Another cart mission, the story of my life.
Now with that baggage out of the way on to the review. First off let me say this is one of the better anime games, and especially one of the better naruto games, and this game had potential to be one of the best. After being bombarded with crappy anime fighters left and right, Naruto UC is one of the first anime games to break that trend and add in elements of both action/adventure as well as rpg games. The gameplay style is a nice combination of Phantom Brave and Kingdom Hearts. The game features levels like PB, and it has a combat system similar to what you would find in KH, a nice action rpg set up that is eay to get used to. You can use melee attacks or use special moves from the game.
So on the one hand we finally have that movement away from fighter for anime based games, but ultimately repetition and confinement kill this games chances at being a classic. And that repetition comes from, right, you guessed it, cart missions. The game is basically spilt into three types of levels cart missions (where you protect a cart from ninjas), timed missions (where you must do x within a time period , or last for y minutes), and then the regular levels (probably the most fun levels, and the ones that occur the least; here, you usually go the a level in DMC style and sometimes end up fighting a boss). Of the approximately 15 states around a third or more are cart missions, and after defending a cart for the 6th time it gets really stale. Instead of going more along the route of a DMC game and having more regular style levels, the gamer is bogged down in protecting a lousy cart.
To add more misery, after a while all the levels begin to look the same and feel the same, with the only difference being slightly harder enemies. In addition, a player only gets to try a mission once, and if they fail thats it; however, conversely, there are only about three or four missions that you actually have to beat, so if you get bored of the game, which will happen, you can just fail all the missions on purpose and probably breeze through the game. The incentives given to complete a mission are only worthwhile every three or four levels, and the only worthwhile incentive you get in the second play through, use of kakashi, you get regardless as long as you beat the game once.
Additionally, the rpg elements tend to get frustrating as well. There is an hp and chakra gauge reminiscent of an rpg style life bar, and you can level each up with exp, or you can use something called a chakra plate. A chakra plate is a template that allows you to buy various moves and stat boosters and allows you to customize your characters stats. Alas, they have poor shape designs and you will always end up with alot more power ups than you can put onto the template.
Lastly, the story is pretty weak, and there is no character development. Essentially each mission is its own short story, and there really isnt anything that ties the game together. If you are a collector and a naruto fan I recommend it, but if you are looking for a non-fighter naruto game, I instead recommend Path of the Ninja for the DS.
Rating of an average gamer: 6.5/10
Rating of a Naruto Fan: 7.5/10
Overall Rating: 7/10
Breakdown:
Graphics: 8/10
Sound/Voices: 8/10 (use the actual voice actors from the show)
Story: 4/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Replayability: 6.5/10
Collectability (value to a collector): 4/10
Recommend Option : Rent, or buy if 5.99 or less