Naruto Ultimate Ninja: Storm Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Graphics - 5.0

This is actually the first ever Naruto video game I've played in depth.I was a big fan of the TV series a few years back, and seeing this game in all its HD goodness really brought back memories.NUNS uses a type of cel-shading that, for all intents and purposes, looks amazing in comparison to other games I've seen and even exceeds the art/animation quality of the anime.Colors, line detail, and shadowing all look fantastic for the characters.I was especially impressed at the fluidity of battles and fighting motions that seem to have been captured and digitally recreated to perfection.In contrast, the backgrounds are a bit dull, but even in the manga/anime, they were never that big of a factor in terms of art.Aside from that, this is easily the best looking Naruto game to date, thus far.

Audio - 4.5

NUNS offers a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in both Japanese and English.For a video game, I thought it was adequate considering that most titles these days are just now starting to delve further into higher quality audio.Directionality is fairly good, balancing music, sound effects, and dialogue mostly through the front sound stage, but also through the rears on occasion.Voices and sound effects are taken straight from the anime, providing a familiar experience to fans of whichever language they prefer.I believe I heard that the music was also composed by Toshio Masuda (the composer of the series' score), or at least someone from his staff, so that's another plus.The only problem is the Ultimate Jutsu glitch, where on occasion you'll hear this explosion sound loop in itself at the end of a battle.

Gameplay - 4.0

NUNS makes for a visual treat in terms of commercial fighting games.If you or your friends are fans of the franchise, you'll probably enjoy hours of fun fighting against each other with most of your favorite characters.However, the story mode leaves much to be desired.Basically, you run around Konoha performing ninja missions, most of them coming in the form of mini games, and then the occasional battle and even monster battles (which graphically speaking are the prettiest parts of the game).Story mode itself is fun at first.But with little diversity and no cut scenes whatsoever to advance the plot, one can only hope that, with their foot now in the door, Namco will improve on this flaw in future installments.

The battle system itself isn't really a "fighting game" in the sense of the usual suspects (Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Tekken, etc.), but more so a button masher.Players can essentially have 4 items to use in-battle, one jutsu, one ultimate jutsu, and 1-2 support characters that can either combo or jutsu as backup.Don't let the button mashing be too big a concern, however.There are actually enough tactics you could use to make it a little more challenging when fighting someone who actually knows how to play.Unfortunately, most of my friends don't...But overall, it's still fun to play with friends, if not for the experience, then at least for the eye candy.

Packaging - 5.0

NUNS Limited Edition comes in a spiffy steelbook casing and includes the game, the soundtrack, and a limited edition Naruto laser cel.There is also a plastic slipcover with the PS3 and NUNS logos printed on the front and a small picture of Itachi on the bottom of the spine that goes over the case.The case itself has a picture of Kyuubi (Nine-tails) Naruto on the front and Cursed Seal Sasuke on the back.If your friends have tendency of not washing their hands, be prepared to wipe a lot of fingerprint smudges off the case after they leave.

Overall - 4.0

If you're a fan of the franchise and can spare the money, it's worth looking into, but only if you plan on having friends over on a regular basis.The visuals and audio are top-notch, but aside from the battles, the story mode just isn't enough as it becomes more and more stale after a while.Recommended for fans, a rental at best for the casual gamer.

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Product Description:
THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA!At last, the line between NARUTO Animation and Gaming will truly disappear! The No.1 Head-to-Head Fighting game franchise based on Naruto arrives on PS3 for the first time to reign supreme in the next generation of video gaming. Armed with gorgeous cinematic quality HD graphics, a revolutionary next-gen battle system, interactive multi-dimensional battle grounds and seamlessly explorable world of Naruto, Naruto Ultimate Ninja STORM will capture the heart of any Naruto fan! Your dream to LIVE AND BREATHE THE SHOW will come true!Master 25 Fully Transformable Warriors - Behold your characters transforming into powerful superior warriors in battle! All characters will possess amazing power that will expand the very scale of a battle to the next level!Experience Jaw-Dropping Cinematic Quality HD Graphics - Witness the cinema-quality animation comes to life in high definition. The line between Naruto animation and game graphics will truly disappear! Roam Freely On Dynamic Multi-Dimensional Battle Grounds - Prepare to battle on robust, multi-dimensional battle grounds. Take advantage of the unique characteristics of each battle field! Battle is no longer limited to flat ground surfaces. Unleash Your Ninja Dream Team - Form your own three-man dream squad to battle your opponents! Unleash your allies to defend you in battle, or order them to perform cooperative attacks against your opponents!Discover A Brand New Mission Based Adventure Mode - Challenge a total of 100 compelling missions in Ultimate Mission Mode and experience the original animated TV series storyline up through the Sasuke Retrieval Arc!Unleash Massive Secret Techniques on An Unprecedented Scale - Using the power of the PlayStation 3, you can now destroy your enemies with bigger, meaner, stronger and more cin¬ematic secret techniques than ever before!

