Customer Reviews

Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With this great game, you can unleash your ninja wrath on your friends or the computer with all new characters and in all new stages! It's quite a great change from the first game! You should really go and pick it up if you're a fan, and at least try it out if you don't know about the Naruto series.

The graphics are really nice and they fit quite well because of the anime series. The voiceovers are nicely done too, and you'll even be able to recognize Naruto's Believe it in the game! Do not forget that the game contains a lot of hidden features that will unlock over time, like videos, sound clips, audio clips, characters, and much much more!


The sound fits with the stages and the mood in harmony, the characters all have their move and specials, which means each one of them can be tricky in certain situation. The basics are simple and you get to grasp the controls quite quickly. Around half an hour is what you need to get the hang of it.

The game overall is great, everything in it falls perfectly into place, you'll like the game even more if you're a fan, but still, everyone should enjoy it! ^^

The second Ultimate Ninja title from Bandai is a fighting game based on the Naruto anime series. Ultimate Ninja utilizes some story elements from the series concerning the Chunin exam up to the events involving Tsunade. It's too bad that Namdai didn't include a feature for dual voice tracks as this game is stuck with the North American dub from the TV series. The dub work isn't bad, but it will irk some fans that prefer the Japanese voice work. Music in Ultimate Ninja 2 has improved upon the last game, but it lacks the tracks from the TV series, but it still does a fine job of carrying the ninja action. The game includes a good variety of super moves and jutsus are available at the player's disposal. Most characters will have his or her signature moves in the form of leveled super attacks. When using the super attacks, the player needs to tap buttons in order to dish out maximum damage. It's also possible to reduce damage when the player is on the receiving end of the attacks in a bid of power struggle which adds a bit competitive edge to using them. These attacks are just as crazy and flashy as the ones in the anime. The number of playable characters has been increased since the last Ultimate Ninja game to over 30 characters to choose from, a number of which requires the player to unlock through progressive playthroughs. A few characters are just alternates with a slight change and the increased selection of playable characters does provide some new balancing issues over the previous game where certain characters will dominate fights. The cel-shaded graphics looks a bit rough around the edge, but they capture the likeness of the characters from the anime and the animations are well done. During the story mode's progression, the player will be able move around village while taking on various adventures, missions and mini-games. By overcoming these challenges, some of which have limitations or restrictions on the style of the fight, they will reward ninjas with points to improve the characters' abilities and also earns money. The village also includes a market where the player unlock collectible bonuses from the store. There's quite a number of stuff to purchase and it provides a nice incentive to replay through some of those mini-games in order to improve customized characters. Like most fighting games, there's the practice and versus modes, but the game lacks any sort of online features which really would've added to the game's value. Ultimate Ninja 2 continues to improve the series, but it still lacks the depth and balance of other more serious fighting games. The title remains true to the anime's style and there's a lot to enjoy for fans of Naruto. Even for more casual players, the over-the-top ninjas can provide a fun experience without the need for extensive Naruto knowledge.

It's cool when developers try to improve upon a good formula for a game. Oftentimes, developers go by the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' motto and rely on spicing up the graphics & maybe a new story to sell the same ol' same ol'. To the casual players of the first game, that might seem what Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 is all about. Yet, to us Naruto fans who've lived & breathed Ultimate Ninja for the last year, we see a whole slew of improvement over the original. Not only are the graphics and overall presentation of the game even better the second time around, there's more than 30 characters to choose from as well as new items to use against your opponents(such as poison, bombs & more)-new stages-Ultimate Road, which takes the place of the scenario mode from the first game and follows the Chunin Exam storyline-character customization-cool mini-games that fit the Naruto universe well(such as treeclimbing, handstand races)-alternate outfits-new voiceover work and animation-lots of unlockable goodies-trailers of Naruto Uzumaki Chronicles 2 & Naruto:Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow(both coming this fall)-and more challenge this time around(to which I say "Practice, practice, practice!"). In my honest opinion, it's twice as fun as the original which goes to prove that there's still games to get excited about in what's left of the PS2's lifecycle.

