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REVIEW: Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution

Published by D3 Publisher/Tomy Corporation for Wii.

Nothing beats the fun of a good fighting game. Kicking back with friends to beat the living tar out of each other for bragging rights is a great way to spend a weekend afternoon.

Long gone are the days of two-dimensional games like Street Fighter II and the original Mortal Kombat (although these games are still a lot of fun). When games like Virtua Fighter and Tekken entered the scene (prompting an extra dimension to be added to old Midway and Capcom faves), button mashing only got you so far. The 3D visuals were also awesome.

These days a lot of fighting games seem all about blood and guts (I suppose a lot of games in general seem to be about blood and guts), which is not necessarily a bad thing, provided that the added gore is simply an enhancement.

Unfortunately, I find that the bloody visuals become the selling point to most games. While this can be fun, it makes playing these games somewhat boring. Enter Naruto.

Naruto, a phenomenon from Japan created by Masashi Kishimoto, is a manga (and subsequent anime) about a young kid yearning to be the best ninja in his village. The series, while violent, is full of positive messages and great action. Combine that with its solid score and you have yourself a masterpiece.

This thinking carried over to the Clash of Ninja series (Gekitou Ninja Taisen in Japan).

A few years ago, Naruto: Clash of Ninja emerged for the GameCube, and it was a refreshing hit. Cel-shaded 3D animation was coupled with solid levels and a great soundtrack. Gameplay was simplistic, but fun, with several innovations not found in other fighting games.

Clash of Ninja 2 came out shortly after, and introduced more characters and even more play options. Our lucky Pacific neighbours in Japan actually managed to reach a fourth iteration, which had a staggering number of characters and levels.
Naruto made fighting games fun again.

Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution is no exception. A continuation of the North American version, Revolution utilizes the unique Wii controls to deliver a great fighting game.

Graphically, the game is not much different from its predecessors. I find the game slightly more crisp, but perhaps that’s just me. In any case, the characters are rendered faithfully, and the overall visual impact is wonderful. The sounds are also the same as the previous versions. Background music thumps away as the sounds of battle ring out over the arenas.

To me, two of the elements that made the Clash of Ninja series unique were the ranged weapons and the ability to perform substitution techniques. Ranged weapons could be deflected with other ranged weapons, instead of just being blocked with a generic backward thrust of the joystick. Substitution techniques are a way of utilizing some of your energy to disappear from the path of attack to reappear in a more strategic position. It allows for some interesting twists in battle.

In this latest iteration of the series, there are also stage transitions - parts of the level that give way to alternative environments. Line up your attack and send your opponent tumbling off a building or a cliff (as in Mortal Kombat: Deception). However, as you transition you can perform attacks, dodges, and so on. If your opponent can read your movements, they can counter.

Controls can be configured in many ways. Some ways utilize the motion ability of the Wii-mote, while others rely on standard buttons. However, using the Wii-mote during some of the special techniques (a guide will appear on the bottom of the screen to aid you) allows you to do much more damage than if you just initiated a special attack without enhancing it.

All in all, this is an awesome game. With plenty of unlockables, multiplayer action, and additional Wii-mote-driven mini-games, this title will probably never collect dust!

Posted in Reviews, Wii |