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REVIEW
Naruto: The Broken Bond

Soylent Green is people alert: This review contains some (minor) plot spoilers for those who have not watched the Naruto anime series.

The Broken Bond is a fighting/adventure game that follows the storyline of the Naruto series, starting at the end of the attack on Naruto’s home village by the villain Orochimaru. Throughout the game, we primarily follow two friends, Naruto and Sasuke, and watch how their friendship develops in the aftermath of that battle.

While the main story arc follows the anime very closely, there are plenty of breaks in the original story to follow side missions that allow the game to be a little more interactive and video game oriented. The player will send various characters questing all over the villages and countryside doing typical video game quests: retrieving stolen supplies, subduing and capturing bandits, etc. But this is all done with an authentic flavour of the story that fans of the series will appreciate.

In addition there are many opportunities to deviate from the story to explore, collect coins, play mini-games, and train and hone the characters’ skills. Again these kinds of mechanics are nothing new to experienced gamers, but they are integrated well into the game in such a way that if the player chooses not to play the. They don’t get in the way, but are accessible and enjoyable if the player wants to explore them.

The visuals of the game are quite beautifully rendered using cel shading, but they fail noticeably when dealing with close ups of the main characters. It’s particularly jarring in the dialogue/cut-scenes, but most of the time it’s not as noticeable. The combat in particular is quite visually appealing. Gratifying large splashes of “POW!” or “BAM!” (or rather their Japanese equivalents) add extra cinematic emphasis after a successfully devastating combo is performed.

Like in other Naruto games, each character builds up power or chakra slowly, then can release unique jutsu: special moves that can do tremendous damage when done properly or fail miserably when not. Depending on which jutsu you’re attempting, once the move is released, additional control is needed such as targeting the opponent or performing quick-time events. These both increase the damage dealt. Jutsu has applications outside of combat as well, allowing characters to safely traverse heavily trapped areas, access otherwise inaccessible areas, or protect a character from missteps.

Increasing a character’s abilities is done generally through training. Going to a training dojo and practicing skills, attacks and combos will increase a character’s health, strength, or chakra. However, since the principle story line is about the bonds of friendship, Naruto in particular can only increase his abilities by earning Friendship Points through finishing quests, helping townsfolk, and doing the side-quests and mini-games.

Overall, the game is a lot of fun, the controls are intuitive and, save for a few minor problems, the game is polished and well presented. The dialogue is available both in English and Japanese with subtitles, and the story is engaging and flows well. I think that even those not familiar with the Naruto story will enjoy this game. Those that are, though, will appreciate the amount of the work that went into creating a great Naruto game.

Posted in Ninja, Reviews, Xbox 360 |