Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Review

<p align&equals;"LEFT"><em>Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm<&sol;em> has been a long running series&comma; and it can probably viewed as the most successful out of the entire franchise&period; Even though this game is titled as the fourth installation in the series&comma; there are actually six full entries with only four of them being numbered&period; Each game has improved on the formula and added more characters to the roster as the story in the manga continued&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT"><em>Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4<&sol;em> is the last entry in the series&comma; as it concludes the Naruto manga&&num;8217&semi;s story&comma; and is the first in the series to be released on next gen consoles&period; It features every character that has been in the <em>Ultimate Ninja Storm<&sol;em> series so far&comma; adds even more characters to the roster&comma; and finishes the story which began in <em>Ultimate Ninja Storm 1<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;100642" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-100642" style&equals;"width&colon; 710px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-100642 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03230540&sol;original-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4" width&equals;"710" height&equals;"399" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-100642" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4&comma; Bandai Namco&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">The game is the same fighting game as always&period; For those unfamiliar&comma; <em>Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4<&sol;em> is a 3D arena based fighter that uses many different mechanics and buttons to make an easy to play yet difficult to master fighter&period; The game&&num;8217&semi;s mechanics would be difficult to explain in a single paragraph&comma; let alone in this review&comma; but just know the game isn&&num;8217&semi;t as complex as I might make it sound&period; <em>Ultimate Ninja Storm 4<&sol;em> is just as fun the play as the previous entries&comma; and it can be played by newcomers and veterans alike after a little practice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">For those who have played the previous entry&comma; the developers has even added new mechanics to help balance the combat system and iron out the quirks they couldn&&num;8217&semi;t quite get rid of&period; Supports are no longer able to be either attack&comma; guard&comma; or balanced types and are stuck with just one type per character&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">You can swap out with your supports a la <em>Marvel vs&period; Capcom<&sol;em> by flicking the right stick&period; There is now a counter system where pressing X&&num;8211&semi;square for PS4&&num;8211&semi;initiates a counter to any timed attack but lowers your chakra bar every time you use it&comma; making it valuable but not spammable&period; They even added the ability to break a character&&num;8217&semi;s armor and weapons&comma; in addition to elemental damage to certain attacks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">Combine all of this with all the mechanics from previous titles and you have a really deep fighter&period; It can result in crazy fun battles if you play with someone of similar skill either with your friends or people online&period; The game really is fun to watch when experienced players fight&period; It represents the source material well and has such a diverse character roster that you can play as almost anyone to good effect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;100643" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-100643" style&equals;"width&colon; 710px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-100643 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03230516&sol;Naruto-Ultimate-Ninja-Storm-4-2014-12-27-2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4" width&equals;"710" height&equals;"399" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-100643" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4&comma; Bandai Namco&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">You have the option of playing story mode&comma; where you can play out the final chapters of the Naruto manga&comma; though you&&num;8217&semi;ll be lost if you haven&&num;8217&semi;t read it&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s adventure mode&comma; where you can run around the world of <em>Naruto<&sol;em> after the events of the main story doing wacky missions etc&period;&period; Collection lets you buy cosmetic items for online play and your profile&period; Online Battle lets you connect to other players and fight&comma; and finally&comma; Free Battle is for battling the CPU or fighting your friends locally&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">Even though the game doesn&&num;8217&semi;t have a whole lot of depth besides the fighting engine itself&comma; the Story mode varies the gameplay widely by including several different types of boss battles that keep it fresh and engaging&period; While there are quick time events&comma; they don&&num;8217&semi;t ever feel forced or boring because their placement just feels so right and over the top&period; I wish the story had taken animated scenes from the anime rather than still shots&comma; but I guess it&&num;8217&semi;s because some parts haven&&num;8217&semi;t been animated yet&comma; so using the in game engine to make these parts come to life works well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;100644" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-100644" style&equals;"width&colon; 710px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-100644 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;03230457&sol;JF&lowbar;Pub&lowbar;2&lowbar;FIX&lowbar;20141124-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4" width&equals;"710" height&equals;"399" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-100644" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4&comma; Bandai Namco&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p align&equals;"LEFT">Overall&comma; <em>Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4<&sol;em> is probably the best entry in the series and a good note to end it on&period; It has the largest roster of any <em>Naruto<&sol;em> game to date&period; The combat system has been tweaked to perfection and is easy to play but difficult to master&comma; the controls are smooth and responsive&comma; and the graphics look fantastic on the next generation consoles&period; <em>Naruto<&sol;em> fans should be happy with this send off&comma; and I encourage anyone that hasn&&num;8217&semi;t tried the series to pick this up&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s the most complete the <em>Ultimate Ninja Storm<&sol;em> series has ever been&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;" align&equals;"LEFT"><em><strong>An Xbox One code for Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 was provided by Bandai Namco for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;