The Naruto anime has been around a long time and now the latest video-game, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, is making its first appearance on the current generation.
One of the changes that is easy to spot, when compared to previous entries, is the use of summons. It’s possible to play as the creatures that characters in the Naruto universe can summon. This proved quite satisfying, given the sheer destruction that is accomplished when playing as one of these massive deity creatures.
In fact, it was fairly easy to cause destruction on a mass scale with this massive character. It was possible to play as Naruto’s toad summon, Gamakichi. He certainly had plenty of powerful abilities to crush his tiny opponents on the ground. He could also cover long distances in a short amount of time with his leap jump.
What was nice about witnessing this carnage unfold was how graphic it got. Seeing blood ooze out of the monsters just made it so much better, no matter how many enemies got sliced by the giant toad.
Even the boss at the end of this short demonstration was damaged in a rather graphic manner. As the Ten Tails Clone boss was weakened, the toad summon could hack off one of its arms. It got to a point where the boss was literally fighting by using its oversized head. This made for a much more exciting battle, given that the boss changed strategy every time a part of it was hacked off.
Visually, it is clear that this is a current generation outing for the series. There’s a lot more detail in character animations and even the little enemies that the toad stomps on are clearly visible from far away. It also somehow manages to make it look even more like the anime, with its colourful cel-shaded visuals.
There’s a couple of interesting new ideas thrown in for good measure, such as when the toad summon is grinding down some tubes towards the end of the demonstration. You’ll need to alternate between tubes to ensure that the poor toad isn’t hit by one of the final boss’s attacks.
The quick time events are back and this time they seem to appear even faster than usual. It all seemed too sudden and so a few were failed because of it. However, it didn’t seem like the game was keen on heavily penalising players for missing the odd quick time event.
This definitely seemed like a title that Naruto fans will enjoy and the fact it felt action oriented also means it has the potential to appeal to those who don’t follow the anime closely. Considering this is supposedly the last in the series, it could end up being a fitting end to the Naruto series of video-games.
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