Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2

This is my first Naruto game and is excellent, the characters, the storyline and the graphics made of this game a good item for fans of anime, videogames and Naruto... The only fail is about versions, the american dont have videos of the japan release, but the game is good.

Naruto ultimate Ninja 2 is one of the best games I played... my friend got me hooked on the show and the series of video games... I never thought Naruto would be good so I never watched it. But one day I played it woth my friend and noticed it s one of the best games ever!!!!!!!!! So I say fan or no fan this game gets a 10!

The game got cut from the JPN version. There\'s no Movie stuff and you don\'t get any free cards or stuff like you sometimes get in Naruto wares. There are TONS of characters compared to other Naruto games such as Uzumaki Chronicles, Clash of Ninja, and Ultimate Ninja. Although I liked the Jutsu previews such as Chakra Blade(Nara Shikamaru), which we\'ve seen Asuma use, but not Shika yet. Also there was Blazing Rasengan(Uzumaki Naruto), which reminded me of Odama Rasengan(Uzumaki Naruto). Don\'t complain about it though. My friend has the JPN version and he can\'t use secret techniques because the game will freeze. This was only with his copy, he got a new one and it worked. Overall Japan beats America. I still give the US version a 5.

Good game, but just an upgrade than an overhaul

Gameplay/Controls:

The game play takes place on a 2-d Plane. Think old school side-scroller style fighting game meets manga. The gameplay also takes place between 2 planes, which allows for some versatility and ambushing. In essence, all characters have the same move-set. Up Up X and Down Down X will always activate a Jutsu, and back x will always thrown an opponent. Will everyone has the same commands, the moves and ways they are implemented are unique to the characters, taking moves mentioned and hinted at from the manga and anime. The Controls are tight and responsive.

There is a light RPG element in this game You play as Naruto and others through a story mode “Ultimate Road”, which lightly bases itself on the actual story(a few changes, but the general Idea remain) which can spoil people only watching the dub. The story then goes into original material. The acual mode itself involves talking to people and learning their techniques and unlocking certain characters. There are mini games to earn Ryo(money) to buy new things, such as music and scrolls, mostly fan stuff Audio:

The audio in this game is much better than the last Ultimate Ninja, in quality alone. The last games audio seemed quiet and drowned out by other sounds. In this game you can hear things more crisply

The music is alright. The music is very Japanese and similar to the first. The music is catching, but not very memorable. It doesn’t really base itself on the music used in the anime.

The voice acting in this game is improved upon in the first. With a few exceptions(Gaara grunting in pain) the voice work is a large step up form any localized Naruto game to date, save Uzumaki Chronicles.

Interestingly, a few characters are not voiced by their anime counterparts. To name a few, Tsunade and Genma are not voiced by the same people.

There is not a Japanese option, but that is likely because of localization to the script. Likely, is a Japanese option was put in place, it would be likely that the text would not match what they were saying, thus defeating the purpose of dual language option

Graphics/Art Style:

The Graphics and art seem more influenced by the original Naruto Manga than the Naruto Anime. Most shading has a manga style shading and effect. All characters look exactly like their manga counterparts, as well as most of their techniques (some use the anime versions). Since the game is more manga based, the graphics are less colorful and grittier. However, this game came out years ago in Japan, so the game shows its age a little.

The characters seem to move stiffly, though everyone has unique ways of moving. When using Secret Techniques, you are able to see a close up of the shadows of the characters, and can see polygons and shapes rather than the actual shape of the person giving the shadow. In the RPG mode though, the shadows look much better

The environments are very interactive and everything seems to have some life to it. The environments have detail, but look a little dated.

Special Techniques, however, are done very well, with over the top action sequences and sometimes really good effects.

Censorship/changes:

This is more for the fans of the Japanese version wondering what was changed. This game had some censorship in it, as well as some changes

-Doto Kuzunoha (first movie villain) was removed from the game, as well as the stages (which were actually pretty cool.)

-Asuma’s cigarette is edited out in his character model and all pictures. Also, in Shikamaru’s 3rd Secret Technique, He does not put his cigarette out in the enemies’ blood, since he doesn’t have it(the scene cuts away before he would go through the animation to do it)

-Itachi’s second Secret Technique is edited to remove the “cross” and made it look like the character is strapped to a board

There is other stuff, but it is unimportant

Conclusion:

If you are a fan of the dub, you will love this game. If you watch the Japanese version or have imported NH3 or Accel, there is not much here unless you want something to hold you over till NamcoBandai Localizes Releases ltimate Ninja 3(likely in early 2008). If you are not a Naruto fan, there is not much here to change your mind.

Its good and all but if you are on this website you prolly allready have eather a moded PS2 or a japanese PS2... and if you do just buy the japanese one becouse they cut the bad guy from the 1st movie and also the 2 stages that took place in the movie... I would give the USA version a 4/5 and the JPN version a 5/5