Anime games are always an interesting beast. They have to straddle the line between catering directly to the long-time fans of the series, while also simultaneously offering an entry point for newcomers. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is a fantastic game for fans of the anime and game series alike, but has trouble drawing in new players to the universe while also suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. It’s easily one of the best Naruto games out there with tons of content to sink into, but what it has in breadth it ultimately lacks in depth.
Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 picks up right where Ninja Storm 2 left off with the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War, although the prologue covers the Nine-Tail’s attack on The Hidden Leaf village. Narratively, CyberConnect2 have done an impressive job as you can tell there is quite a lot of work stuffed into this game. The presentation in terms of both graphics and voice acting mirrors the anime almost perfectly and is one of the impressive anime-to-game adaptations to date. The cel-shading is beautiful, especially in fights, and the overall plot is very well fleshed out for a game like this.
David Jagneaux 