The sole new character is Sage Mode Kabuto. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst does technically expand its roster… by one. So anyone who already played the original is going to be treading on some pretty familiar ground here.Īnother thing that usually sells fighting game re-releases is the addition of new characters. The rest plays out exactly the same as it did in vanilla Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, including Hero/Legend decision points, side-missions, boss fights, mid-fight scene transitions, and more. Unfortunately, this and the redone cinematics are the only new things that the story mode has to offer.
Altogether, this new chapter pushes Full Burst’s story mode to a little over 12 hours of content this makes it one of the longest fighting-game story modes we have ever seen. If you don’t know what this means, then you aren’t caught up with Naruto enough for it to be a spoiler. A brand new chapter has also been included, which covers Itachi’s escape from Kabuto’s control.
That’s not the only update the story mode has to offer. Whether it’s the updated dynamic camera angles, the slightly tweaked animations, the smoother cel-shaded textures, or whatever, Full Burst certainly does look better than its predecessor. In-game cinematics have all been cleaned up to look smoother and more anime like, and it’s noticeable. Yes, believe it or not, it’s the cutscenes of Full Burst that have gotten the biggest overhaul. So, of course, all of the “balance changes” usually implemented in a fighting-game update would be made here.Īnd by “balance changes,” we mean cinematic updates. In this mode, it doesn’t matter that characters are an unbalanced and broken mess because that’s exactly how they are in the Naruto anime and manga. The real draw of the game is the single-player story mode, Ultimate Adventure, which faithfully recreates the events of Naruto Shippuden. When we originally reviewed Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, we said that this was one of the first fighting games where the versus mode was an afterthought, and that still holds true here. The boss characters are still incredibly overpowered, and you’ll still find characters that can hit you from clear across the screen, lock you into pseudo infinite combos, and generally cheese you to death using techniques that the designers probably didn’t think about. Certain characters are absolutely useless, while others are unstoppable god machines. Just like the original Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 before it, Full Burst’s versus mode is a totally broken mess. This is not the case with Full Burst, as the designers don’t seem to be concerned with game balance at all. Usually, when a fighting game gets re-released like this, its main appeal is balance changes. So give a warm welcome to Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst-the Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition of the anime-fighter world. They finally have their very own expansion pack that is being branded as a full-priced title.
But now, anime fighters have gone through one of the biggest steps in hardcore fighting-game puberty. AUsually, these fandom fests are dismissed as pandering cash-in jobs that can’t hang with the big boys like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.