Naruto: Ninja Destiny Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 21st February 2008

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3D fighting hits the DS.

Naruto: Ninja Destiny Details:

	Beat 'em Up
	Nintendo DS
	Tomy
	Nintendo

12+

Out Now

N/A

You may not expect to find a 3D fighting game on the DS, but this is exactly what you get with Naruto: Ninja Destiny and surprisingly it actually works quite well.

Naruto: Ninja Destiny features three modes of play Story Mode, Battle Mode and Wireless Battle Mode. Story mode throws you into the world of Naruto, with storylines from the hit Japanese animated series. The various stories are told by a series of text based dialogue sessions, but in all honesty it can be a little difficult to follow exactly what’s going on for a number of reasons. The text is rather squashed together and not very easy to read and some words seem to have been lost in translation from the games native Japanese. You will also have to have pretty good knowledge of the TV series to grasp what’s going, which really doesn’t help with the accessibility of the title.

During the story mode you get to play as a number of different characters, each with their own fighting style which is good offering a lot of variation in this single mode! However, on the downside, you will have to play through the games story in one go, as you can’t save it midway through! This seems a little strange to me! If during the story mode you are defeated, you don’t have to start again from the beginning as you able to continue from the last battle in which you were defeated.

The Battle Mode features two modes of play, Player vs. Cpu and Single player. The first option allows you to select the character of your choice and then battle against your chosen computer controlled opponent. When playing the latter option you once again do battle with your chosen character but this time against a series of computer controlled opponents, winning the final battle in this mode unlocks a new character, more new characters can also be unlocked by playing through the story mode or by defeating more opponents in the Battle mode.

Naruto: Ninja Destiny also features a DS Wireless play mode so you can challenge your friends to battles. However, both players will require a game card in order to play this mode.

Battles themselves are relatively simple affairs, taking place on the top screen and only making use of the buttons. Characters can jump, perform strong and weak attacks and use a number of special moves such as JuJitsu teleport, and secret attacks which allow your character to inflict powerful and spectacular looking blows on your opponent.

Special moves are all dependent on your Chakra gauge, which is located under your health bar. You gain Chakra every time you hit an opponent and the more impressive the combo you pull off, the more you will gain. Once your Chakra gauge is full you are then able to pull off your characters secret move which is a simple case of pressing the A button.

Naruto makes very little use of the touch screen and as mentioned above and is only used to access items and power-ups during battle. Power-ups include potions that increase your attack or defensive abilities or allow you to regain lost health or Chakra. While the power-ups can come in useful, they can make the game a little too easy! For instance if you’re on the verge of defeat you can restore your health to near full!

Graphically the game works well, characters are a true representation of their cartoon counterparts, but they can look a little jagged at times, when in the games 3D environment. The game also features some nice touches that wouldn’t look out of place in any 3D fighting game, especially the sequences used when performing secret moves which are unique for each character. Sound in the game is a little disappointing and lacking in some areas, music is good and fits well, although the sound effects used for punches and kicks don’t really sound quite right.

This maybe the first 3D fighter to make its way onto the DS and for the most part its good! The game is only really let down by the story mode which is hard to follow, and the fact that you have to go through it in one session without the ability to save and come back to it at a later date. Multiplayer support could have been better with the addition of Download play or NWFC, but overall it’s a good quick blast of beat ‘em up action.