Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Road to Boruto (PlayStation 4) Review

Anyone waiting to see Road to Boruto would be wise to give this a miss, as the whole film pretty much plays out over the course of the story mode, with the major story points being used for battles. The gameplay is very much the same as that found in the full game of Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, consisting of wandering around Konoha - albeit this time, the Konoha of the future - and occasionally taking part in battles based upon scenes in the movie. There is even the signature giant monster battle gameplay. Just playing through the main story without veering off the beaten path will amount to around three hours or so, but there's plenty more to keep the lifespan alive here.

Within the story mode, there are 10 sub-events to take on, along with a list of tasks - "Boruto's Ten Tasks" - to accomplish. These consist of simple things like fetch quests for various members of Konoha, but also some more inventive side missions; for example: Shino is an academy teacher now, and has plenty of quiz questions for knowledgeable fans, and Shikamaru has set up a virtual reality facility (sadly, this isn't some sort of PSVR tie in!), which is actually a building where the Konoha ninja can take on characters from history. Okay, it's a cheap way to shoe-horn in the cross-generational battles, but it works. There are five different levels of difficulty, with eight battles in each, and enemies take the form of classic teams from the series.

For the new content, there is plenty to enjoy here. There are lots of new characters to unlock from after the time skip, such as Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, Naruto, Sasuke, and even Boruto's bubble-gum-chewing opponent from the Chuunin Exam, Yurui. Then there are plenty of new outfits (including the pre-order bonuses for Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 for those that missed out), tons of Ninja Info Card elements, and even new combination secret techniques to unlock. The post-time skip characters are really the attraction here. Seeing the next generation of shinobi from around the world, not to mention all of the favourite characters from the series all grown up, is great. In particular, it's fantastic to see the time-skip versions of Sasuke and Naruto reach Dragon Ball Z levels of power.