NARUTO: Clash of Ninja Revolution

I like Naruto, of the most recent crop of animated action shows on Cartoon Network, Naruto has the best balance of character development, all-out action and plot devices. Sure, there are other decent cartoons, Bleach comes to mind, but Naruto made no bones about it, it wants to be the reigning action cartoon out there. Now despite the name, Naruto is not the show's (and game's) only hero. In fact, if you ever find yourself in a spirited discussion about the subject (you know at holiday parties and congressional dinners) then you might be surprised that Naruto isn't even always the favorite character or the most powerful.

If you played Naruto: Clash of Ninja on the GameCube then you already know what to expect, a fighting game with tons of characters, moves and more jutsu then you can shake a stick at. Now don't get me wrong, this is a new title in the sense of "it's now on the Wii" but it is essentially the same game with the exception of a few surprises.

 
 "Ah crud, I got sand in my shoe."

That being said, this is also the finest fighting game on the Wii, mostly because I can't really think of any other fighting game on the Wii, and therefore it's the best by default. But even if there were a slew of other fighting games on the Wii, this one would still rate pretty well. For starters, even though it has received a nice glossy finish, the game really embraces its cel-shaded graphics and knows its source material intimately. I personally like cel-shaded action and this is a a perfect example of why. The framerate of the fighting is incredibly fluid and although it is not the TV show, this is as close as the Wii is ever gonna get.

Now Naruto boasts an impressive collection of characters in which to fight, 20 in all, each with a veritable collection of attacks and jutsu moves. In the show, jutsu is the quasi magic that each ninja possesses that allows them to do the wild and crazy magical attacks. Things like multiplying yourself several times and then attacking an opponent in unison or morphing into strange half-human half-beast creature to obliterate your enemies is all par for the course. What the Wii does bring to the table besides some cleaner-looking visuals is the enhanced gameplay using the nunchuk and wiimote. Swinging both around your living room while pushing buttons is an exciting new way to play, but for traditionalists you can use the GameCube or standard controller. Additionally there are a couple of mini-games featured in the title that force you to use the controls in a more Wii-like way, but they are too few and sadly that's what I wanted to see more of.

In a rare instance, the developers completely forgot to shade this character in.

There isn't really any sort of plot to the game; yeah, it is a fighting game and the idea is to select a character and then play through all the fights to reach the end, but that as deep as we get. The multiplayer aspect (up to four) can be a bit more exciting since you can adjust it to be a 2-on-2 battle or even a 1-on-3 battle, but don't even think about being able to go online like Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3, 360) because that simply is not going to be the case. This means that multiplayer is based solely on who is sitting on your couch at the time of the battle.

The audio portion of the game is also pretty much a port of the GameCube cousin. Not that this is a bad thing; you would do much worse to find sound effects and action music. It's just the more I played the game, the more I realized that this title embraced those fighting games of the early 90s. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about there was a game called Street Fighter II, then came Super Street Fighter II, which begat Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which in turn evolved into Super Street Fighter II Turbo lite. It was a surprisingly effective way to get kids to part with their parents' money as they all were the same game with minor additions and upgrades as each new incarnation came down the pipe. Well, not that I am bad mouthing this game, because I think it's pretty decent, but if you have the GameCube version, then I don't really see a need for you to go out and buy this version just because it's on the Wii.

"Hai, ha, hoo-ha, haiiiiyaaahhh!"

For those who have read my review and still aren't sure what kind of game I reviewed, please continue reading. This is a fighting game viewed from a dynamic third-person perspective. The action comes a more then a brisk pace and you must use combination of button pushing and movement in order to attach your prey effectively. Fighting games have never been accused of having a lot of depth and this one is no exception, but if you are buying a fighting game then you probably already know that and have accepted it.

Gameplay: 8.4
With several ways to play, using the Wii's original movement controls or a standard controller makes the game a pleasure to play.

Graphics: 7.8
Really the game has a really decent look to it. The action never breaks down and keeps a steady clip. Bright, clean, cel-shaded love is prominent in this title.

Sound: 7.6
Decent sounding sound effects and action tempo.

Difficulty: Medium
The games challenge comes in beating all 20 characters; the battles come fast, but are not impossible.

Concept: 7.0
Not the most original idea, taking a popular action cartoon and turning it into a fighting game. The novel approach is that it actually works in this case.

Multiplayer: 7.9
It can be a heck of a good time having four people going at it in all the martial arts, magic-infused pandemonium that this game has.

Overall: 7.7
I liked the game; it has everything you want in your fighting games with the exception of online capabilities. Still, that blip aside, Naruto is a great fighting title for the Wii. Just don't get it is you have the GameCube version.