Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4/Xbox One/PC)

[Jango]

Oh right fellow Narutards, we had quite a bunch of things announced this last 2 months that I didn't covered here like characters, Adventure mode free-roam, online mode, etc, etc, etc.

But hey, the real deal is here, and it's a fresh new awesome trailer that shows everything you've missed untill now, plus new stuff. Enjoy!!!

Also, a DEMO will be available early this month!

 

Edited November 30, 2015 by Jango

[Nexthehedgehog]

New trailer:

 

And about that ending:

UTSKUSHIII!!!

Edited December 21, 2015 by Nexthehedgehog

[Radiant Hero Ike]

BRUH

I didn't think this game could get any better omg

Can't wait to try out the demo. I would've played it already if I still had my Xbox One.

[Ripe]

http://www.saiyanisland.com/2016/01/naruto-storm-4-hokage-naruto-and-adult-sasuke-join/

Sigh... More DLC announced even when the game is out. Is there a some kind of Boruto movie DLC pack? If there is it would be really odd considering that Boruto and Sarada are pre-order bonuses. Seriously, in latest Naruto games there just seems to be so much DLC. I just hope this trend doesn't infect Tekken 7 when it comes out.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

We've known for a while there would be DLC for the game.

Probably won't be that expensive, it was about $10 for all the costumes in Revolution. I for one think this is amazing since I LOVED the Boruto movie.

[Ripe]

By the way, another thing: http://www.saiyanisland.com/2016/01/naruto-storm-collection-announced/

Honestly, why it is only on PS3? All of those games are already on that console and it's lifecycle is almost over in the terms of new games. I could understand making this on current-gen but not to old gen. And if this is UNS collection where are Generations and Revolution? I think I just save my money to Storm 4.

And by the way, 4 is suppose to be the last UNS-game. I have hard time believing that. As soon as Part 3 has enough material they are going to do a new one is what I guess.

And in the terms of that Boruto DLC. I kinda wish that there would be more than just 4 characters (although I'm pretty sure that if they would include more they would just be different skins like in The Last characters other than Naruto and Sasuke)

[Jango]

Yeah, I agree, they should've pulled a Naughty Dog and made that collection for the PS4, 1080p, 60FPS. THAT I would pay for. Awesome (and funny) trailer BTW.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

Aye, that's a pretty bad collection IMO. Although I've heard the "filler" games were skipped by a lot of people, that may explain their absence.

[Ripe]

http://www.saiyanisland.com/2016/01/naruto-storm-4-susanoo-kurama-awakening-gameplay-115-characters/

111 characters plus couple of DLC characters. Wow, when was the last time that fighting game had that many. But is it really necessary to have like 5 different version of Naruto, 6 different versions of Sasuke (are the Boruto DLC versions only skins?) And 7 different versions of Obito? Also it is just me but they seem to be quite lazy with other characters. By that I mean according to what I have seen not updating their movesets even if there would be a reason to do so.

And this is just nitpick but there would have been some characters I would have wanted to see.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

I think it's because several characters already had their move sets updated to their latest abilities in Revolution.

I don't think the Boruto Naruto and Sasuke are skins, but IDK.

[Vec]

From what I saw, Boruto can throw his rasengan. So I doubt he's a clone

[Ripe]

I just saw a review of the game on Destructoid but soon after I got back to the site it was gone. Well, it gave the game 8 so at least it's not probably a broken mess. Well, I will pick it up after I'm done with Fallout 4. Too bad I miss the pre-order characters but I never pre-order games, espedially when it is clear that the bonus was cut from the game for the sole reason of getting customers money before something kay convince them otherwise...

[Jango]

These games were never broken before, no way they would've mess with this one. The reviewer probably gave it a 8 because it plays similar to second Storm, despite it being like this ever since but with more content everytime.

[Ripe]

Not broken? Apparently it isn't but according to the Steam reviews it's poorly optimized for PC. And I also have heard about some network issues. Well, I getting the PS4 version and focusing to the offline so it does not really cause problems to me. But that does not change the fact that devs should put more effort to the PC versions.

[Nix]

Finished up this game's story, so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

So, first I thought I'd start out with what this game does wrong.  While not really the CC2's fault, but the story does ditch the adventuring elements of the previous games in favor of a more moment-to-moment experience (though, I skipped 3, so I don't know what they did there).  Completely understandable however because the story largely remains in one area and doesn't deviate from there hardly at all.  The game does have an "Adventure Mode", so maybe that has some of that old Ultimate Ninja Storm experience, but I can't say for sure since I haven't checked it out yet.

