Reviews// Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

Only once the main story is over do you really get the chance to properly explore everywhere, though admittedly this does give the game a fresh lease of life. With the full world - even including areas from the previous games that aren’t visited during 3’s story - unlocked to explore and extra collectibles and side quests to be completed, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 actually becomes more fun after the credits roll. And while the main story isn’t too long, the post-game content extends the game’s lifespan considerably.

A pretty neat feature is the Ninja History Timeline. Not only does it let you replay previous story battles, but as you progress you can find and earn bonus battles covering the story of Naruto set before this game. While these battles lack the polish and fancy cutscenes of the main story battles they do a serviceable job of covering the full plot of the Naruto series, allowing new players to catch up on the events that led to this game’s story.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 expands even further on the cast of the previous games, adding in characters to make the roster more up-to-date with the story. While the more ‘serious business’ branch of fighting games tend to have their rosters unlocked from the start, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 takes the more old-fashioned approach of having you unlock most of them by playing through the story mode.

While this again extends the longevity of the single player, it brings with it the usual drawbacks of hampering anyone primarily interested in jumping into online or offline multiplayer as their favourite guys without putting in the legwork. Personally I’m ok with that trade-off, but I could see it putting some people off.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 isn’t a massive step-up from the last game and reuses a lot of assets, but it’s still a worthwhile purchase for fans of the series. The new story chapters cover some pretty big moments from the anime and a lot of key players are added to the cast.

It should almost go without saying that if you’re not at least a casual fan of Naruto then you won’t get quite the same kick out of this game. The major appeal to most is presumably putting together and mastering a team of your favourite characters. The story covered by the game is quite a long way into the anime as well and it really doesn’t go out of its way to get newcomers up to speed.

That said, this isn’t terribly complicated stuff and if all you’re interested in is the game’s merits as a fast-paced fighter then it holds up quite well even if you don’t know what the deal is with all these funny magic ninjas.

Pros
+ Nice anime-authentic look.
+ Big on fanservice.
+ Lots to do after the main story.

Cons
- Too many overly long cutscenes.
- Drawn-out story mode.

SPOnG Score: 7/10