Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations Review

It’s easy to write off Naruto games. This is because they all look the same and are frankly mental. All that epilepsy on screen makes it look as if they require no skill. The story is gibberish and very, very Japanese. Basically, it’s Another Naruto Game.

Take some time with it however and you discover, hey, this isn’t as bad as it first looks, which is to say atrocious. The combat’s hardly Virtua Fighter, but there’s a certain rhythm and flow to the bouts that’s not first apparent.

It’s about timing, not memorising phone-books worth of move strings and combos. You start to think – as your eyes melt from Death Star-explosion levels of light that are being rammed into your eyes – about strategy. What’s coming next. Not a lot of thought mind, but it’s there. 

And then, despite the fact that it’s Another Naruto Game - and you should probably hate yourself for even contemplating this - you start to enjoy it. Not loads. Not like you’d enjoy, say, Street Fighter IV, or other games that aren’t Naruto. But there’s some enjoyment here.

If you are a fan of Naruto, well then there’s various story modes to muck around in, shops to buy trinkets from, collections to look through. It’s never going to be enough to convince Johnny Battlefield to even look twice at it as he ponders what game to buy next, but given a chance it might surprise him. It certainly did surprise us.