The second is that this game abuses its use of stills from the anime.  The game is absolutely brutal with them; fortunately the game stops using them about halfway through (the anime hasn't finished yet, so I guess they had to).  It's a damn shame because CyberConnect2's in-game engine is much more appealing than Studio Pierrot's often absolutely fucking horrendous work with the anime.  The juxtaposition created by these two things being displayed right next to each other is just.... ugh.  I understand that there was probably a lot of budget and time restraints, but god damn it's just terrible.

Also the story is really really fucking dumb by this point, but everyone already knows that and CC2 isn't to blame for it so whatever.

Now for the good things!

As I mentioned before, CC2's in-game engine is still absolutely gorgeous.  While the character models themselves don't seem to have had too much of an upgrade, there are a lot more noticeable graphics and particle effects on display here that really make the game pop.  Otherwise, character animation is top notch as usual; CC2's fighting choreography for the boss fight QTE segments is still absolutely breathtaking (especially the final boss, goddamn).  One thing I think CC2 really improved on this time is the facial animation.  I vaguely remember them talking about this pre-release, and it really fucking payed off let me tell you.  I love all of the close-ups of characters getting decked in their face and seeing how their faces squashes and stretches in reaction to it.  It's all really good stuff.

The game still has your everyday UNS combat for better or worse.  It's very simplistic and mind numbing sometimes, but I feel it's still satisfying to play regardless.  

And despite the story being fuck all terrible, I still enjoyed the way CC2 presented it.  Its conclusion left a bigger impact on me than the conclusion did in the manga, that's for sure.

So, if the story is what you're interested in playing... I'd wait a bit for a price drop maybe.  When it's great, it's fucking great, let me tell you, but the first half of the game feels cheap as hell with Pierrot's garbage stinking up the place.

[Ripe]

Here is also my thoughts about the game.

Storywise I say one thing: if you haven't read the manga or watched the anime, you have no idea what is going on in the  story. It is clearly made for the fans. Storymode is in the format of going from cutscenes (which can be really long sometimes. This is both a good and a bad thing) to the fights. I personally had not many problems with the endstory but that is a discussion for another day. It's nice to see the last events of the story animated because of the Pierrots wierd filler-fetish the anime still hasn't got to the end of the manga (which ended in November 2014).

Presentation wise it is great. It looks very faithful to the source material and the in-game cutscenes are great but it's shame that the beginning of the story uses still images frim the anime. Why? It just comes up as lazy. Another problem is that english voices have terrible lipsync but it is not an. Ig issue because you can use the japanese audio which I consider superior.

As a whole the storymode does take time, much longer than I originally expected and after that you can try to S-rank all of the chapters which earn you trophies. After that the is the adventure mode which takes place sometime after that storymode. To me it just seems pointless because the main story only takes about an hour to complete (not to mention it doesn't really add that much to the overall story (and is it just me or is it just begging "The Last" story to the game) and there aren't that many sidequest. Probably the most prominent one is collecting the memory shards which only serve as a remind you of the old fights of the series (in many of those fights you have some kind of disadvantage). But finishing all of the missions doesn't take more than 5 hours. My guess is that the adventure mode is some kind of DLC platform to the game. Currently there is 3 DLCs announced (and Season Pass but fuck Season passes) and two of them seem to be something that would add something storywise.

Gameplaywise it isfor the most part similar to the previous games. Whether that is good or bad thing is up to you. However, there are some thing that in my opinion makes this the best Storm game. I especially like the change to swap the main character during the fight. There is also over 100 characters which is just insane. Overall, I like the fighting very much, both offline and online.

One thing Ihave to mention is that in my opinion the story mode is probably a bit too easy, espwcially when losing has no consequences. Meanwhile in adventure mode losing has taken the 06 style. By this I mean that you just simply can't retry immediatelly. You have to get the hubworld or menu and choose to fight again. Why? It is just annoiying and if it seems like I'm going to lose I just give up and hit retry to save time.

Overall can I recommend this game? Absolutely, it is not the most complex fighter but it is just so fun. Even if you don't know about the series going through to story is worthit just to get the unlockable characters.

