I am a big fan of the Naruto franchise. Really, it’s true, and frankly, I would love to go and waste the whole of this article rambling like a geek on why I think Masashi Kishimoto’s manga rocks above all others, while questioning the occasional hiccups in the anime (fillers, anyone?). Regrettably, this is a video game website, and I am obliged to narrow my chattering down to video game-related matters.

(Sigh)

Luckily though, Naruto has a lot of love in the realm of video games. For example, the game whose review you are reading right at this moment: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact for the PSP. The latest from CyberConnect2 (who has been making Naruto games for close to a decade now), this game makes it fun and thrilling to be a scum-pounding ninja with super-powerful abilities. Want to know why? Okay, I’ll tell you.

Let’s start with the game’s story mode, known here as "Ultimate Road". This mode follows the Naruto Shippuden storyline, so don’t expect any real surprises if you’ve already read the manga or seen the anime. You progress through Ultimate Road via world maps riddled with spaces representing levels (think along the lines of New Super Mario Bros. and you’ll have a good idea of what I’m taking about). Once you enter the levels themselves, that’s when things get fun. Unlike most of CyberConnect2’s Naruto games, which are usually one-on-one affairs, Ultimate Ninja Impact pits you against dozens of enemy ninjas at once. Every character at your disposal is armed with a variety of melee attacks, long range weapons, and powerful ninjutsus (super abilities like creating clones, forming balls of lightning, and manipulating shadows), with which to use to lay down the law upon your adversaries. Although the control scheme is the same with all the characters, there is enough variety to allow you to have fun discovering each of their individual quirks and abilities. 

Once you clear a map, you gain access to bonus missions featuring original side-stories that offer further insight into the events within the main story. And as an added incentive, some cleared levels offer new side missions where you hunt down rogue ninjas in return for special rewards. Outside of missions, you can use character-themed "Friend Cards," which you gain throughout Ultimate Road and use to unlock hidden parts of the map. Or you can spend the "Ninja Points" you gain from missions on stat-enhancing "Battle Cards" as well as card packs containing fragments of incomplete cards that can’t be used until you collect them all. 

Outside of Ultimate Road, there are two challenge modes (one single-player, the other built for two) for you to take on. The challenges in these modes, which are unlocked as you progress through the main mode, range from racking up huge combos to taking down select characters in a fight to the death. And when you want to take a break from fighting, you can take a look at the game’s extras gallery, where you listen to music acquired over time, or re-watch exciting quick-time sequences from boss battles that you had beaten in Ultimate Road.

You probably noticed the "82" at the top of the page where the score goes, which should suggest there are some things that bog the game down. Mind you, the "82" still means the game’s very good, but that there are things worth mentioning. For one, I thought the stages the battles are fought on were a tad plain. There is little difference visually between one level set in a forest and another set in a forest. While I enjoyed laying waste to enemy hordes, the gameplay is not incredibly varied. Put simply, each level goes in this order: You run to the location pinpointed on your map. Enemies appear. You smack them good. You run to the next point on the map. You lay waste to more enemies. The stage’s boss appears. You take him (or her) down. With the exception of some deviations every now and then, that’s pretty much the gameplay throughout all the modes.  I also noticed an occasional issue with the enemy AI which resulted in some enemies just standing there, as if asking to die by my hand.

But the thing that bummed me out most was the story. As a fan, I wasn’t too thrilled with the way the story was handled. The cutscenes in Ultimate Ninja Impact are simple, text-driven conversations between characters on screen, and as a consequence, the plot was somewhat dumbed-down so as to make it easier to convey with words (not to mention the liberties taken to weave the "1 vs. 100" gameplay into the narrative). A shame really, since (and I warn you, this might be driven by fan-bias) the story is actually rather awesome. Another problem I found with the story is that it’s not very friendly to those unfamiliar with Naruto. There is never, at any point, an explanation for who the characters are, what their motives are, etc. Early on, it becomes apparent that this game was made with the established fan-base in mind, and while I don’t condemn CyberConnect2 for this, it wouldn’t have hurt to figure out a way to get the uninitiated up to speed.

While Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact might not be the best way to enter into the Naruto franchise (read the manga or watch the anime instead), I found it to be an enjoyable game, filled to the brim with action that, while not the best in gaming, remains solid enough to keep me wanting to play.

And in case you were wondering – no, that comment was not fueled by fan-bias. 

GameDynamo's Score for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Impact (PSP)

	Score	Description
Graphics	79	Stages are a tad bland and the ones with similar settings tend to blend into one another. The characters, on the other hand, are varied in design and are animated well.
Sound	77	The music is very similar to that of the anime, and while it is good, it is not all that memorable. The voice casts for both the English and Japanese versions of the anime lend their voices for this game, making for voice acting on par with their usual work.
Gameplay	84	While the mission objectives tend to be a lot of the same things over and over, there is fun to be had with the fighting system in this game, and it is fun to see how each character fights.
Play Value	80	Ultimate Road can last you quite a while, even if you skip the cutscenes. The other modes, while not as versatile, still hold up decently. By and large, it will depend on how much you enjoy plowing through masses of baddies (or how big a Naruto geek you are).
Final Score	82	This game is very enjoyable. Believe it! (Naruto reference)

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