Thanks to this game, I'm all psyched up for the next Naruto game to come out...Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes(also developed by CyberConnect2) for the Playstation Portable. Ninja Art Portable Gaming Goodness for the palm of my hand, believe it! Look for my review on that game next month.

First of all i want to say this game rules. Even if you havent picked up the first one, which of course you should prior to playing this one.
There is not much bad to say about it. It takes everything great about the first game and improves upon it 10 fold. I especially like how great the combos look and the ease of use for each of them. I realize this can also be a huge turn off for some users who are fight-game enthusiasts but for those of with full time jobs or full time school the ability to pick this up and start kicking tail is great, and also to look cool while doing it. THe first time you pull off a level 3 secret move will be a thing of beauty. This may be the last dying breath of the ps2 so make sure you pick it up even if you have a ps3 to quench your thirst for the next naruto game. Hopefully the next gen A Naruto game of our dreams will be coming soon. Untill then pick up this gem and try to unlock all the fun stuff hidden in here and fight to your heart's content. Just keep in mind you still cant defeat me "Believe it!". Just kidding.

This game is real fun i like this better then part3, part3 is alright but this is more fun and more better. I don't really like part3 because 1. it gotten boring, 2. there's nothing new with the attacks, 3. you can only use speacial jutsu once, 4. the new characters are not that great, 5. playing as the big toad and snake and sand monster is real boring nothing really great about that, 6. you can't play as the real cursed sasuka like in this one you can, but this game is better this and clash of nnga2 are the best naruto games ive played out of all of them, but this is a fun game.

Its an awesome game. The Gameplay is fun, the jutsu are fun to activate...
Its an overall fun and exciting game!

Great fighting game, it plays just like Super Smash Brothers with Naruto characters. Which is pretty awesome. If you like fighting games like Super Smash Brothers and Naruto the anime, then this game is for you.

I am an avid watcher of Naruto, mostly the Japanese version, but I'm from the United States so it's hard to get up-to-date games. But seriously, like I played the "ultimate road" part for 5 minutes and wanted to puke. The voices are delayed are and sooooo much less inaccurate from before. The Naruto: Ultimate Ninja original is fine with me, I love it actually, but this pales in comparison. When Jiraiya said "I recovered my chakra!" instead of "chakra recovery" I just about lost it. They really slapped it together at the last minute. The graphics suck, and traveling from one area to another is obnoxious. Even the battling is really slow and you can't do much.

My son really enjoyed this game and would play it non-stop throughout the day if I let him.

I bought this game at the same time as I bought Ultimate Ninja 1, since they had been out a while, and were both relatively cheap. Because of this I also got the added benefit of not having to get used to the controls twice, and being able to easily change from one game to the next. In many ways Ultimate Ninja 2 is a huge improvement on Ultimate Ninja 1. The story is continued further, there are over twice as many characters as in the first game, more stages to fight in, and the secret techniques, and story mode have been completely redone. With all these improvements however, there come new drawbacks, which I hope will be fixed with the coming (or my buying) of Ultimate Ninja 3.

The graphics are just about the same as in the last game, but this is far from being a bad thing. More than ever, I feel like I'm reading manga rather than playing a video game (especially during the secret techniques). The music has been added on to, due to the increase in the number of stages, and has just as much appeal as the music of Ultimate Ninja 1.

One of the best improvements I think that the producers made to this game though, was the increase in characters, and fighting stages. Now there are over 30 characters (including the Akatsuki members, Itachi Uchiha, and Kisame Hoshigake) to play as, many of whom should have been featured in the last game as well. Unfortunately about five of the "new" characters are simply alternate versions of existing characters, such as ANBU Kakashi, or Sealed Orochimaru. I suppose I would have liked to see more variety of characters, even minor ones, such as the sound Genin, or even Asuma. Nevertheless, I am still pleased to see characters from the Chunin Exams who should have been in the series to begin with.

