You know? Today I pretty much became a blacksmith apprentice. I successfully made a chisel out of raw steel, and you have no idea how proud that makes me feel. Aside from tools and equipment, I had virtually no help (or advice, to be precise), and still managed to create a functional, albeit rugged piece of equipment. Ultimately, I'm trying to create a sword, and perhaps a dagger, knife or short sword of some sort in between. If I manage to, I'll make sure to post the results to my fair, albeit non-existing readers as of this post writing.

True story, btw.

Ah well, all of that because I kept thinking on a style of making these 'ere blog posts, and I kinda liked how I started Red Steel 2, so hopefully, you'll see some random lulz or true story every time I make reviews.

But, as the keen observer might suspect, this one is really short, for reasons I'll explain.

So, the game in question: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes.

Overall verdict: It fails. Of course, the correct term is different, but let's try to keep it family-friendly. Why? I do not know, but I don't feel like swearing right now, and the game doesn't bother me enough to do so. At least not now.

Anyway let's try to do this by the book.

Overall thoughts: Meh, aimed at fans. Yeah I know, it's obvious, and yet, couldn't they just, I don't know, maybe, try? Overall game depth is quite shallow, just punch some dudes, power up, and punch 'em again. While the formula is familiar to fighting game fans, to me it's just a jack of all trades, master of none. Let me try to explain.

Gameplay:

If what you're looking for is a fighting game, there's quite a share out there, and many fo the best, and I'm sure I need not mention series. Anyway, here the roster, or at least on a new game is quite limited, and that alone can make a fighting game fail.

Of course, games like the original Smash Bros. can pull it off because the characters are quite different from each other, making every bit of the roster worthwhile. Here, every character is quite the same with identical move lists that pretty much mash the eff out of the O button. No strategy besides mashing said button or throw sharp things. And I always wondered how in blazes they manage to give Sakura (or Hinata, for that matter) jutsus [Or techniques, for those who don't follow the series] as they didn't show any, at least not until Shippuden [Or later in the series, again for those of you who couldn't care less]. Granted, Hinata SHOULD know jutsu, given that she is from a preeminent ninja family, but Sakura shows absolutely nothing until Clash in the Land of the Snow [A movie]. Besides "Inner Sakura" is a sad excuse of a jutsu compared to 8 Trigrams and the like, let alone Chidori or Rasengan [All personal techniques, the last two are supposed to be the badass main character techniques].

What about "certain" RPG elements? Well, there's a level up system, and that´s pretty much it. No story whatsoever. As I said, aimed at fans. As I see it, people can and will steer clear from it, as how do you fight with a character that you know nothing about? And even worse, they don't take time to at least tell about them. Honestly, a friend chose not to play Dissidia just because of this small detail, so I know it happens. Was it so hard to make little stories for everyone? Of course it is, because you'd have hordes of fans raging and arguing about if that should be considered canonical.

So, lack of depth, no story, Fans only. Yep, that's pretty much it.

Wait, so this formula of fighting game combined with RPG elements was doomed to fail? So no one can do it correctly? And for the PSP? Such questions fill my mind...

Oh right. Effin' Dissidia: Final Fantasy.

Right, the other scores and we can put this to rest.

Sound:

Ewww. American dubbing.

Visuals:

Ok, I guess? Not ground breaking but not hideous either. Cel-shaded style. As to give it more of anime feeling, I suppose. Well, the stages are nice actually, especially since you can interact with the background and fight there. Colorful replicas of famous landmarks. Of course, if you don't follow the series, you won't care anyways.

Last, but not least, Replay Value:

You COULD spend several hours leveling every character until the CPU poses no threat to your skill, but fighting games become dull quickly unless you manage to find someone to play with. Chances are, if you bought this as a Naruto fan, your friends don't have a PSP to begin with, as they spend their money in other interests. Likewise, as an average guy, your friends are likely to keep their distance knowing you own the game, so you're on your own playing either way.

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On a last note, it wasn't as short as I expected to be, sound did cut some corners, but the game overall gave me a lot to nag about. Some final notes to finish.

-I only played for about 10 minutes. 15 tops. That's as much as I could handle.

-I did watch the series, and I'm roughly aware of the story so far. In case you want to complain about that.

--From Zim's Olde Desktop