Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 review

It%26rsquo;s tough to slag on a game as robust as Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. It%26rsquo;s got more than 30 fighters ripped straight from the beloved anime/manga, it supports a four-player battle royale mode that%26rsquo;s a blast, and the single-player story mode has really nice variety. You%26rsquo;re not just pounding an endless line of other ninjas in the face; you%26rsquo;re teaming up with two other ninja against a nigh-indestructible boss one moment, taking on two enemies at once the next match, and always wondering what%26rsquo;s going to happen next because the story is all new.

It looks spiffy enough and moves smoothly while you%26rsquo;re playing (cut scenes aren%26rsquo;t all that hot, though) and the combat strikes a nice balance, being both easy to grasp and deep enough to keep fighting fans busy. There%26rsquo;s a foreground and background to every level, which makes the levels more strategic than those in a typical fighting game. And there are a wealth of possible control configurations, which is nice because we%26rsquo;re not really into the default, waggle-happy scheme.

However, there is a problem: too little evolution. This game has been released almost exactly one year to the day (in the US) after the first Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution, which itself was barely different from the series%26rsquo; GameCube predecessors (which, of course, play on Wii), the two Naruto: Clash of Ninja games. That%26rsquo;s why the game plays so well and seems so balanced; it%26rsquo;s been made four times now.

Aside from some new characters %26ndash; there%26rsquo;s a full list halfway down thispage%26ndash; a few new stages, the re-twigged story mode and support for 16:9 480p televisions, there%26rsquo;s just not much new stuff here. For instance, where%26rsquo;s the online play?

Defendants will say, %26ldquo;But it%26rsquo;s only been a year! That seems like plenty of new stuff to me!%26rdquo; And that%26rsquo;s the problem. It%26rsquo;s only been a year, so instead of getting a new game, we just got another game. Thus, as well as it plays, we can only really recommend a purchase to players who don%26rsquo;t have the last three. For everyone else, it%26rsquo;s a rental.

Nov 25, 2008