Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes!! Review!

Ever heard of Naruto? The self-confident begginer ninja who aims to be the leader of his hidden village? Of course you did,well,in most cases.The anime got adapted in many video games,which were pretty mush a success,even the newer ones.I recently got my hands on the PSP game that came out a while ago (there is a Heroes 2 out),and i waited to finish it before writting a review.

If you watched the anime,there isn’t too much to talk about,if you didn’t,the story follows a teen Ninja called Naruto,and his dream to become a Hokage,the leader of the Leaf Village.In his journey,he meets many interesting characters,have various battles…..The game’s Story Mode (alternativly called Heroes Mode) isn’t really a trustfull copy of the original story,but anyway…

The Heroes Mode is divided in 4 parts:

• Survival Excersise – Follows the events in Season 2,in the ”44th Battle Training Zone” aka The Forest of Death. Boss: Kakashi/Might Guy
• Leaf Hurricane – Nothing really. Boss: Gaara of the Sand
• The Legendary Sannin – Sannins are legendary Ninja warriors,who have exceptional skills:

1. Orochimaru
2. Jiraiya
3. Third Sannin (forgot her name)

Each with it’s own skill.

• – Follows some part of the story involving Kisame and Sasuke’s (Naruto’s clan member) brother Itachi.

Now,the first mode has 5 stages,and every mode after that has a stage more,with the last stage being a boss fight.

Other modes are:

• CPU – A 1 on 1 fight
• Naruto’s House – Look at the things you won
• Parameter Power Up – Each time you win a fight,you get points.Use those points to power up you’re characters.
• Options – ‘Nuff said.
• Hokage Test – I forgot the name of it.The Ninjas are ranked from the lowest (Academy Student/Gennin) through the medium (Chunnin) to the highest (Junnin,Hokage,Sannin).Do different missions under different conditions in order to level up.

The game has a total of 20 characters:

1. Naruto
2. Sasuke
3. Sakura
4. Ino
5. Choji
6. Shikamaru
7. Kiba
8. Shino
9. Hinata
10. Rock Lee
11. Neji Hyuga
12. Tenten
13. Gaara of the Sand
14. Kakashi
15. Might Guy
16. Kisame
17. Itachi
18. Jiraiya
19. Orochimaru
20. The third Sannin

Every character battle with a different style,and has different moves.In the show,every ninja has his own special Jutsu tehnique,and so does in the game,of course.All the most familiar are in,such as Chidori,Rassegan,Lighting Blade,…And can be performed while you’re Chakra is at MAX power.Those moves take out a lot of health,and have special cinematics when they are used.

The places are right from the show,while thier number is pathetic.A total of 6-8 fields are available,which is,not enough.

Just like in the show,in the story mode you take a 3 member team (Team 7,Team Guy,Team 10,Team 8…) and before the battle,you can use the special abilities of the character that you chosen,like ”Leaf Hurricane : Lower an enemy’s health by 33%.” and similiar tehniques.After that,you choose the fighting order,who battle first,and who last.Once the character is beaten,the second one jumps right in,but there is no changes while in battle.So happens with you’re opponents,since they also fight in teams.

That almost covers it.The rest is up to you to find.Belive me!

The Force Unleashed!!!

Harness the power of The Dark Side while you’re on the go.

Lucas Arts realized that the SW era of movies is dead,so he turned to other media.He said that this game is the ”next part of the Star Wars sagas”.

The gameplay is so advanced,it’s amazing.Another thing that is entirely new is the DMM and the Euphoria engines.In the DMM engine if you break a wall,or crush a storm-trooper,it will obey the laws of nature.The glass will shatter the right way…And in Euphoria engine,every enemy thinks for himself.So while one will run ayaw,the second will jump of a bridge while the third will try to confront you,each thinks for himself.Besides uterly amazing graphics and the display of the true power of the PSP,there is a big amount of use of ”The Force” in the game as well the use of lightsabers.Anyone who is doubting about getting this game,have no second thought.Those who have custom firmware better start downloading right away.

Edit: Well,i felt this article isn’t good enough to satisfy such a great game,so here is an extension. ^^

If you though Renegade Squadron was great,you have to try this out.All the versions (console) are mostly the same,not looking at the graphics,while the wii version has been edited,since the console doesn’t have the capabilities to run some ”next-gen” levels.

The Story Mode basically leads you on different worlds,on missions that Darth Vader sent you.The first level is exceptional,where you are the Darth Vader and you’re mission is to obliterate enemy Wookies.The game is filled with ”Force Attacks” like Choke,Grip,Force Push,Force Crush…each with it’s own visual effects.You can press Triangle to lift the enemy in air,from that point you can make combinations to throw your lightsaber at him,or choke him by holding L.

Boss fights (in the early stages mostly the remaining Jedi’s) can’t be better.Each enemy has his own attacks,along with special cinematics.At the end,and while in the fight,special cinematics will activate,where you will need to press the right buttons,in order to execute the right attack in order to finish you’re enemy.

”The Force” has been  updated,in other terms all new capabilities are available.This is with no doubt the best one yet.Most gaming sites like IGN,GameSpot,Kotaku rated it pretty high,while we give the PSP version 8.5/10

The DS version is,well,a disaster.The graphics are horrible,the engine is even worse.The bad thing is when a cinematic occurs and you can’t even recognize who is it.Don’t buy it,in stead,if you’re a raging SW fan,get Lethal Alliance which is far better (the game is really good,especialy for the DS).

Database of TFU videos on GameTrailers:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/6641.html

For those who wan’t the game,a high number of Seeders are available at MiniNova (6000+):

http://btjunkie.org/search?q=star+wars+the+force+unleashed+psp

Remember,if you like the game,buy it.I know it never happens,but by using piracy,we are digging our own grave,since the loss of money to the developing companies is high,if this continues at this rate,we won’t get any A material titles,which is already happening with the PSP.

May the Force be with ya!