Don't get me wrong, unleashing awesome looking secret techniques on hordes of hapless foes felt immensely entertaining and made me feel like a real Jinchuriki badass, but the constantly recycled battles and mission objectives started giving me deja vu pretty quickly. While the game offers up a lot of content in both the main and extra modes, the shallow, repetitive nature of the combat devalues that content a bit. Naruto Shippuden gave me that feeling quite often. It kept me focused on the task at hand, even when I felt like I was doing the same thing as I did last mission and the mission before that. While these can start repeating during longer battles, they help maintain the tone of the plot between story sequences. As you Rasengan waves and waves of enemy ninjas into the next zip code, other characters chime in with their thoughts and observations on the situation at hand. This respectful treatment of the source material carries over into combat where each character's signature moves are put on beautiful display with fluid animations and the same vibrant color palette that Naruto is known for. I found myself so invested in some of them that I'm honestly chomping at the bit to meet them during my now inevitable Naruto viewing marathon. While Naruto and Sasuke get the most spotlight, the game does a good job of incorporating the stories of other characters as well, and makes them surprisingly compelling to boot. Well produced English and Japanese language tracks round out the package and helped to fully immerse me in the game's plot. The menus, the world map and the dialogue scenes are all saturated with sights and sounds that feel right at home in the Naruto universe. Right from the title screen, I found Ultimate Ninja Impact's use of the Naruto franchise impressive. If you're not in the mood for a lot of exposition and dialogue, you can head over to the Extra and Tag Mission modes and get right to the clobberin', either on your own or with a buddy over ad hoc. The main campaign offers a sizable 20 hours of content, during which you get to play as, and level up, a huge cast of colorful characters while collecting and equipping stat enhancing cards to further augment their abilities. 100 style beat 'em up battles on open playing fields. The core gameplay owes much to Dynasty Warriors, dropping you into 1 vs. Ultimate Ninja Impact follows the titular anime series from beginning to end, hitting the series' highlights along the way. Despite its repetitive combat and poor enemy AI, it serves as a gateway drug for Naruto newcomers. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact ended up being all the trigger I needed. But I couldn't deny the dirty truth I was hiding: deep in my heart, buried between my nostalgia for the Tenchi Muyo TV series and my budding love for K-pop, a burning desire to dive headlong into the Naruto franchise was brewing. I must confess that prior to writing this review I never gave Naruto, as an entity, a fair chance - due mostly to the derision directed at it by my friends during their fits of anime snobbery.
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