hands on impressions of Naruto?

[bluntman72]

has anyone played the new Naruto game on the 360 yet? I have watched up to episode 132 of the fan subs a long time ago and I am interested in getting this game if it is a good game, but I am not a big enough fan to get an average game just because it has a Naruto License. a

[Ridah]

Reviews all indicate that it's a good game, it's the top game on my GameFly queue right now so I'm just waiting for it to ship.

[Bullwinkle]

We were just talking about it in here:  http://www.gamingtrend.com/forums/index.php/topic,23304.0.html

It's now on my list.  I'll probably pick it up this weekend.

[Jarrodhk]

Have it, but won't be able to play it until later tonight.

[bluntman72]

yeah I read that thread but figured I would start a new one for naruto impressions. I have heard the good reviews just hoping to get some feedback from forum members on if its good or not. Normally I wouldnt look at a anime license game but the good reviews have me interested.

[Bullwinkle]

yeah I read that thread but figured I would start a new one for naruto impressions. I have heard the good reviews just hoping to get some feedback from forum members on if its good or not. Normally I wouldnt look at a anime license game but the good reviews have me interested.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you should have posted there.  I was just pointing it out.

[metallicorphan]

it got a 7 in this months OXM....i still want to play it though(7 isnt too low for me,and when i have my sights on something,reviews mean nothing),i was hoping for a xbox live marketplace demo

[USMC Kato]

Just picked it up, going to play all night.

[Jarrodhk]

Haven't played it myself yet, but I watched Moriarty play for several hours.  Looks really good!

[Bullwinkle]

I played pretty much all day today.  It is a blast.  There's a lot to do, and there's a nice flow to the game. 

The graphics are stunning.  The city looks amazing.  I love cel shading, but for people who aren't big fans, you probably won't be bothered.  It's only used on characters and for the most part, it's pretty subtle.

Speaking of fans, I've never seen the show, but from what I can gather, this game takes you through a lot of the episodes.  I actually feel like I understand what's going on, too.  It's not hodge-podge cutscenes.  Maybe I don't need to buy the DVDs after all.

The platforming is pretty good.  There are plenty of abilities to unlock.  You could just tell double jump* was in my future sometime.  It was quite a relief when I got it.  The jumping is a little loose, but it only took a little time to get used to it.

My only real gripe is with the fighting, which, of course, seems like a pretty major gripe.  It's not too bad, though.  It's just that I'm a spaz.  I'm definitely in the button-mashing school when it comes to fighters, and that works okay here, but blocking appears to be a key element, and I tend to avoid blocking like the plague.  It's really hard to pull of the Jutsus (special moves) mid-fight, though. You have to hold the left trigger and move both sticks twice to pull them off, then release the left trigger when a not-very-intuitive meter fills up.  I think that'll get supremely frustrating. 

By the way, I like the way the Jutsus aren't just used in combat.  They also give you access to new areas or pull of side games in the environment, with the eventual goal being to make everyone in town like you.  The more people who like you, the more help you can get locating goals on missions.  It's a pretty cool system, actually.

Anyway, this was a little more scatter-brained than I intended, but the point is, the game seems to be a lot of light fun.  I want to thank Misguided for putting me on the scent of this game.  I would have ignored it, because it's a franchise I had little interest in.



*Unrelated side note:  After The Simpsons Game, I can't double jump without hearing Homer casually muttering, "Double Jump."  That makes me laugh every time.

[Misguided]

Anyway, this was a little more scatter-brained than I intended, but the point is, the game seems to be a lot of light fun.

Glad I didn't steer you wrong.
I think the idea with the jutsu is to use one of the combos that gives you a lot of seperation so you have time to pull it off.
Looks like the meter requires some practice, though, based on the vids at gamersyde.
Curious that the designers felt it was important to practice the motions repeatedly,
but not the use of the meter.

[Punisher]

Curious that the designers felt it was important to practice the motions repeatedly,
but not the use of the meter.

Yea I didn't get that either. The first few times I did a jutsu I didn't even realize about the meter. I finally get the stick combos down and then I have to get the meter timing down as well.... Then you have to do another button combo/timing thing to actually execute the jutsu, but at least there they let you decide what buttons to push.

[bluntman72]

cool thanks for the impressions, I have just added this to my must get list. I hear it goes through the first 80 episodes of the series

[USMC Kato]

Great great game so far.  It's a fighting/adventure/RPG game that works very well and does the license justice.  It got me thinking what would happen if the same developer that this game worked on another anime-type game like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. 

[Simon]

I picked Naruto up this week, I've never seen the show or even like anime at all, but I've been having some fun with it. I'm button mashing the combat and haven't been able to figure out combos all that well yet, but the missions and exploring the city have been enjoyable. My five year old is enjoying watching it and running around too, however because of him I wish there was a lot less "idiot", "shut up", "stupid", "this sucks", "I'm going to kill you", etc. in the dialog. I know it's a Teen game and maybe that's part of the show too, but I just don't need him repeating that kind of stuff at school or with friends. I think it actually detracts from the cutscenes too. Fortunately you can skip the dialog.

Also, are the Achievements few and far between? I've been doing quite a lot but have yet to see one pop up which seems pretty unusual.