PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm

One thing has been made abundantly clear in all the media we've seen of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm -- it is insanely pretty. Playing the recent demo (available now in Qore, public release in a few weeks) only reaffirmed this point. Ultimate Ninja Storm, more than any anime game before it, looks just as good, if not better, than its source material. Not only is the level of detail stunning, the fluidity of the animations and the strong use of motion blur give it a truly cinematic look.

The Ultimate Ninja games on PS2 and PSP were all rather solid, but fans will be shocked to see the series make the transition into full 3D battles. Expanding the battlefield adds a great deal of depth to the aging series, and makes fighting even more enjoyable.

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Fans will be pleased to see that the demo includes language options for both Japanese and English audio. The dub appears to be synced to the English language only, meaning those that choose the Nihongo track will meet some strange syncing issues. The demo includes only two playable characters: Naruto and Kakashi.

All primary attacks are mapped to the Circle button, which may encourage button mashing. However, players must learn how to manage their chakra if they want to succeed. Players can charge their ninja energies by standing still, or by knocking the chakra out of their opponents. Depending on the amount of chakra a player has (represented by the blue meter below their health bar), various skills and attacks will be available at the player's disposal.

This is not unlike the previous Ultimate Ninja games, which encouraged players to try and level up chakra as much as possible to unleash devastating attacks. A low chakra burst can send an opponent reeling backwards, while a full chakra attack will begin a button-mashing sequence, where both players must press buttons they see on screen as quickly as possible. If the attacker gains the advantage, the spell will be devastating. However, the defender is also given the opportunity to dodge these attacks by beating their opponent in this mini-game.

The results of these sequences are spectacular, and easily the most stunning the franchise has offered yet. However, one of the problems with the original Ultimate Ninja games has been the tiresome frequency of these sequences. They may be fun the first dozen times or so, but seeing the same animations over again will certainly lessen their charm.

While we're enamored by the graphics and accessible gameplay, there are a few points we hope CyberConnect 2 will address before the game's final release later this year. Recovery time is much too slow, so much so that an opponent can fully recharge their chakra after successfully landing a powerful hit on an opponent. As it is, skilled players will be able to simply spam chakra attacks, with opponents having almost no way of breaking out of the cycle. Also, we'd love to see dodging become slightly easier, to keep the action as ninja-fast as it should be.

There are still months to go before Ultimate Ninja Storm releases exclusively on the PS3. Already, it looks and plays impressively. We can't wait to see more.