Anime games are rarely good games, they are usually given to a small, unexperienced team that can't do the property justice. That's not always the case but it usually is and it's fortunate that the Ultimate Ninja Storm series doesn't fall into that category. CyberConnect2 really cares about the Naruto series and did it justice in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. Now, they take on Naruto Shippuden in Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. Does it improve upon the original? Or is it destined to be cast aside like most anime games?
The story picks up after Naruto gets back from his two year training with Jiraya. Things get serious shortly after his return when Gaara, the leader of the Sand Ninja village, gets captured by the Akatski, a group of villains after people known as Jinchuuriki. Jinchuuriki are people that have tailed beasts sealed inside themselves, a trait held by both Naruto and Gaara. Naruto heads out with Kakashi and Sakura to save him and defeat the Akatski. The story has a lot of great moments, but it's worth it once you get into the later chapters. It can get pretty emotional if you invest yourself in the characters and it's well told. If you're watching the anime or reading the manga, you'll notice that are some differences, but the changes are made for the better, especially the ending. Overall, it's an epic and entertaining narrative, one I can't wait to be continued.
The gameplay is similar to the first game, just with some minor changes. Your assist characters now have a meter that fills as they are called on and, when it's filled, they help out more depending on what type they are. Once it's filled all the way you can use a Team Ultimate which is a more powerful attack where your assists help out. Other than that, the controls are the same, but the ultimate attacks have changed for the worse, in my opinion. In the original, your ultimate attacks are little QTE-mini games, here they are just plain attacks. They are still great here, but not as epic.
During single-player, you run around on branching paths and have the ability to explore. It's entertaining but during the actual story missions it can get a little annoying. The biggest draws here are the boss fights. Rather than being regular fights, they are special battles that have QTEs thrown in every now and then. QTEs can run things, but they are done well here and make the boss fights insanely epic. These are some of the most entertaining boss battles I have had the pleasure of fighting, even if they are simple. There are some side-quests to do, but they just boil down to you running around the world or fighting random fights.
You can also go online for the first time in the series and it works for the most part. In a lot of my fights, however, I ran into plenty of lag and people abusing cheap characters. It's not the best online fighter, but at least it's online. Overall, the game is still fun, but it's more fun to experience the story and boss fights since the gameplay still retains it's repetitive and simple nature. If you disliked the first game, there is a great chance that you won't like this one.
The music is pretty epic and well done, but it's weird that they don't use tracks from the anime. The voice work is good in both English and Japanese, but Naruto himself refuses to sound right in English. The sound effects are great and the game is at it's best during the epic scenes and boss fights.
The visuals are slightly worse than the original's, but they do much more with them than the last game. The boss fights look amazing and the basic fights look great. The world is strange 2D art with the amazing looking 3D models running on top of them which looks odd, but it works and eventually looks great. The character models still look fantastic and it all comes together to look beautiful. It's still the best looking cel-shaded game out there and it brings us the closest to an actual anime.
PROs
- Story is emotional and epic
- Boss fights are fantastic and some of the best
- Visuals are beautiful
- Music is good and original
- Voice work is great, especially in Japanese
- Basic gameplay is still fun
- Explorable world with side-quests
- Online is finally here
CONs
- Gameplay can still be repetitive
- Story is slow to kick in
- Online isn't the best
- Visuals are worse than the original's
- Music isn't taken from the anime
- Plot isn't 1:1 to the manga or anime
Overall, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is much better than the original, thanks in part to Shippuden being superior to the original Naruto. The boss fights are enjoyable as hell, the visuals are beautiful, the story is well written and emotional and the voice work helps that point out. If you enjoyed the first game or if you like Naruto Shippuden, give this game a try. CyberConnect2 has nailed the formula for Naruto and I can't wait for it to continue.
Story: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 9.0/10
Audio: 9.0/10
Presentation: 10/10
TOTAL: 9.0/10