If you’re like me and watching the new English dub Naruto episodes every week on the Cartoon Network, then you’d know that the action and stories are getting pretty serious now, and surpassing some of the earlier episodes of the show’s run. Much like the anime series, so too goes the Naruto games, because with Naruto: Rise of a Ninja the franchise has made bold steps in bringing the world of Naruto to videogames like it has never done before.

THE STORY SO FAR
In terms of story, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Naruto ROAN from here on) doesn’t do anything differently as it still follows the story that fans are very familiar with, which involves a young boy named Naruto with the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox imprisoned in him, as the boy grows up being shunned by his village and wanting nothing more than to grow up and become Hokage – the most respected ninja in the village. The story hits the same beats that the Naruto story always hits in videogames, though the adventure ends a bit earlier than it does in some other games.

The game surprisingly covers the very first story of Naruto - him stealing the sacred scrolls that contained the Shadow Clone jutsu (Naruto’s specialty) – a story not usually covered in the videogames. The game does have a few new story elements, but nothing all that interesting or unique, as they are mostly just quests sent to retrieve some coins or go run some other errand.

Though we wish the story of Naruto would be expanded more when it comes to the games, one thing that really impressed us was besides telling the game’s story through in-game cutscenes, Naruto ROAN actually features many anime clips directly from the series, detailing some of the most important moments in the franchise, such as Naruto’s battle with Haku.

SINGLE-PLAYER: GAMEPLAY
A good way to think of Naruto ROAN is imagining the world of Naruto, mixed with one of its fighting games, and then merging those with the free-roaming world of a GTA or Crackdown. The main area you’ll be running around in is the Village Hidden in the Leaves, which is Naruto’s home village. Never before has the Village Hidden in the Leaves ever been so lovingly brought to life in a game, as you’ll see many of the most famous landmarks from the series, while yet getting to explore new areas you’ve never seen before. As Naruto, you’ll have free reign to run around the village, kicking trashcans, talking to people, taking quests, missions, and training.

When you’re in the village running around, the big activities you’ll partake in are social quests and ninja missions, one which will give you more health, while the other will give you more chakra to use (think magic points in a regular RPG). It’s important to do these goals as they will give you all the needed health and chakra in order for you to stand toe-to-toe with later enemies, but you’ll also become more respected and liked in the village. Many villagers will have a face over them, reflecting whether they either like or dislike Naruto. If a villager dislikes Naruto they’ll talk to him long enough to tell him to get lost. If you talk to a villager who likes you they’ll do you a really big favor by popping up a quest arrow on the screen, telling you where to go to complete your mission. The mission arrows only pop up for short periods of time, so if that arrow pointing to where Konohamaru is hiding fades before you find him, if you need help again you better find another villager nearby. The quests are the easiest to complete, usually taking nothing more than finding a few gold coins around. The ninja missions, meanwhile, are a bit harder to complete, often taking some exploration out past the village’s walls and fighting some ninja. Besides the quests and missions, you’ll also go on the story quests of the game, which detail Naruto’s adventures from the manga/anime. The story quests will be the ones that please fans the most, as they’ll let players relive the story elements from the series, and it is these story quests that have all the anime clips from the series.

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