E3 '07: Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution Hands-On

With two games in the Naruto: Clash of Ninja series for the GameCube already under its belt, D3 has experience in the over-the-top, ninja-filled world of Naruto, something it hopes to bring to bear in its upcoming release for the Wii, Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution. We got a chance to go hands-on with the game in a few two-player battles, which showed off some of the ways this fast-paced fighter will make use of the Wii's controls.

An interesting point about Clash of Ninja Revolution is that the Japanese game it's based on uses the characters from Naruto Shippuuden, which takes place many years after the original Naruto series, and features a more mature, teenaged Naruto. As much as it might please import-happy Naruto fans to see a Shippuuden game appear stateside, it's a timeline too far removed from what most American Naruto fans are familiar with, so D3 has opted to replace the older characters with their younger counterparts.

While the final version of Clash of Ninja Revolution promises 16 playable characters from the original Naruto series, the demo we were shown was limited to just four, including Naruto himself, and series regulars Sasuke, Sakura, and Gaara. The action for the demo took place in a familiar rooftop arena in the Leaf Village, overlooked by the mountain featuring the chiseled likenesses of the village's four hokage, and though the series has leapt from the GameCube to the Wii, it didn't take long for us to get the hang of the controls. With the action viewed from the side, character movement was handled by the Nunchuk's analog stick. Basic attacks were performed by simply shaking the Wii Remote, while pressing the A button would dish out more powerful hits.

The most significant twist that we saw to the otherwise fairly straightforward head-to-head action was the way special jutsu attacks were performed. If you can successfully initiate one of these attacks, which can depend on several variables, the action will cut away to a series of cinematic camera angles, during which you'll be prompted to perform specific gestures with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. If you're able to act out these gestures in time, your special attack will hit with even greater power. The gestures that we saw tended to be simple, and though they flashed by fairly quickly, the actual timing seemed pretty forgiving.

From a visual perspective, what we saw in Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution looked slightly superior to the previous GameCube installments in the series, and the use of the Wii controls definitely helped spice up the action. Naruto fans can look forward to more coverage of this game as its release approaches.