[Jango]

The use of too much static shots from the anime sounds like a huge let down... Storm 3 did a lot of cutscenes using the game's engine, I can't see why they couldn't do it with 4. Trying to promote the anime? Well, sure as hell it ain't OUR fault nobody's watching it anymore.

So basically, Storm 4 is the best way to finish Naruto Shippuuden? No surprise here. And the gameplay is the same? No surprise either. I was never a big fan of it, I much rather play Ultimate Ninja 5 or Accel 2 (in Japan) over any Storm for the gameplay and adventure mode alone.

[Jango]

Sorry double post, but, eh...

 

Downloaded the game on my PC just to see if it's worth buying it when I get a PS4 and... kinda dissapointed. The use of static shoots from the anime is worst than I thought it would be. It looks lazy as fuck. The in-game cutscene and the boss battle cinematics are amazing, detailed and full of energy. When they switch to the dialogue scenes, the contrast is so huge that makes the game feels unfinished. I also feel that this game could have had more mini-boss battles like Storm 3: regular battles, but with a few minor QTEs and secret factors. The one I missed most was the Kakashi vs Obito fight. Extremely underwhelming. It's one of the most iconic fights of this arc and they made it into a regular battle with some lazy flash backs. FFS Kakashi vs Edo Zabuza wasn't that important and it got a beautiful boss battle in Storm 3.

 

Anyway, when this game shines, it shines immensely. And as usual, it's during the boss battles. They're the reason why you should buy this game and finish it before the anime. It's a damn shame this is probably the Storm game with less boss battles...

 

Since I will get a PS4 only later this year, I will buy this game later as well. I hope CC2 pull a Full Burst and re-do all the static cutscenes with in-game cinematics like it should've been. And of course, add more boss battled. Too bad the Storm Collection will come out to PS3, instead of PS4, I would love to buy it too.

[Strickerx5]

Got the game on steam a week back and have been enjoying it so far. Haven't finished the story mode but I find it a better way of catching up than finding a website with all the anime episodes, skimming through the filler, and having to wait for new episodes. Though, is it just me or do they seem to skip some content? I swear they don't explain what the hell happens to the Kages after their battle in the 3rd game (unless that comes later and I just haven't gotten to it yet) plus a lot of other stuff just comes out of no where. But I still say it's a better experience than sitting through long winded episodes.

At first I did find the slideshow scenes from the anime a bit off putting (especially coming straight out of 3) but I got more use to them as I went through it. Also, while I haven't finished it yet, I do find that the second half of story mode has A LOT more ingame cutscenes than the first half. Though, and this may just be me, they seem to have this weird, dimmed filter over them that actually makes it hard for me to see if they're just anime slideshow cutscenes or ingame cutscenes for a couple of seconds. Could just be my screen though.

I also like how the story mode now has a selection screen for each chapter/ episode. Makes it easier to go back and play through your favorite parts. Not to mention getting rid of the hub worlds being a big bonus for me too.

In terms of the gameplay, it's basically the same as the others. The gameplay is solid but takes a lot to get use to and the boss fights are worth the price themselves. Has a decent selection of characters too (though I'm not sure how it compares to Revolution). Plus, there are quite a few new team moves that are pretty damn cool but are really difficult to pull off. Again, I haven't played much into the game yet so I'll probably just update this later if I have anything to add or final thoughts.

I'll also add that, as a pc port, this game is pretty solid. Doesn't take much to run at all though it does sit at 30fps. Understandably because there isn't too much of a graphical jump outside the boss fights and special attacks beyond some fancy sparkle and lighting effects. The only real downside is the lack of features that should put pc ports over console versions (4k support, 60fps, more graphical options, ect.). Hell, you even have to go into the config file just to turn on v-sync. But the game runs smoothly most of the time and that's sadly all you can really ask for in a pc port at this point.

[Strickerx5]

Sorry to double post here but... I finished the story mode and just wanted to share some final thoughts

So first off, that whole Kage thing is never really explained (besides one line towards the end can lead to some assumptions) but beyond that, gotta say I was pretty pleased otherwise. The game definitely leans heavily towards the ingame cutscense near the end like the previous titles (probably because the show actually hasn't gotten that far yet) and they're pretty well done. Though, lip syncing is atrocious if you're playing with the English dub but I guess this was a given knowing this series. Also, I kind of felt like Naruto's VA just wasn't giving it her all for the first two thirds of the story. I know Naruto is suppose to be grown up at this point but he's still shown as hyperactive. She makes him sound half asleep in most of his lines.

