Narutard (a nickname for Naruto fans) or not, it was hard to resist the fist-shaking charms of D3 Publisher's Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution on the Penny Arcade Expo's show floor, and it seemed that everyone wanted try out this Wii brawler. On our own, it was fairly difficult to get our hands on this title, so we were glad that D3 Publisher gave us a little preview.
The following of the anime series Naruto is just about as large in the U.S as it is in Japan, but North American audiences are quite a bit behind on the episode airings, so a direct port of the game Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution is based on (Naruto Shippuuden: Getikou Ninja Taisen EX) would be a bit of a spoiler. Because of this, D3 Publisher had to rework the game to include characters from currently airing storylines. The addition of these characters (as well as a few more never-seen-before characters) and their new animations make this first Naruto Wii title a U.S. exclusive.
Once I got my hands on Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution, I could understand why it was difficult to get some face time with the title -- it is crazy fun, and no one wanted to put it down. I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly sure how my hand motions related to what was happening on screen, but I knew I was doing something, and somehow I was kicking ninja ass. Movement is controlled with the Wii Nunchuck, and attacks are executed Wii Remote movement and button presses. I asked D3 representative Stephen about becoming weary of Wiimote wiggling, and he mentioned that the game permits several control styles, including using the Wii's optional Classic Controller or even the GameCube controller. That's good to know, but really -- what fun would that be?
Hit the jump for more on Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution.
Apparently I wasn't nailing the special attacks correctly, but I did manage to watch other players successfully execute them. Once one of these special jutsu attacks begins, players are prompted to execute timed movements to continue (think Resident Evil 4 cutscenes), which added some flair to the standard Wii Remote wagging. Maybe I was missing something (or Sasuke is too emo), but even younger players managed to do these with ease.
Visually, the game is a slight step up from the GameCube Naruto titles, but the Naruto: Clash series titles were never a bad looking games in the first place. The cell shaded characters strongly resemble their animated visages, and the backgrounds look like they've been pulled directly from the show.
Aside from importing (Naruto Shippuuden: Getikou Ninja Taisen EX 2 is on its way to Japan), this October release will be the first time U.S. gamers will have had a chance to play a Naruto title made specifically for the Nintendo Wii. You don't necessarily have to be a Naruto fan to want to pick up a Wiimote and Nunchuck and jump into a ninja beatdown -- the almost two dozen characaters and multiple game modes (even a four-player face-off) should bring some much needed action to the Wii's lineup.
Contest:
12:26 PM on 08.30.2007
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Ninja sex. Lot's and lot's of drunken college ninja sex.
everyone knows that you cant block someones moves if you arent facing them...but did you know that they cant block YOUR moves with your back to them? its ridiculous for moves like gara's sand pillar or kikashis underground grab move...its stayed in so many versions and i hope they finally remove it
The first few episodes are kind of lame, but once they actually get into their first missions, it gets a lot better (and darker). The fight scenes are awesome and actually more often than not involve lots of strategy instead of just straight bashing.
@Mxy
It's about ninja missions. lots and lots of ninja missions and fighting.
My favorite fight is still the duel between Zabuza and Kakashi. A nice mix of actual, you know, hand to hand fighting with special moves here and there.
But apparently Naruto's generation is full of a bunch of overpowered 12 year olds, with every single one of them being prodigies capable of decimating a city.
Yeah, I stopped watching after a while.
Bar that, the Naruto games are good from what I hear (some but not all. In an age when beat em ups aren't made much anymore, its good to see even a manga/anime based once that plays well. I'm looking forward to the 360 Naruto game.
Naruto is a good watch if you take out the 100+ fillers after the (/begin omigod spoiler) sasuke retrieval arc lol (/end of omigod spoiler).
I had fun with the naruto games on ps2/psp and gc, so this looks like it's gonna be fun too.
HUZZAH!
is it the voice actors or the dialogue you have a problem with? the voice acting has a view weak points, but i think the dialogue in english is just as good as the original japanese in a lot of places.
still not sure if i want to play a naruto game, though...i've never even played any of the countless DBZ games, despite being a fan of the series.
Yeah. Shippuden has been pretty bad especially on the animation side of things. They're trying to drag the fights out way too long over the episodes and completely ruin them in the process.
Also, yeah. I always wonder why their generation of kids manage to handle adults as easily as they do. Naruto and Sasuke I can understand but the rest...
Keeping up with the Shippuuden episodes, rather than watching the horrible English Dubs, I can honestly say that the story does indeed pick up more as it goes on. If you want to keep in line with the manga itself, you'll watch the anime up to around 156 and then swap immediately to Naruto Shippuuden.. The anime-only fillers take over from that point, going from episode 157 to 220 before it finally returns to the actual story arc of the manga.
As my final note. If you want to properly judge an anime, at least watch a handful of episodes, not one or two and judge it from there. Some anime shows need time and at least 10 episodes to build on... Also added, if you are critical on being annoyed. Watch the anime with japanese VO. The rediculous add-in of "believe it!" into every other sentence gets extremely annoying in the english VO.