With 11 seasons and five movies in the making, the Naruto Shippuden series has been an astounding
success, winning over the hearts of nerds in-training as well as a generation that grew
up with shows like Dragon Ball and Speed Racer.
The combination of colorful ninja characters and a thickening plot full of good guys, villains,
and in-betweens hooks the imagination and rarely releases its grip.
The Naruto franchise, along with toymakers turned game publishers Tomy Corporation, has
set its sights on the gaming community, and in early 2011, released Naruto Shippuden:
Shinobi Rumble, a handheld fighting adventure for the Nintendo DS.
You'll be thrust into the riveting section of Shippuden known as the Itachi Pursuit Arc,
where the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, along with Sasuke Uchiha who has just escaped
from Orochimaru's lair, are tracking down Sasuke's enigmatic and evil older brother.
I think it goes without saying that a large part of this game lies in the storyline, but
as a guy that hasn't watched an episode of Shippuden in my life, I was still intrigued,
and the reason is two fold.
Let's start with the fighting itself.
If you've played the Ultimate Ninja games that have been released as far back as the
PS2, you'll already have a taste of what's in store for you with Shinobi Rumble.
After an explanation of the chapter, complete with dialogue between notable characters of
the series, you'll take control of the main character.
The battle takes place on the top screen and your abilities include weak and strong taijutsu,
a warp function that will help you escape hairy situations in battle, a double jump,
and of course, your special techniques.
However, this feature, which should be the most exciting factor in any battle, is not
necessarily Shinobi Rumble's greatest strength.
The response time between tapping on your touchscreen and the subsequent execution of
the ability can range from a quick execution to repeated taps on the screen, wondering
why the damn ability won't activate.
Also, the stoppage in battle in order for a cutscene to play on the top screen can mess
up the continuity of the battle, and any fan of good fighters knows that this is unacceptable.
Still, it offers a point in the battle where you can catch your breath and assess your
opponent for a few seconds.
Dialogue in-between battles guides you through the Itachi Pursuit Arc quite efficiently.
The only beef I have with it is the lack of voice dialogue.
If the developers could have incorporated all the voices from the show, there's no doubt
this game's stock would have gone up.
If anything, Naruto Shippuden Shinobi Rumble serves as an interactive story rather than
a fighting game.
Pick up any copy of Clash of Ninja for the Gamecube or Ultimate Ninja for the Playstation
2 all the way up to XBOX 360 or PS3, and you'll see the improvements as compared to this watered-down
handheld fighter.