There are more stages in Ultimate Ninja 2 as well, though not that many have been added. Now along with the stages of Ultimate Ninja 1, you can also fight in Konoha Forest, Tanzaku Town/Outskirts, and The Leaf Village Hot Springs. As a Dragonball Z fan, who is used to hundreds of characters, and close to that many stages, I can't praise this game enough for this improvement. Unfortunately this increase in stages also has its drawbacks. Now it is impossible to switch freely between stages, when knocked down enough times. In order to change locations in Ultimate Ninja 2 you need to successfully use a special projectile, which doesn't appear frequently.

The Story Mode is my second favorite improvement to Ultimate Ninja 2. This mode has been completely redesigned, and it combines the story mode of the last game with the mission mode. Both of these modes are now blended into one, and thrown into the mix as well is an adventure/RPG game aspect which I personally enjoy. The cutscenes have been rethought, and are much better, than they were, since they now look like real cutscenes (if you've played the last game you know what I mean if not see my review). They could still be better though, since in almost every other game I have ever played the graphics in the cutscenes are much better than in normal gameplay. In Ultimate Ninja 2 however, the scenes look just like the fighting characters, who are moving slightly differently than normal.

On a slightly less important note, the Story Mode also has mini-games now, which are a nice distraction now and then from story battles, and missions. The three biggest are Lee's push-up challenge, a contest to see wheter you, or the computer can press the circle button more times, Guy's Handstand Race, which is essentially self-explanatory, and Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Challenge/Guy's Pose Challenge (their basically the same thing). In the last game, you have to repeat in exact order a sequence of button combinations, which get progressively longer as the game goes on. If you win at any or all of these games you will receive much money which you can spend on Extras, in the Shop mode of the game.

The Story Mode also brings up one of my biggest complaints about the game. In Ultimate Ninja 2, the story essentially picks up from the last game, and goes up to the end of the Search For Tsunade arc. After that they made up a story about Kakashi losing the use of his Sharingan, due to Orochimaru. Most of this I can accept, since they hadn't aired up to the Sasuke Retrieval arc in America yet when the game was made, and because they needed some way of making a new interesting story to take up space. But the story of the game rushes through the Chunin Exams, and doesn't even cover any of the story before that. I understand that the makers of the game assumed that most, or at least a lot of the people who would buy this game had already bought, or played Ultimate Ninja 1, but that doesn't mean that you should cut out story. If anything it means that you can make the story longer, and expand upon what you already have.

My last complaint is with the controls of the game. For the most part they are the same as in the last game, with a few alterations, which are not really noticeable except during secret techniques. There are also now more projectiles, and items in this game as well. The two biggest differences to the secret techniques, are that sometimes you have to either win a button pressing contest with the opponent or CPU, or an analog stick spinning contest. Whoever spins the analog stick more, or presses the button more, does the most damage, or blocks the most damage. The rest of the time you are still pressing randomized button combos within a time limit. Partly because of this though, and partly for other advances in the game, the controls of almost every single character are identical. The only difference is how the character reacts, when you press a certain combination. This aspect is much worse than in Ultimate Ninja 1, and this leads to my related complaint with the secret techniques. The visuals for the techniques looks, at least to me, to be the same as in the first game, and though there are more now than before, I would have like to see more variation. The only thing that is different about the techniques now is the audio component, which for now is enough for me.

Overall I enjoyed this game just as much if not more than the first, and hope to buy Ultimate Ninja 3 very soon. The game may have its flaws, but no game is perfect, and this is still one of the best Naruto-based fighting game series out there. I would definitely recommend this game to Naruto, DBZ, and even fighting game fans alike. The game is fun, fast-paced, and even with its drawbacks it doesn't deserve much less than 5 stars. I would give it 4.6 stars, if I could but don't think any less of the game because I only gave it 4.