From the Top: NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja STORM 4

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 is probably the title that motivated me into doing this little trip down a shinobi-themed memory lane more than any other in the franchise. The characters looked better than ever, the battles were dynamic, and certain fighters could combine their powers into a massive team attack! What's not to love? So far, each entry in this venerable series has managed to build on its predecessors with better and better content, so I was eager to see if the penultimate chapter could pull it off… and oh boy was I in for a surprise. If this is your first time joining me in this franchise-spanning meander, I recommend checking the earlier parts for the whole picture!

Before I go into my experiences, I want to point out a few facets that heavily affected my enjoyment of this game. First off, I have been playing the Ultimate Ninja STORM franchise by myself and as a refresher of the plot of Naruto. As such, I focused mainly on the story content, making any solely mechanical improvements less impactful to me.

Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 managed to confuse me right off the bat with two weird design choices. First off, the plot picks up at a much later point than where the previous title ended: instead of continuing with the Shinobi forces dealing with reincarnated elites of the past, we kind of skip all of that, with Kabuto defeated, Itachi returned to the dust, and the main forces battling with the duo of Obito and Madara. This itself was a bit shocking, as the whole arc of Itachi and Sasuke meeting again and dealing with the latter’s anger issues was pretty pivotal to everything… but that wasn’t the worst of it.

I could forgive the odd starting point, since there is a fair bit of content to go through; however, my jammies were ruffled beyond repair by the fact that I could no longer explore through the land of Naruto as I played! Instead, I was greeted by a bland mission screen with two diverging paths for our Konoha heroes, Naruto and Sasuke. I’ll be honest, these two changes almost made me abandon this playthrough altogether, but I (game)grimaced and ventured on.

Divided into four sections, the story follows along the penultimate moments of Naruto: Shippuden, with some sections separated into two separate paths following the exploits of our two heroes. Each mission features one or more battles — these can be regular bouts as seen in other games, or may feature horde fights as introduced in the last game — and some cutscenes to set the scene… however, here’s the thing: more often than not, the cutscenes took longer than the fight itself by far!

On more than one occasion, I’d spend five minutes watching a cutscene, three minutes duking it out with the enemy du jour, then another five twiddling my thumbs! This is not unheard of, especially in fighting games, but the thing that infuriates me the most about Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 is the quality of the cutscenes themselves. Where we’d previously had the game reanimate the key moments of the anime using the in-game engine, now we get still images from the anime accompanied by, possibly, the laziest movement effects I’ve seen. So, instead of dynamic movement and epic animation, we get Naruto standing still while his headband wiggles in the wind. It is honestly unfathomable.

Now, to its credit, when the game decides to animate something, it is magnificent and the best I’ve seen. Especially the battle between our two main leads is poetry in motion… but that’s a few sparkles of gold in a hunk of lead. Okay, I think I’m done venting, onto more positive things.

The bouts between singular warriors or the occasional teams are as frantic and fun as ever, with both the moves and animations being the best I’ve seen so far. The game kicks off with a short tutorial of Madara and the first Hokage, Hashirama, having their historic duel for the fate of Konoha. In this battle, we get to grips with the controls and the new mechanic, Armour Break. As your fighter takes damage past a certain point, their armour (or clothes) will visibly change to show the wear and tear of the battle. While it's a great indicator in general and looks impressive, it also gives you a slight increase in damage, while also reducing your defence, incentivising aggressive, but smart combat.

Additionally, if you happen to have allies with you as a part of your team, you can very easily switch between them with a flick of the thumbstick, which I recall being a bit more difficult before, if at all possible. This is an amazing addition, as switching between the characters worked toward adding some variety to the game, as well as enabling you to switch to a faster fighter or one with a suitable skill mid-fight. All of your ninjas share a life bar, however, so switching out on your last leg will do little to protect against an errant kunai.

Finally, as in the preceding title, if you utilise your allies enough, they will start helping out in combat more by protecting you as you charge chakra, throw in an extra attack as you send an opponent flying, or add their projectiles to yours when yeeting the contents of your pockets. Once your allies are fully charged and ready, you can perform a combined Secret Technique, which will depend on your current team. If you have incompatible heroes, such as Might Guy, that one weird spider Sound ninja, and Karin, they will simply do their ultimate attacks in succession. If, however, you hit upon a compatible bunch, like Might Guy and Kakashi, they will instead perform an amazingly flashy and unique attack — I love them to bits.

Okay, so the gameplay itself is great, but the cutscenes are mostly rubbish. Normally, I’d go through the plot, but honestly, the game doesn’t deviate much from the established plot. Naruto et al. and Madara clash, with both sides seeming on the verge of victory before shenanigans occur. Might Guy gets his second in the spotlight, though in my opinion, it should have had a bit more oomph to it; Night Guy deserves respect! I was a bit disappointed to see Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 skips over the dreamscapes caused by the Infinite Tsukyomi; I feel this could have been a great place to play around with some what-if scenarios at the very least, but no.

There are a few horde fights sprinkled in between the regular bouts, but even these lack the effort seen before. You take on a bunch of enemies and then move on. The Kaiju battles are also back, with the high point being a Susanoo empowered Kurama taking on the Ten Tails, but they are otherwise pretty lacklustre. Obito is taken down by the power of Talk-no-jutsu, and Madara does his thing until Kaguya comes by and ruins things, much like in the original.

The final fight between our leads, as I mentioned before, is done fantastically, with multiple flashbacks and clashes happening within the span of a single fight. However, any goodwill gained by these spots of excellence is quickly lost when I think how amazing the game would have been if the quality was even half as good throughout. The final attacks are unleashed, and the pair lay in the Valley of the End, ending Naruto: Shippuden.

Now, I complain about the lack of a free-roaming mode in the game, and many of you may have raised your pitchforks high, as the game does indeed have a separate Adventure mode, which takes place after the events of the main story. This is a nice touch, as it gives some more time for the heroes to show off their post-Shippuden pre-Boruto looks, but the whole mode is very… lacklustre. You have a handful of locked-off zones to explore — some of which are just one room — and have some main and side objectives to complete. It’s not bad, and you are allowed to pick your party out of all unlocked fighters in each battle, but it’s just bland and a bit pointless.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 is the first time in my short time writing the From the Top series that I have been utterly disappointed in a new entry. While there are undeniable advances in mechanics and visuals, the lack of love shown for the single-player content is just saddening for a series so excellent in the past. As this is the final entry I will be looking at, it is a shame to end this journey on a bit of a downer note… however, I’m still happy to have experienced the franchise as a whole, issues and all! Besides, though we won’t be looking at a new entry, there is still one more thing to check out.

Yes, in case you thought I’d skip it, I am indeed going to dedicate one more part to the Road to Boruto DLC! I have heard that this expansion improves a lot on what the base game was missing, so I’m excited to see if it can pull together an amazing enough whole to make up for my heartbreak. Join me, then, on the final part of this retrospective reminiscence as we finish up with NARUTO STORM 4: Road to Boruto.