Waiting for the new CyberConnect2 project, .hack // GU Last Recode, Bandai Namco has decided to crown the development team's work on Naruto with a rich collection largely remastered, precisely Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy. We are actually talking about a "modular" product, as it is possible to purchase all the episodes of the package individually in digital format or limit yourself to the first three with the Trilogy edition. In any case, those unfamiliar with the franchise and want to make up for lost time will find four games of great value, full of stories, missions and spectacular fights: a legacy not just, that of the studio directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama, which has demonstrated how it is possible to create visually better tie-ins than the anime from which they are drawn, taking full advantage of the plot and making the characters at their best in a riot of colors, ninja techniques and effect phrases.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
The first game included in the collection is Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, originally published in 2008 on PlayStation 3. It is a title that starts from the great experience made in previous years by the development team, and which proposes an RPG structure in the optics of a rich campaign, made up of main and secondary missions that can be accessed by visiting the streets and places of the Leaf Village. The remastering work takes great advantage of cel shading, which hides the simplicity of the polygonal models related to the characters very well, although the map appears rather bare and distant from its depiction in the Naruto manga and anime.
The formula, however, is always the same: counting on a roster consisting of twenty-five characters, to which are added the support ones, we will have to try our hand at more complex fights by selecting a main ninja and two companions to call back if necessary. . The action is that of a brawler rather than a fighting game, and it is no coincidence that the buttons used for the maneuvers are few: the Circle starts a simple combo, the Square allows you to throw knives from a distance, X serves to jump or sprint and the Triangle adjusts the ability to accumulate the Chakra to perform the most powerful moves. The blows are parried with the lats, evasion techniques are put into practice and, in general, the gameplay is frenetic and engaging, although some opponents tend a little too often to escape the fight by extending the distances, a practice that can generate frustration when you are unable to land hits.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
For the second chapter of the series, released in 2010, CyberConnect2 has seen fit to change the hub of the Leaf Village (the first of a set of environments that can be visited), using a system of fixed frames capable of enhancing the richness of the landscape, as opposed to the desolation of the previous episode. Little has changed, however, in terms of structure, with a campaign that once again sees us wandering far and wide in search of access points to the missions. If the exploration methods have remained similar, with excessively extended timing for travel, from the point of view of management, there are various innovations, in particular challenges of a different nature and a much more varied use of characters, which follows the events of the plot quite faithfully.
When it comes to the point, the experience confirms its solidity without revolutionizing the mechanisms already tested at the beginning. We therefore continue with a quantity of commands reduced to the bone, an emphasis on timing and the spectacularity of the maneuvers, especially the special ones, which can also involve our inevitable teammates, to be recalled through the pressure of the main backbones, and that they make a difference in combat, inflicting enormous damage on the opponent if they hit. As with the first Ultimate Ninja Storm, the remastering work here is also flawlesson the contrary, it takes further advantage of the cinematic setting of the shots.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst
Published three years after the second chapter, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is present in this collection in the Full Burst version and obviously stands as the most refined and solid episode of the original trilogy, the one that fundamentally needed less of the cosmetic improvement that came with the remaster. It is evident how the game demonstrates the full awareness of CyberConnect2 towards the franchise, see for example the double nature of each single challenge and the presence, therefore, of narrative crossroads that can be covered during the campaign and which constitute a valid reason to complete it. more than once.
It is no coincidence that the part of the anime told in this chapter is also the most spectacular, with many revealed backstories, new opponents that stand out on the horizon and a look at the past of the Leaf Village, starting with the tremendous attack of the Fox to Nove Code and how this offensive was tragically rejected. Of course, the "hanging" conclusion of the story, which at the time could not count on the conclusion of Masashi Kishimoto's manga, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth; but, ultimately, the experience is certainly worth trying, given the incredible care that characterizes every single aspect. On the other hand, there is no significant novelty in the combat system, which continues in the path already traced previously, now well tested, and plays with quick time events and "awakenings" to make the clashes even more frenetic and of great visual impact, net however of a certain basic simplicity.
PlayStation 4 Trophies
The four games included in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy each feature a separate and independent set of Trophies, as might be expected. The amount of unlockable achievements for the entire collection is therefore enormous: there are fifty for the first Ultimate Ninja Storm, as many for the second, fifty-five for the third chapter and fifty-three for the fourth, to which we must add those of the Road expansion. to Boruto.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 --Road to Boruto
The conclusion of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series, enriched in this collection by the Road to Boruto expansion and the three narrative DLCs, belongs to recent history, being a production born last year, which marked the debut of the franchise on current generation platforms. From a narrative point of view, the game takes up the events of the third episode and closes them, also thanks to the extra chapter dedicated to Boruto, confirming itself as a title not to be missed for fans of the series. The campaign is in fact more compact and traditional, divided into five parts in which the protagonists of the Fourth Ninja War are deepened, but does not spare spectacularity and engaging sequences, as highlighted in our review. With this in mind, the Road to Boruto expansion only confirms the excellent work done so far, further enriching the story and placing us in front of new characters and challenges, in what appears to be the worthy conclusion of an unforgettable saga. Moving on to a global analysis of the Legacy edition, it is clear and evident that this is an extremely rich package, which will keep you busy for a very long time and which has been designed more than anything else for those who want to try their hand at the franchise for the first time. , whereas the Trilogy turns out to be a better choice for users who just want to retrieve the episodes released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Comment
Tested version PlayStation 4 Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 69,99 € Resources4Gaming.com8.5
Readers (22)8.4
Your voteNaruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy is a rich and well packaged collection, which can count on a valid remastering work for the episodes of the original trilogy, but also boasting the extra of the fourth chapter complete with DLC and expansion. The "modular" formula of the package allows you to recover in digital even just the games that we lack: an undoubtedly appreciable choice, but it is above all to neophytes that this collection is aimed, to those who have always wanted to try the Naruto experience but, for for one reason or another, he had to postpone the purchase. This category of users will therefore be able to have a delicious feast based on spectacular duels, engaging cutscenes and a high quality narration.
PRO
- Great remastering job
- A decidedly rich collection
- The charm of the series is still intact
- Some structural naivety in the first few episodes
- Slightly high price for the full package
