We received a quaint but utterly gorgeous press kit for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 only yesterday, which is appropriate because the game has turned out to be stunning in points.
It’s even taken me by surprise, despite the fact that I’ve tolerated the entirety of the anime, manga and the previous Ultimate Ninja STORM games.
I’ve been looking forward to Ninja STORM 4 because it’s supposed to wrap up the main Naruto story, rather than trawling through some nonsense filler tournament as was the case with Ultimate Ninja STORM Revolution and that absurd Mecha-Naruto.
But Ninja STORM 4 doesn’t mess around with that. It’s all about wrapping up the main story, and just like the manga, that means big, flashy fights with gargantuan monsters.
You’ll note that I said “at times” in the headlines, because not all of the animated sequences have the same sharpness or beauty as the full motion fights. A lot of times the anime throwbacks look washed out and blurry, and the resolution almost deliberately looks poor too.
It doesn’t help that a lot of these sequences aren’t animated either. They’re still frames, which is an utter shame given how nice the cut-scenes rendered in-game look.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of fighting to make up for the low-res flashbacks. It’s all in 1080p on the PS4, fortunately, although the frame rate drops noticeably whenever there are a tonne of effects on screen (as is the case in the very first fight).
The menus and UI are nicely done as well, as you’ll see below. And the mob battles have some nice effects and, at least in the ones I’ve fought so far, weren’t beset with annoying FPS drops.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 won’t be out until February 6, although if STORM 3 is any judge the PC might be the best platform. It’s a stunner either way. I haven’t made my mind on the revamped fighting system yet, but for now I’ll just be enjoying, yelling and grinning at another dose of Kishimooto on my TV.
Comments
15 responses to “The New Naruto Looks Utterly Gorgeous At Times”
I actually really enjoy the Ultimate ninja storm games. And I don’t even watch the manga or read the anime…
Not to be an ass but read the manga and watch the anime lol.
I actually played the broken bond games before watching any of the anime or reading the manga. It does a good job of telling the story, some places are even better than the anime although you miss a bit as well obviously.
Yeah, I’d buy the game if $US20 wasn’t tacked on to the price for Australians and full characters weren’t exclusive to pre-orders.
Haven’t bought a Naruto game since they cut Anko. All these new games with eight different Narutos and seven different Sasukes and thirty three different Kakashis and zero Ankos make me something something.
I miss Anko too. Snake? Snake?! Snaaaakeeeeeeeeeee
Question: some of the screen shots look like a fighting game but some look a bit like a Dynasty Warriors game? (Sorry, don’t know the game series)
It’s a 3D fighting game at its core, but following the main story has you sometimes fighting multiple foes at once, slightly akin to dynasty warriors.
It’s a fighter, but more like DBZ budokai tenkaichi than Tekken or anything like that.
I love it how when people compare pc and console versions the say “TV”. You do know that you can connect the pc to your tv and use any controller ever made… Right?
I do this an awful lot, although the PC connected to my TV is somewhat less powerful than my main rig (and Steam streaming for fighting games … I’d rather not)
I hope the combat has a bit more depth to it, I like the ultimate ninja storm games but they are to easy, they seem to get more basic with each incarnation
I played the demo back at EB Expo last year. As an avid fan of the UNS series, I can’t freakin wait to have the full game in my hands. Even ordered the special edition with Naruto statue. Swag!
The fact that they are still running with the idea that you can only substitute-jutsu 4 times and then require the bar to recharge, bugs the hell out of me.
IMO (and my friends who played earlier STORM games) it was better when substitution used your chakra bar, and if you slipped up on your sub-jutsu, you got done. Now its just whoever is being attacked will when a sub-jutsu war.
There were a couple of main issues with that system though, namely:
1. Waiting forever for someone to make a move since whoever reacted had a better chance of getting off a combo
2. Once you passed a certain skill level, subs forever and always