A Trip Down Anime Lane

I never used to be a fan of any particular anime. Okay that’s a lie, in my childhood I did watch Pokémon, Cardcaptors and Sailor Moon, but nothing really caught my attention during my late teens. About two years ago though, I happened to play Naruto: Ultimate Ninja on the PS2. It was a quirky little fighting game, I didn’t understand half of what was going on, but there was just something about it I found appealing. About a month later I was scanning Foxtel and came across the actual anime. It just happened to be the pilot episode, so it got right in on the story and I showed some casual interest. Since then, I’ve essentially become a fan. I look forward to watching the anime when I can, and I love reading the manga each week and discussing it with a few people.

As you can probably guess, I have played a few more Naruto games. The one I liked most was Ultimate Ninja since it introduced me to the anime, but I’ve also found Clash of Ninja Revolution on the Wii to be a decent distraction from Smash Bros. Brawl… At least for a few hours here and there. Of course, now owning a 360 how could I pass up the critically acclaimed Naruto: Rise of a Ninja? When I first saw how massive Konoha was I was completely blown away – villagers walking around every corner, lots of platforms and buildings to jump on, the ramen shop, pretty much anything you could think of was there. At that point I realised the true differences the 360 had over the Wii. It wasn’t just a bunch of prettier graphics, but also more expansive worlds. I literally spent an hour just exploring this vast village, just taking in the different sites and sounds I never thought would be possible outside the anime.

Next it was time for some actual progression. I hadn’t done a lot of reading on Rise of a Ninja, so I was pleased when I discovered the game was part exploration, part fighter. The fighting elements were quite different from previous Naruto games. Sure, you had your combo moves and the like, but jutsus were performed by “making” hand signs via the two analogue sticks. What made it even more realistic is you have to hold the hand sign and build up your chakra, releasing only at the right moment. It’s a point the anime and manga have touched on considerably during Naruto’s training, but until now it’s been dismissed in other games in favour of faster action. It’s certainly an interesting idea by Ubisoft, and to be quite frank it lets Rise of a Ninja stand out from the crowd.

Sadly, I felt exploration got a bit dull. Whenever you left Konoha and ventured into the wilderness outside, you would be attacked by random generic thugs. I’m not a fan of random battles, and only a few games have managed to pull it off successfully without making me cringe. Rise of a Ninja just doesn’t fall under that category, though I will admit battles didn’t occur too often, so there was some balance in that regard which made it slightly more bearable. Another thing I hate is repetitive side quests, and the game is full of them. Fetch quests, races, delivering ramen to villagers and playing hide and seek with Konohamaru; that pretty much sums it all up. Still, if you rotate through each task they are quite enjoyable, but you’ll need some patience if you intend to complete them 100%.

I was also a little disappointed how the developers cut corners in the main story. An example is the bell test. In the anime there’s quite a lot of humour involved watching Naruto using his clones to attack Kakashi, and then seeing Sasuke go all out with his fire jutsu techniques. Not spoiling too much, the game does it completely differently. There aren’t any bells involved, and the trio actually have to fight each other to decide who’ll face Kakashi. There are more examples of what’s wrong with the story, and it’s a real shame Ubisoft chose to do that. I agree they can’t stick to the story 100% due to design issues, but surely there are better ways to get around it? For me, it just makes the story lose its overall impact.

So, overall did I enjoy Rise of a Ninja? Yes, I loved it a lot and will definitely consider picking up its sequel, The Broken Bond, when I see it below the $50 mark. However, as it stands the game is still largely aimed at fans of the series, so if you’re not familiar with the anime then you best avoid it.