It says Ultimate but feels recycled
The Naruto Ninja Storm games have been around just about as long as the anime itself. Having had various types of fighting types from tag to the online only Shinobi Strikers the one thing that the games has always nailed is the over-the-top spectacle that is a ninja fight. In Naruto there are characters who can summon a comet to smash into you and then a moon on top of that; this is the level of over the top I am talking about and this latest entry didn’t fail to empress for the most part.
MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
Let me do some finger stretches before I type out this title *stretches fingers* Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections (whew) once again retells that story of young Naruto and the battles that shaped him on his quest to becoming the very best, that no one ever was. In all seriousness as someone who hasn’t watched this series this game does a great job on condensing the over 700 episodes of the anime into this package. While fans of the series may be upset because they skip over some story beats, I think they will enjoy the cut of the story that exist here.
I was overwhelmed at the sheer number of characters on the roster a massive amount of over 130 fighters with more coming as DLC. Again, for fans of this series I can almost guarantee that your favorite will be there but man I had no idea who to play for real, I know a little but due to my kids watching the anime but outside of main characters I had no clue. I’ve played the last few games in the series but I was there for the massive explosions and crazy ninja abilities and couldn’t be bothered with learning the names of all the people.
Having played some of the past games the first thing I noticed is that nothing has changed really in the combat system. Melee is still mapped to only one button with dodges being on the triggers. If you have played the last entry, then you know how to play Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. Each combo string will lead to a big animated attack that does massive damage and because of this it makes it difficult to find alternate strategies in combat. So, fights just end up being two characters trading epic anime fireballs or demons with giant swords at each other until the health bar depletes. Sure, it looks cool as hell but it just leaves so much to be desired if someone is looking for some depth.
But even with the combat feeling almost identical to the last few entries the biggest offense in this package is the broken multiplayer combat on Xbox. As of the time of this writing I still have been unable to get into an online match on the Xbox system, ranked or unranked. When players queue for a multiplayer match the game allows them to play vs the computer while they wait, well I managed to play 3 full matches one day while waiting for a multiplayer queue. I have read a few reports that folks have been able to try some tricks and cheats to get this to work but largely Bandai has been quiet on this issue which I can only assume is due to the multiplayer working on the other platforms. Fighting games largely depend on the multiplayer and without that part this game just feels largely incomplete until they get the issues resolved.
If you are a fan of the Naruto or Boruto anime or manga then you will find loads to love about Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. Touting the largest roster in series history and an in-depth encyclopedia that covers all the various titles and terms that are used in the series which makes it easy for newcomers to understand. Fights are dazzling and chaotic and developer CyberConnect2 has done an amazing job in that regard. But with the multiplayer being broken on Xbox and the fact the gameplay has been largely unchanged I can’t help but think that this series is in need of some sort of shakeup to push it forward into the future.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
