It is very funny, If Harry Potter were a Ninja, his life would be identical to Naruto's. They are both special, and they are both in school to learn magical arts, and they are both under the pursuit of a gender confused snake man...see.
Hey faithful readers. I am happy to see that my blog is still getting traffic. In light of the slow summer movie season I decided to focus a lot on my youtube channel, Taste Bud Reviewers. When I start doing video reviews of movies I will definitely add them to my blog. but as of now I am focusing on Let's Plays. So this week I picked up my first "Naruto Shippuden Storm" game and it happens to be "generations" the spin off that brings the younger Naruto Universe in full force against the older generation. SO in my first installment of, first taste, I will show you the first few levels of game play along with my commentary and let you know from this taste test, what rank I give the game. Fanboys remember.. This is my first taste. I didn't play through any Naruto fighter yet. So, with that out of the way let's get to the show!
Naruto Shippuden Storm Generations... A First Taste
First Taste 1- 1: Naruto Vs Kakashi
When you start the game with a gorgeously animated sequence that details a basic summary of the saga that you will be playing through. The animaitons are crisp and beautiful and it essentially gets you pumped up to see what is going to happen. However, this great fist impression gets stomped on by the inclusion of a slide show cutscene to tell the story. I know, this game is considered fan service and it is expected that we know the story. But in this generation of gaming, a comic strip style slideshow is unacceptable, especially if your English voice acting talent sounds horribly phoned in.
But the problem subsides when the gameplay starts and Naruto fights Kakashi in a test of strength. Fortunately the meat of the game does not disappoint. The controls are fluid, fighters move and fight the way they do in the anime, and the battle is fun to "watch" unfold. My only issue with this battle was that there is ZERO tutorial segments. This is bad and good. However, the bad outweighs in this situation. The game is developed with the assumption that you played the other games. And from a critical stand point, assumptions are lazy. Naruto is fighting Kakashi, his teacher! In the anime, Kakashi would at least give Naruto pointers, not just Kick his face in. You would not even have to abruptly stop gameplay. The developers could have had Kakashi yell out pointers mid battle, like "what are you doing? focus your Chakra! (press and hold Y)" or "You're rusty, why won't you dodge? (press A to ninja move) " The begining of a game is a tutorial phase and you have to ease you gamers into the battle. The only time this is not necessary is when you are playing a simple 2D fighter like Mortal Kombat.
First Taste: Needs More Seasoning (but wait there's more!)
Part 2: Washing it Down
So, the game was not too fond of me when I started playing, so I went into the training mode to get a better grasp of what I was getting myself into. In training I figured out a lot about the controls and move sets and got a general grasp of the fighting strategy for this game.
Upon returning to the Story mode, I liked what I was playing much more. I will still stand by my first impression that the developers should never assume that they are packaging something for an audience that played the last installments. There should always be an introduction that eases the gamer into the world that you created. That being said the story does continue in slideshow fashion, which I hate. I see what the game can visually do and I want to see that potential used on the story mode. But the battles are awesome.
The game play is everything that I wanted out of the recent DBZ games that for some reason were shittier than DBZGT...smh. The controls are so slick and the combos happen if you enter the command. That sounds funny to you but if you are an avid fighting gamer, you know, you can have 15 button commands locked in your skull and the combo doesn't always..happen. But this game has specific commands for combos and they usually work more frequently than i can say for most fighters. So I liked the game as I trucked on..
Washing it Down ... Satisfying (but wait...you know the deal)
Part 3 After Taste
Looking back at my fist three fights I have to say one thing...I HAD FUN. This game does a good job at letting the player have fun. For most people, the fun factor is all that they care about. However, I am a stickler for story. I really wanted to see more story in full HD animation and given the quality of this game, I know I could have gotten that. But I realize that this game does deserve a play through and even a strong recommendation for fans of the Naruto Universe. I cannot even say that with a straight face. The roster is massive and I don't think you have to be a fan to play this game. Overall after washing it down, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations is acually quite
Great Tasting!
