Reviewed: November 8, 2008
Reviewed by: Chris Wong

Publisher
D3Publisher

Developer
Tose

Released: October 14, 2008
Genre: RPG
Players: 1-2

7
5
5
7
6.0

Supported Features:

This is a very basic RPG that is easy to get used to if you have played any other RPG. You walk around the map, talk to NPCs and they give you hints and tips on what to do next, and when you get to a certain map, building, or talk to a certain NPC, a cutscene will play out to reveal the story.

As you progress through the game, you meet new characters who will join you and you can expand your squad, or party. The tagline for this game is “Who’ll be in your squad?” Unfortunately, this is an attempt to be unique, but like any other RPG choosing your squad is just changing party members. Eventually, you will have an array of characters to choose from, up to 30. This reminds me of a game made in 1999, Chrono Cross, where there were over 40 characters. It was just way too many.

Many newer RPGs have switched gears to make the battle system real time; however, this one borrows from the older style of random encounters and turn-based. If you’re used to that style, then this is a great touch and a very much missed feature.

The battle system is simple, you are given the option to choose to attack, use an item, or use special skills known as jitsu. You can either use the control pad to choose an option or use the stylus to pick from them.

For some of the jitsu, you will have the ability to increase its power by rubbing the touch screen or spinning a wheel clock-wise or counter clock-wise. This was a nice feature since the DS is all about the touch screen; however, they were too easy to do. Simply rubbing the touch screen is not very innovative at all.

The Wi-Fi feature in this game is mainly battling other players, either your friends, or someone from the same region. This is probably the only time your squad will really matter since you will be battling the other person’s squad. When your opponent uses a jitsu, you can block or lower the effectiveness of it by rubbing the touch screen or spinning a wheel clock-wise or counter clock-wise.

If you have a friend with the game, you can battle each other through Wireless Communications; the same kind of battle as the Wi-Fi battles. What more you can do via Wireless is trading. Throughout the game, you will obtain items known as Ninja Tags, these can be equipped to characters and they will learn new jitsu. Ninja Tags can be traded through Wireless Communications.

Unimpressive can describe the graphics in one word. It feels like a SNES port that is only slightly updated. The use of the 2D sprites lack in detail, unfortunately, SNES games had the ability to have more detailed sprites than these. One thing I did not like, while walking or running the sprite animation was exactly the same only that it was moving faster or slower. Sprite animations are able to show running or walking, but this game did not. In battle, your options appear above the battle, blocking out everything in sight. It was hard to tell whose turn it was or see where any enemies were if you wanted to use a jitsu that attacked an area.

You might be inclined to turn the sound off after the second battle or so. Every time it’s one of your character’s turn, they have to blurt out something, then they have to do it again every time they attack. There are only about 3 to 4 different sound files for each character and many battles can last up to 6 or 7 turns that these sound files will constantly repeat themselves. This would be potentially annoying since the voices in battle are much louder than the music on the world map.

This game can probably bring in about 15-20 hours. You can probably avoid the Wi-Fi since it is only battling other people’s squad which sometimes can be very unexciting; there just isn’t much pleasure in it. If you know someone else with the game, trading Ninja Tags may be worthwhile to obtain ones you don’t have already. Otherwise, you’d stick to the single player story mode.

Having not watched Naruto before or played any other game, I found myself enjoying myself regardless of its graphic flaws. I missed the old style RPG system and this game fulfilled that need. On the other hand, its repeating sound files quickly made me not want to battle very often. If you are a fan of Naruto, and possibly played the original Path of the Ninja, then the $29.99 price tag may not be very steep. However, if you want something with good graphics and a new innovative RPG, this game is either not for you or not worth its price.