Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 (Xbox 360) review "Essentially, if you're a fan of Naruto you'll probably love it. That's all I have to say, and I've probably wasted ten minutes writing this because almost NOBODY will look past the zany looking box art to the right. But if you do, I think you may find yourself enjoying this game a hullava lot more than you expected to."

Okay, I've decided to review this because nobody else has, and by doing so I may be committing social suicide on this site, despite having no social influence here anyway. However, I'm going to review it anyway, because I do enjoy Naruto.

First off, if you're one of those people who scornfully sniggers at anything Anime/Manga/Japanese - related, then you won't want to buy this game. It embodies pretty much every stereotypically weird asset of Manga and Anime culture, with giant ninja toads and battles between huge snakes and a demon fox being just a couple of these instances. If you're anti-Naruto, then leave now.

But if you enjoy Naruto, or any Anime for that matter (as long as you're not one of those opposed to Naruto because DBZ supposedly 'made' it) then I URGE you to buy Ninja Sotrm 2. Why? Because it's epic.

I'm not going to make this a long review, purely because there isn't that much to talk about. The game's story tackles the Shippuden series up until Naruto saves the Leaf Village from Pein (see? If you don't watch/read, don't buy) including the major battles, such as Sakura and Chiyo against Sasori. The free play mode involves tag or single team battles with a satisfying roster of around 45 characters, each with their own jutsus and 'Ultimate' jutsus. Then there's online play. And that's the game modes, in a nut-shell.

But the thing about the Ultimate Storm series, I feel, is that it has GREAT replay value. I bought this game last October, and I'm still playing it over the likes of Brink (bash it if you will but I only bought it a couple of days ago). When friends come over (admittedly, other fan-boys of the genre) we have an awesome time, mixed with intense battling and pi*sing ourselves laughing at how insanely fast-paced it is once you begin to master the gameplay, which doesn't take long. It's an investement, if you're into ninja-fighting with a juicy and colourful twist.

The story gives little perks, such as Ninja Info Cards with different titles and pictures to unlock and use online as a sort of profile, and there are quite a lot of side missions to be completed, a couple of which I still haven't done because I can't find all of Tonton's (a small pig) pearls... Yeah, some of the quests are a bit... yeah.

It's quite different from the other games based on the series, such as Broken Bonds, and this is one down-side. The lack of complex jutsus means the game seems a lot simpler than most would like, but the sheer speed of the battles means that if button-sequences such as in Broken Bond, were employed then the game would be either painfully slowed down or impossible to beat.

But still, I must stress the fact that this game has one of the longest replay values I've come across for a long time. Both on free-play, and online too, where there is are ascending ranks to overtake and prove your worth oline, though the negative considering onlien-play is the myriad of utter 'noobs' who incessantly play as Naruto and/or Sasuke, both of whom have near-unbeatable 'Awakenings' (a mode reached after a certain amount of health is depleted). Many times I've resorted to screaming at my T.V because of these people, who, without being discriminating here, seem worryingly often to be French... Strange.

Essentially, if you're a fan of Naruto you'll probably love it. That's all I have to say, and I've probably wasted ten minutes writing this because almost NOBODY will look past the zany looking box art to the right. But if you do, I think you may find yourself enjoying this game a hullava lot more than you expected to.

Community review by Elephant_Joe (May 31, 2011) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.