with Shinobi Striker was a boring, frustrating grind that I really don’t think is worth your time. Even for the hardcore Naruto fans, I would say at least wait for a major price drop.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Tons of customizations
  • Nice visuals
  • Decent traversal
Bad
  • Horrible camera and lock-on
  • Overly chaotic combat
  • Dull mission structure
  • Over reliant on multiplayer
4
Sub-Par
Written by
Drew is the Community Manager here at ZTGD and his accent simply woos the ladies. His rage is only surpassed by the great one himself and no one should stand between him and his Twizzlers.