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Sega Dreamcast Console Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased a Sega Dreacast last Christmas and couldn't be happier.The graphics are jaw-dropping and there's a truckload of games, 200 or so by Christmas 2000, some titles like Shenmu, Ecco the Dolphin, and Soul Calibur could be classified as works of art.As an engineer in the hi-tech field I'm always impressed by a design masterpiece, you can be assured I'm impressed with the Dreamcast. Now let's talk about the PS2, I've studied the Dreamcast and the PS2 for over a year by researching numerous design articles on the Internet and unfortunately for Sony, the word is getting out, the PS2 is a bad design.Sony had great plans for a powerhouse machine, but they all fell apart due to a serious design flaw that traumatizes the entire system. Here's the bottom line, the PS2 is severely limited by an anemic 4 MB Video ram memory in the graphics subsystem, this is the pipeline that controls video output to the screen, everything must pass thru this pipeline before it appears on the television.By comparison, the Dreamcast has twice the size of the PS2 pipeline, or 8 MB video ram memory.This still does not tell the complete story, the Dreamcast has a superior graphics engine that makes it's 8 MB pipeline perform more like 10 times the pipeline in the PS2, yes, that's right, I said 10 times.This gives the Dreamcast the ability to produce screen output the PS2 simply cannot match. This probably sounds hard to believe after all the hype you've heard about the PS2, but sadly, it's true.In a nutshell, Sony built a 750 horsepower Ferrari and then fitted it with a Ford Pinto exhaust system.No matter how much power the PS2 engine can deliver, the entire system is choked by the restricted output and software developers are left frantically scrambling trying to work around the problems this causes.Surely you've heard the PS2 is difficult to develop for, this is the main reason why. The results are quite revealing, if you compare the top games on both systems, you'll notice the Dreamcast is at least as good as the PS2 and many time's it's superior.The best example of this lies with two different fighting games, Tekken Tag on the PS2 compared to Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, both games launched with the respective system.Namco, one of the finest game development companies on the planet, developed both titles.If it was within Namco's power, you can bet they wouldn't let the spanking new Tekken Tag on the PS2 be outshined by the 18-month-old Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, but that's just what happened.Soul Calibur is a masterpiece that dwarfs Tekken Tag in any comparison.Another good example is EA Sports Madden NFL 2001 for the PS2 compared to NFL 2K1 for the Dreamcast.EA Sports has everything riding on the PS2 and cannot afford to be outdone by the Dreamcast.In direct comparisons, some say Madden NFL 2001 has slightly better graphics than NFL 2K1, but read almost any review you want, even some on Sony biased sights, and NFL 2K1 is the better game. Moving on, some Dreamcast games are thought to be impossible on the PS2, these are Jet Grind Radio, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Ecco the Dolphin, and perhaps a few more.These games either have incredible detail and texturing, fast moving free roaming 3D environments, or both.Because it's choked by it's design, detail texture and fast moving free roaming environments are all difficult for the PS2.In other words, some things the Dreamcast can do with ease are near impossibilities for the PS2.Chances are you haven't heard comparisons like these before, but they appear to be true. A few more things to mention if your considering purchasing a new game console, the PS2 can play DVD's, the Dreamcast can't, that may be a selling point to some.On the other hand, the Dreamcast has an ACE up it's sleeve, it's internet ready out of the box and online gaming for the Dreamcast is here, right now, today, no fool' in.How good is online gaming on the Dreamcast? I've heard nothing but praise and worship for SegaNet, they use a system that reduces lag over an analog modem that makes an opponent across country seem like he's playing in you living room.In the online department Sony has completely botched up, Sega has a much better plan in place and Sony will never fully catch up. One last point, the PS2 plays old Playstation games with the same quality as the Playstation, a certain selling point.On the Sega side, a new software product called Bleem! will give the Dreamcast the ability to play around 400 Playstation games thru emulation, with 4X the screen resolution, graphics filtering, and jagged edge removal that the Sony machines can't accomplish.The Dreamcast will be a better Playstaion than the PS2, even a better Playstation than the Playstation itself. In conclusion, if you're a Sony fan and you don't mind the high price, go ahead and buy a PS2, the games will get better as developers master the system.The PS2 is an adequate machine and will be a smashing success with the following Sony already has, it's just not the revolution in console gaming that all the hype predicted.Now, if you think you want a PS2 because it's a superior machine, forget the hype, save yourself some money and go buy a Dreamcast, you won't be disappointed.The PS2 is vastly overrated and over-hyped, the Dreamcast is underrated and it's time for the truth to even up the score.Lastly, if you are a budget conscious consumer, buy a Dreamcast over a PSone anyday, it's 10X better.... Bottom line, the Dreamcast is a masterpiece of design engineering and it easily rivals the PS2, in many ways it's the superior machine, much to Sony's dismay.

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