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By Scott N (20th Jul 2008)

It’s time for a Manga explosion sports fans, over enthusiastic ninja style! The blonde haired, psychotic and mildly infectious ‘super ninja in training’, Naruto, is here to carelessly run into the fray and save his beloved village from another sinister plot. Being a Naruto fan I am very keen to see what the game has to offer, but I am also apprehensive given that franchises from a similar background (such as Dragon Ball Z) have been let down with their game releases. So is this new edition to the Naruto family, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress (NUN2) just another quick rip of a game to take advantage of the fan base for sales, or does it completely rock the cosmos? Fire up your Chakra and launch into the Rasengan …..BELIEVE IT!!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Naruto series, the story is based around one trainee ninja from the village of Konoha. Naruto has always been a bit of a loner because all of the children (and most others in the village for that matter) are either afraid of him, or think he is a tool. You see, when Naruto was born the spirit of the evil Nine Tailed Fox was sealed within him to save the village. Since then he has been shunned and alone. Of course things turn around for our ninja hero when he passes his ninja exam and is put into a squad with the ‘cool guy’ Saske (his arch enemy), his crush Sakura (who has a thing for Saske) and the mysterious Kakashi (the team leader). In the usual tradition of a series like this the main character works hard and sees consistent growth and eventually becomes more powerful than all of his friends.

This particular instalment features an immense castle that has been summoned and is hovering directly over the centre of Konoha. Naruto, being a little hot head, takes it upon himself to save the village and charges off to battle whatever nasties rear their evil heads. In tow are all of his ninja friends who back him up and try to keep him out of mischief. The castle is called Mugenjo, and whenever it appears, inhabitants of the village mysteriously die. Can Naruto battle through the seemingly endless army of illusions that are hell bent on his destruction? Well, I won’t spoil it for you, but I will get into its nuts and bolts so you can figure out if it is worth buying.

Gameplay is a bit all over the shop. In Mugenjo Mode (story mode) the cut scenes/story is told in a very simple fashion, it is mainly audio with static pictures of the characters talking on the screen in front of a backdrop. I was hoping for FMV, but what are you going to do? The map screen is your home base, as you work your way through the rooms in the castle and up floors you always make your gameplay decisions from this overview. In most rooms you get to choose what discipline you undertake to proceed. These choices come in the form of a randomised scroll selection where, at any given time, you have the choice between four options. Around 50 per cent of the time you will have to fight an illusion, however there are a number of side games that you can choose to play if you have the appropriate scroll. These include a quiz on the show, running up a tree (speed training), follow the clone (like the three shells, one ball game) and a fruit machine among others. These little side games are a good break from the fighting and keep the quirky feel that the series promotes.

The fighting itself is relatively well conceived. The controls are easy to get used to, and making the jump to a special move is far less complex than many fighter games on the market. On some occasions the zoom lags a little when you jump between the foreground and background, but this doesn’t really pose too great a problem. Because it is so simple in control the game is not going to go down in the history books as one for the fighting enthusiast, but it serves its purpose in providing a suitable vehicle for fans to use the trademark moves that the heroes pull out on the show with little more needed than semi-decent timing.

The total graphic package does come across as a little disappointing mainly because of the lack of effort with animation in the cut scenes, as mentioned above. However, if you break down the individual games and incorporate the fighting, it isn’t all that bad. Incredibly bright and colourful backgrounds and character design, as well as some very pretty cut scene scenery almost make you want to forgive the creators for slacking off with the FMV. Almost.

The sound is an area where I find it difficult to find a fault. For fans, it is exactly what you would expect taken straight from the anime series. The voice actors are the genuine article, and with some timing issues aside, there really isn’t too much to get your goat up about.

Other than the central story option (Mugenjo) there is also Heroes Mode (straight out team fighting), Vs CPU (one on one with the computer), Wireless Battle (fight against another PSP) and the Ninja Road/Naruto’s House. These last two are the bonus areas where you get rewarded for earning ninja points through the other game modes. The more points you get the further you travel along the road and the more items you unlock that you can view in Naruto’s house.

So, now to the verdict. As I mentioned, I am a Naruto fan, and yes I did enjoy the game. Having said that I really only enjoyed the game because of the fact that I am a Naruto fan. If you aren’t, I really wouldn’t bother with it. There is a lot of content that is specifically directed toward avid followers of the series, and I am pretty sure that anyone who does not fall into that category may feel that the package is not only a bit lacking, but also mildly confusing. Must have for a fan, give it a miss if you’re just a gamer!

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