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Ninja Storm on the Horizon
Product: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
Company: Atari
Date: 07/22/2008
Avaliable On:

Not long after the release of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 for the PS2 and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 for the PSP, we were treated to the promise of a brand new Ultimate Ninja title, this one claiming to embrace what Next-Gen fighting means.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, slated for release on the PS3, takes the established fighting game to a fully 3D world where you will use a variety of Jutsu, items and even team support to take down your enemy, plus it will also have a open-world style gameplay similar to Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.

One of the features added to Ultimate Ninja Storm is Smash Mode, where you will have to hit a set sequence of buttons when both you and your opponent activate your special moves at the same time. The person with the most correct button presses knocks the other out.

One of the more interesting aspects about the fights, from what I saw, was the ability to call on support characters to help you out for a brief period of time. Naruto has Sasuke and Sakura at his back, while Kakashi can call on his Ninja Hounds and Might Guy, at least in the demo I played. It is unclear if the support characters are set for each fighter, or if you can make your backup characters anyone you want at this point; either way, it is reminiscent of the Drama Pieces of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit.

So far, there are only about 20 playable characters confirmed for the game, but hopefully we will hear of more later. Here is who we know of as well as their transformations/power up modes:

  • Naruto Uzumaki (One-Tailed Naruto)
  • Sakura Haruno
  • Sasuke Uchiha (Curse Seal level’s 1 and 2)
  • Kakashi Hatake (Sharringan)
  • Rock Lee
  • Neji Hyuga (Byakugan)
  • Tenten
  • Might Guy
  • Shikamaru Nara
  • Choji Akimichi
  • Ino Yamanaka
  • Kiba Inuzuka
  • Shino Aburame
  • Hinata Hyuga
  • Gaara (Shukaku)
  • Temari
  • Orochimaru
  • Jiraiya
  • Kisame Hoshigaki
  • Third Hokage

Look for Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm to hit the shelves this October, but in the meantime, download the demo and trailer off of the PlayStation Network.

J.R. Nip aka Chris Meyer

GameVortex PSIllustrated