Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst (Nintendo Switch) Review

By Neil Flynn 16.06.2018

Review for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst on Nintendo Switch

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 released one year after Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, and borrows the refinements made from its predecessor. Generations itself launched two years after Storm 2 and made a number of incremental changes to the fighting formula, story mode, and roster. The vast majority of these changes have been carried over to Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, which launched worldwide in 2013 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and has been re-released with all the added DLC for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. Generations and Storm 3 are somewhat similar to each other in terms of presentation, graphical fidelity, audio, and the fighting system. There are a few subtle differences between the fighting styles, though, but it is players that are jumping from Storm 2 that will find a few more differences that make this a much more comprehensive and well-rounded package.

This shares the same presentation style as the previous games, including similar looking menus, icons, and game modes, and comprises of three main modes; Ultimate Adventure, Free Battle, and Online. The story in Ultimate Adventure opens with an epic fight against the Nine Tails, which sets itself as a prequel to the original Naruto arc. The opening prequel introduces players to the main antagonist of Storm 3 and serves as a great introduction for those unfamiliar with the Naruto-lexicon. Once the opening animation is complete, the story picks up where Storm 2 left off at the Five Kage summit.

Ultimate Adventure continues with the fixed-camera, open-world gameplay, however, the free roaming sequences have been condensed considerably. The player now only has to run through a small number of areas to get to the next fight, and these sections rarely serve any purpose other than to save and buy items from the merchants. This is a pure example of 'less is more' as the free roaming between missions and plot points became incredibly arduous in the previous instalment, so it is totally refreshing that this almost does away with this.

Storm 2 also experimented with taking the action away from Naruto himself to other characters in the anime and this continues this trend in extraordinary fashion. It boasts large battles and scenes from other main characters, and, better yet, the Switch version contains all the DLC from the get-go, which add additional chapters and fights into the story mode, giving players a sense of variety that the other games in the series lacked.

Screenshot for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst on Nintendo Switch

The extravagant Quick-Time Event cut-scenes are still present and are mightily impressive, allowing gamers to feel immersed within the action. Although there are many cut-scenes that just drag on without any player involvement whatsoever, for those not wanting to skip through, then be prepared for some quite lengthy scenes upwards of 10-15 minutes each between some fights. Graphically, this holds up better than the other two Storm games released on Nintendo Switch, and plays without any real lag in handheld mode or TV mode. The areas in the adventure mode perhaps don't look as impressive as the fighters themselves, which is a slight disappointment, but this is all forgiven when there are 81 fighters included, with each one looking fantastic.

As Storm 3 features the full DLC package (Full Burst), it also adds in some additional support characters and costumes over the original. Moreover, the fighting mechanics have also slightly evolved from Storm 2 - primarily the ability to use up to four substitution-jutsus to get out of a combo. While this was present in the earlier titles, the move was much harder to pull off, but now one can duck out of a combo midway through to avoid having too much damage inflicted.

This builds upon an already simplistic control system that uses one-button combos. Unfortunately, Storm 3 on Switch does not allow for single Joy-Con play; therefore, each player will need their own dual-set of Joy-Con (or a Pro Controller) as each button performs actions within the game. The online mode, again, fares slightly better than in Storm 2, featuring a range of options like ranked and free battles. However, during the review process it was quite difficult to find a large number of players to fight with.

Screenshot for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst on Nintendo Switch

Cubed3 Rating

7/10
Rated 7 out of 10

Very Good - Bronze Award

Rated 7 out of 10

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 has grasped the positives from the previous games in the series and built upon the sturdy base set by its predecessors. The pacing in the Ultimate Adventure mode is somewhat disjointed due to lengthy cut-scenes, but these can be skipped should one choose to do so. This features an impressive wealth of characters, and Naruto die-hards should rejoice as the fan-service by CyberConnect2 goes above and beyond compared to previous entries. This game won't be for everyone, but the average Naruto fan will still enjoy this entry, as it is currently the best Naruto release for Switch.

Developer

CyberConnect2

Publisher

Bandai Namco

Genre

Action

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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