I won't go into spoiler territory for those who don't know what happens but I gotta say the ending definitely felt complete to me. Though, I will say that those expecting to get a crystal clear understanding of all the final details of this series will probably be disappointed as (and this is just my understanding from skimming the wiki afterwards) there's just too much to cover. It ends off the main cast well but, for those looking to complete the series in one go here like I was trying to do, ... yeah no.

I've also been able to start adventure mode and... yeah, nothing to really mention here. It's basically the equivalent of taking the adventure mode in 3 and then taking out most of the cutscenes, VA work, boss battles, ect. I guess they split the content up in this game into two modes. The story mode for the content you want and the adventure mode for... hubs, text bubbles, kind of pointless missions, and other weak content. It's like this game's equivalent to filler episodes strangely enough. XD Kind of appreciate it though. The content is there for people who enjoyed it in the previous titles but doesn't block your progress in the actual story.

Otherwise, what I said before still holds up. Though, there are three things I want to add in terms of character selection. One: while I know they're the main characters of this entire series... did we really need like 8 different versions of both Naruto and Sasuke? I know each of them has a certain story significance but damn. I still have a hard time picking the right ones for their varied move sets. I appreciate that they're all pretty different in moves, strangely enough, but another part of me things that the work done with them could have easily went into other characters or aspects of the game.

Two: Since this is the final game in the series, you'd think that they'd want to go all out with the character roster. I had the chance to take a look at Revolution and hot damn were a bunch of characters missing from there. Would it really have been that much of a hassle to simple port a fair amount of them over to here with just a few graphical touch-ups? I can't imagine the two games being that different from each other code wise. Eh, but who knows... how much you want to bet that they're just waiting to add them into the inevitable Full Blast version of this one. Gotta justify people paying full price for the same game a year or two from now I guess. :/ Never mind, the characters i thought were absent ended up just being support characters. My bad.

Three: (And this is honestly just my own problem) WHY THE HELL WAS BORUTO PART OF THE PRE-ORDER BONUSES!?! Gah, a part of me told myself to pre-order this but I didn't due to all the hate surrounding the process nowadays. I mean, it was a PC game so I figured I'd just wait it out and see if the game actually worked before putting money in it. While I don't think I was in the wrong for doing this, I am regretting it quite a bit now. Especially with that ending and looking things up on wiki... I really want to complete the rooster XD. Hopefully him and Sarada are available soon through DLC. Really hoping Bandai doesn't keep them unattainable by any other means. Though what am I saying?! Realistically they'll probably just add them into Full Burst 4 as well...

Anyways, long story short I enjoyed this one just as much as 3 (if not more). While I will say that anyone who is on the fence with this should wait a bit and see if they plan on releasing a Full Burst for this like they did 3, it's not a bad buy as it is now. All and all, a nice way to end the series.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Strickerx5
Fact Check Shenanigans

[Radiant Hero Ike]

Were there a lot of characters missing from Revolution? I only noticed Mecha Naruto's absence.

Funny thing I noticed, the Revolution debut Obito has the Todd Haberkorn VA, whereas the new Jinchuriki version has Jet the Hawk's current VA instead.

BY THE WAY I couldn't wait until we moved to play the Xbox version so I rented the PS4 version, and MY GOODNESS was this a good game. Like... Wow. I decided to read the last 4 or 5 manga chapters to see what was excluded (quite a bit but eh), but otherwise the story is great. The QTEs were, as always, really awesome. And the battle system is still really good. You can block in MID AIR. The leader switch mechanic is awesome too.

So yeah, buy this game. It is GOOD, even if you don't care for the show much.

[Strickerx5]

8 hours ago, Valentine's Playa Kirito said:

Were there a lot of characters missing from Revolution? I only noticed Mecha Naruto's absence.

I actually did a bit more looking in to it and I really should clear this up. When I had originally looked at the two character screens side by side I had noticed about 14 characters (15 if you include Mecha) that didn't make it over. Though, it turns out that these were actually all just support characters (which I don't think this game supports). They apparently had full models and everything but lacked a bunch of move options. Basically, they can only be used as support and not as actual playable characters so it makes since that they didn't return I guess. I'll strike that part out of my last post.

Also, while I haven't done a full look into every VA, the games have been known to switch out random VAs for some odd reason. I believe Temari's original English dub actor isn't used for the UN games but is actually replaced with Ali Hillis (Palutena and Lightning).