Incomplete jutsu: Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker review | Technobubble

I love the Naruto fighting games. Starting with Naruto: Clash of Ninja on the Gamecube, I’ve always had a soft spot for the shonen-based franchise's fighters.

That being said, the last few Naruto fighting games have started to feel a bit stale. I’ve always liked how the Naruto Shippuden fighters managed to combine easy-to-pick-up mechanics with flashy, awesome production values that beat out even the anime scenes they’re based on. But with the manga's narrative hitting the home stretch in the last few years before finally ending, it feels like the last few games have pretty much squeezed every single, solitary drop out of the original Naruto storyline.

So when I realized that Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker was abstaining from the traditional fighting game formula of the Shippuden series and implementing four-player co-op and versus matches instead, I was hopefully optimistic. After all, I’m a big fan of games like Monster Hunter, Phantasy Star and even Lost Planet 2 and its E.X. Troopers spinoff. The thought of being able to play a game with four-person multiplayer using my own original Naruto character combined with the Shippuden series’ solid mechanics sounded promising to say the least.

I started by creating my custom ninja character, a Hidden Leaf kunoichi with long black hair and a tomboyish voice. So far so good. I started with the basic Hidden Leaf garb, which clearly marked me as a beginner among the throng of online players with special gear. In less than an hour, however, I was already rocking young Hinata’s full set, which I earned as random loot rewards from doing VR missions. Thanks to its bonuses, it was the perfect gear for my starting healer build — one of four classes you can play in the game.

That’s right, your characters might be ninjas, but the base mechanics are straight out of an RPG. You have the Healer class, which specializes in healing, reviving and protecting teammates from status effects. Then you’ve got my other favorite class in any RPG, the ranged spellcaster. Naruto’s Ranged class act like mages who excel in using powerful spells or “jutsus” from afar, which can take the form of bombs or elemental attacks. For tank lovers, you have the Defense class, which boast extra survivability as well as a diversity of defensive moves for mitigating damage. The Attack class, meanwhile, act like warriors or fighters who specialize in dishing out damage up close — by far the most popular class based on the number of folks I see online.

The good news is that switching classes is as easy as 1-2-3. Your character can assume any of those four roles at any time, with your gear and abilities being the only thing that really limits you. You can even switch roles mid-mission, like when your character falls in battle. This is great as it allows for experimentation as well as some Will Ferrell-style strategery should the situation or your team makeup demand a different type of fighter. I normally pick a healer, for example, which is great in this game since they aren’t as common as the other character types. When I’m playing solo, however, there are times when switching to an Attack ninja helps when fighting against certain bosses, for example.

Switching is especially important given that the partner AI can easily switchng from being a competent partner one moment to a useless paperweight the next. Instead, the game works best when playing with actual humans. I remember one early mission where we had to defend a gate and randomly ended with the perfect mix of one healer, one tank, one close-range attacker and one long-range attacker. That mission ended up being a blast as we all played our roles nicely. We basically had the tank using earth walls to block enemies from the gate while I mixed in various field and emergency heals with paralysis, allowing our two attackers to go all out. Teamwork is especially important when playing multiplayer co-op as the difficulty appears to scale up compared to solo. For more competitive folks, you have the option of doing versus matches against other four-man cells as well.

For added customization, you can pick to study under a specific ninja master to gain their skills and gear. I started with Sakura, for example, in order to gain her excellent healing jutsus. Some missions also reward you with specific loot the first time you clear them as well as a specific item that has a chance of dropping once for that mission. Add scrolls of varying rarity that can give you random gear such as the Hinata set I mention or various gear from characters such as Kabuto, Temari and the rest of the cast and you’ve got the perfect foundation for what should be a fun multiplayer experience.

Once you get past the early game, however, the game’s weaknesses start to show up. At the top of the list are repetitive missions. Granted, games like this are repetitive by nature but that repetition is typically anchored by well-designed levels or stages. I can hunt a Seregios or a Diablos multiple times in the desert when playing Monster Hunter because it’s fun even after the 50th time. OK, maybe G-Rank Diablos might not be someone's definition of "fun" at times but you catch my drift. In contrast, Shinobi Striker has several missions that feel like filler and those can feel more like a chore instead of something you want to do.

Unlocking new VR missions also can be a bit confusing at first because you aren’t given specific guidance about it. Basically, you will need to talk to different NPCs in town but if you don’t know that or what to do, it can be a bit frustrating trying to figure it out, especially since these NPCs don’t show up right away. Eventually, all missions are automatically unlocked once you finish the “campaign” portion. Calling it a campaign, however, is generous, to say the least, as the game doesn’t really have a story, which is another downside for the game. While it lets you experience events from the past, they feel more like loosely stitched parts of a not-so-cohesive whole, making Naruto to Boruto feel more like you’re playing an incomplete beta or a glorified DLC pack.

Even the versus mode has issues as well. While the base mechanics are solid and pretty fun, some of the jutsus feel imbalanced, with one-hit KO moves like Planetary Devastation feeling especially cheap as they can wipe out an entire team. It appears that the developers have been patching up some of these but the game could still use further balancing.

Then you’ve got the issue with microtransactions. Now I’m not entirely against them as there are ways to do microtransactions without feeling like you’re being taken advantage of. But doing stuff like placing certain masters behind paid DLC just doesn’t feel right. The issues are a bit of a shame as the game feels like it could be something special. There’s nothing quite as cool as avoiding a boss’ big ranged attacks in mid-air, using a kunai to teleport to a wall, running on said wall while barely dodging another giant special attack and smacking said ginormous boss in the face. As it is now, though, it feels like a potentially promising jutsu that isn’t quite complete yet.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Striker is a game that seems to have the right ingredients in place but didn’t quite come out of the oven the way that you wanted to. I like the combat mechanics, the various classes, the ability to tailor your character to your needs, and the multiplayer aspect of it. Mission design, however, could be more interesting and the balance could be better. As it is now, the overall experience just feels a bit incomplete and filled with empty calories. If you’re a big Naruto fan, however, this is one dish that might still be worth sampling.

• Rating: 6 out of 10
• Cost: $59.99; PS4, XB1
• https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/naruto-to-boruto-shinobi-striker

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