Naruto: Ninja Destiny Review - DS

4.5

Gameplay: 6
Graphics: 7
Audio: 3
Multiplayer: 6
Innovation: 5

Introduction

Naruto: Ninja Destiny may not be the first game in the franchise to be on the DS, but it is the first to try a new approach. For the first time on the DS, you can watch your favorite Naruto characters battle it out in full 3D. It all takes place from a side on perspective as you would expect, with two characters fighting at a time. However, just because the game is a fresh approach, doesn't automatically make it good. Read on.

Gameplay

The bulk of the gameplay is the fighting. There is, as you would expect, an adventure mode to play through, retelling part of the Naruto story. Upon starting the mode, you're greeted with a huge, univiting, scrolling wall of text explaining the circumstances of where the story mode starts off. The game dumps you in the middle of the Chuunin exams (why not the start of the series?), with no explanation of the story before that time, so if you haven't watched the anime, bad luck. Sadly, it's very short, with only 10 key parts of the story to play through, each of which is comprised of a single fight. Even if you're not paticularly good at the game, you should be able to finish the story mode in around an hour.

Other than the story mode, there is a battle mode and a multiplayer mode. The battle mode allows you to fight as many times as you like against a CPU opponent, or if you feel like a change, you can play through the single player (arcade) mode. In the arcade mode, you fight your way through a series of randomly chosen CPU opponents, and can unlock new characters if you complete it with certain characters. An overview of the multiplayer mode is in the multiplayer section of this review.

As mentioned above, the gameplay is fully 3D, and all fighting takes place from a side on perspective. The first thing you'll notice when you begin a battle is the interesting use of the DS's touch screen. The entire touch screen is taken up by icons in boxes, each of which represents a different item that is available for use. Touching a box activates the item, and these range from health boosts to defence power ups, to chakra recovery. Meanwhile, on the top screen, the main action is unfolding.

The battle controls are reasonably straight forward. The B button initiates a standard punch, and can be pressed repeatedly for a combo. The Y button is used for a stronger, slower punch, which can also be used in conjunction with the B button to perform a longer combo. The X button is used for jumping, and the A button triggers special attacks. Of course, you'll want to be able to block, and the R trigger is set aside for this. A staple of the Naruto series is the substitution jutsu, which allows the user to switch their body with an inanimate object to avoid an attack. The L button is ...