• Posted March 5th, 2013 at 15:47 EDT by Benjamin Shillabeer-Hall
• 1 Comments

(continued from previous page) ...single player mode, which can be a drag. Tournament mode is probably the best of the bunch, and probably one of my favourite tournament modes in a fighter that have been released recently, you can do a normal style tournament just fighting your way to the end, this also includes ring out’s one of the new features for Storm 3. Though my favourite feature has to be the random rules tournament, in which before each match, there is a slot machine which can make certain rules affect the next fight such as fast chakra replenish or one hit KO from ultimate jutsu, this can make the battles feel a lot more exhilarating because you're not sure what is gonna be coming next. You can access any character you have unlocked through the main storyline or if you unlock a certain amount of Ryo, you will then start unlocking other characters also, though both ways can unlock the same characters it all depends on your style of play on how you will end up with them. Like previous titles the versus and the new tournament mode have either single player or team battles,, team battles allow you to set up to two different support characters which allow you to do team jutsu’s or have them jump in and help you during the fights.

I couldn’t really test the online features as the game arrived before the official release and there was nobody online to fight against, but there seems to be a lot of options online from tournament mode, to endless battles there is plenty of options to keep any keen fighter satisfied for now. You can also customize your profile by either unlocking title’s and card images or using ryo to purchase new ones from the shop, this makes your card slightly more personal so people know who they're dealing with! (I am hokage pig)

As you're playing through the game, one of the major factors that will hit you is how close the graphics are to the anime, and how smooth everything seems to be with all the ninjas in the world map walking about and the cities full of life. FRom animals to fellow ninjas, there is a nice amount of varied locations, from the dusty Sand Village to the jungles on Turtle Island, which makes the game feel less repetitive, and you really do feel like you're in the world of Naruto. The battles also keep up the amazing graphics with very detailed Ultimate Jutsus which look damn amazing over and over again, and each one is very varied. Some people may not like QTE, but I nearly failed some because the events were so beautiful and, like an anime, at some points I was hoping it was just a cut scene; the Naruto vs Sasuke fight is especially guilty for this.

The sound is also incredibly good, with the music never feeling out of place, and it's very calming when you're walking about the villages doing side quests. The game does have an option for both japanese and english voice overs, which is a standard for the Storm series, though for some reason my prologue was in english even though I set the language for japanese. Once the prologue ended, the dialogue was japanese. I’m not sure if this is just an error with review copies, but keep it in mind starting out.

Overall, I would happily recommend this game to fighting fans, mainly because of the depth of the game. Though it isn't as complex as most fighters, there is a lot of content to keep most people satisfied. There may be some flaws, but nothing ruins the overall package. Some hardcore fighting fans might be annoyed with the occasional frame rate drop when in busy situations, but luckily it doesn't happen too often.