➤ Heroic ninjas to the rescue 🎮

Born on PlayStation 2 simply as a fighting game in encounters, characterized however by several original ideas (the double level of depth, the platform component, the use of objects, etc.), Naruto: Ultimate Ninja has quickly landed also on PSP, preserving the basic mechanics and introducing some innovations that are sometimes appreciated and sometimes less so. The second episode, in particular, combined the normal arcade mode with an alternative mode in which Naruto and some of his companions were called to investigate a mysterious fortress pervaded by dark chakra. In this context, the characters moved like pawns on a board, facing a different test in each room of the fortress.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3, the developers of CyberConnect2 have further exasperated the same concept, even going so far as to eliminate the classic arcade mode in encounters and introducing the "Road to the Master" mode as the real heart of the game. Once again Naruto and his friends move like pawns along a path also made of crossroads, where you can come across "shop" boxes to buy unlockable items (images, music, etc.) but above all you have to overcome challenges. This applies to every single chapter of the story, which takes up the events of the Shippuden series and pushes them further than ever seen in a Naruto tie-in, presenting itself in the end as a rather long and demanding journey, which certainly not completed within a few hours. Challenges can take place within platform or fighting sections.

In the first case, the character we control must overcome a predetermined path, avoiding obstacles and defeating the enemies that appear in front of him on the fly, possibly collecting the objects present in the stage. This type of challenge can also be regulated by a time limit, within which it is necessary to reach the "finish line". In the case of the fighting sections, the encounters can be single or group, and often involve particular conditions to be respected in order to be successfully overcome. It may therefore happen that you have to defeat your opponent without using the special move, or to confront an enemy with increased power or speed, and so on.

Ninja stuff

As already underlined, the "Path of the Master" unfolds along a series of chapters which are in turn divided into individual stages of varying duration and of different types. During the early stages, however, this mode turns out to be all too simple and accessible, putting us in front of simple scenarios with some jumps and objects to collect. Similarly, the first fights are carried out almost without being touched by the opponent on duty. Fortunately, the degree of difficulty is adjusted after a while and the challenge, even without ever becoming really harsh, acquires a minimum of consistency.

The problem, more than anything else, is that the contour modes have literally disappeared: via the classic arcade mode with the encounters in sequence, it is now possible to play fights only individually, through the "free battle" mode. It is undoubtedly an inexplicable debasement of the product, which from a second weight modality would have gained a lot in terms of longevity and which therefore ends up offering a somewhat "incomplete" experience. The ad-hoc multiplayer for four players, in fact, for a series of reasons (primarily of a practical nature, that is to have at hand three people who own a PSP with the same game) cannot be a replacement up to and therefore it serves more as a side dish. Returning to the main mode, the control system is unchanged compared to the past and allows us to control each of the fifty characters available (many of which to be unlocked) in the same way, since the combos are performed simply by pressing the attack button together. to one of the four directions of the d-pad. The special moves, which depend on the chakra bar, are also simple to activate and once launched require the pressing in sequence of the keys shown on the screen to obtain a greater or lesser impact on the enemy. Each ninja has peculiar attacks, as usual, and a spectacular animated sequence that is played during the execution of the special move: an extra element that makes us regret the lack of the old arcade mode in encounters, where all these elements could have been find the necessary enhancement. From a technical point of view, little has changed compared to Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2, which in turn did not show particular changes compared to the first episode of the series: the polygonal models of the characters are often too small to appreciate the details, but they have a good number of animations and move convincingly. The addition of new ninja (in fact fifty is a respectable number) further enriches the product from a quantitative point of view, which for battles always offers scenarios up to the situation and divided into the classic two levels of depth. The sound is fairly good, and thankfully the voices can be heard in Japanese rather than the horrible English dubbing.

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While presenting itself once again as the typical tie-in that Naruto fans shouldn't miss, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 offers a controversial experience: on the one hand it puts on the plate a large number of characters (fifty) and a long and articulated story mode, on the other hand it is devoid of alternative modes that can add a little variety and make everything more lasting. Given the initial premises of the Ultimate Ninja series on PS2, we are sorry to see the fighting game component left to itself over the years and deprived of an evolution that could have made a difference. Instead, it seems that the developers are trying to reuse and "mix" ready-made elements with each new release, without adding anything really new.