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A well thought out Anime video game you say?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Every single video game I have ever played that is based off of an anime has generally been a disappointment. Not so with Rise of the Ninja. Honestly, this is probably one of the most well thought-out video games in existence. Someone actually sat down and made a video game that totally and completely simulates the "Naruto" experience. You are not playing a standard type of video game that just-so-happens to have the Naruto characters in it. You're playing a video game that was designed around the events of the series itself - from the graphics to the gameplay. And they did an amazing job, from the way you form hand signs to the way you focus chakra to run up buildings and over water. If you are not a fan of the series then I would still recommend this game since it is visually unique, a ton of fun and the core of the game is a really nifty fighter. However, if you are a fan of the series then you need to own this. Don't have an Xbox 360? Then buy one.

Both my girlfriend and I are not hardcore anime people, but at some point we both became fans of this series (we don't remember how) and neither one of us (she hates video games) could put this game down. It's like Naruto heaven. They built and rendered the ENTIRE Village Hidden in the Leaves. Really. The whole thing. And not just the horizontal portion either...you can literally explore the city from the little alley ways, to the tops of buildings without loading. It's amazing. All of the characters from the first 80 episodes, all the jutsu, the weapons and ninja goodness are all there. You really experince the storyline of Naruto from the beginning, and they don't leave out anything important.

I normally do not buy video games 'new' since I am a not a hardcore gamer, however I bought this one new.....and it was worth every penny. I haven't had this much fun playing a video game since I was a wee lad.

Not a Gamer - Love This Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: November 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm not huge on video games (the last one I actually finished was Gauntlet Dark Legends for PlayStation2) and I get really frustrated playing most other games on the 360, but my husband bought this and being a pretty big fan of the Naruto anime, I wanted to give it a shot.

I loved the Naruto experience watching everything from the very beginning as he goes through the process of gaining popularity with his villagers, learning basic jutsu, meeting his village friends, teammates and other enemies.

I'm not very good, but I still enjoy playing this game. Normally when I'm not very good at a game it's because I feel frustrated and defeated. Not so with Naruto. Not to say it's a super-easy game. My husband plays a lot of video games and managed to finish this game in about 12 hours over a couple weeks (it will probably take me much longer)but he looked forward to playing this game as much as he looked forward to playing Halo and when he finally finished he basically said "wow, I wasn't expecting it to be this fun."

I don't have much to compare it to in the world of video games since I'm no pro, but to me, the graphics looked awesome - I loved watching the old clips from the show as I went through the game and there's plenty of fun just speeding around collecting coins and doing personal missions. I did watch my brother play through Twilight Princess on the Wii and would say the story and activities would put it in the same category and feel of that game - maybe not as much depth, but just as much fun.

The only downside (and I'm not sure if I just haven't figured it out yet) is that I had previously read that this game was going to be released in the USA with the option of having the Japanese voices and English subtitles. I watch the show in Japanese so it would have been great to hear those familiar voices while playing but we couldn't find that option anywhere in the menu so I don't think those rumors are true (unless someone knows a secret code!**EDIT** the Japanese voice over has since been released on XBox Live - I highly recommend it - it's awesome, but not everything is in Japanese) :)

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.........

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Nintendo and Sony have seen their fair share of Naruto games on, both, console & handheld so it's nice to see Microsoft getting some of that love now. To be honest, it's one of the reasons I bought an Xbox 360(the other being the game Blue Dragon). Naruto: Rise of a Ninja is one of the most stunning games I've seen on the system. Everything in the Naruto universe is so richly detailed. At times, it's breathtaking.

While I was looking forward to an all-new experience with the game(like the completely original storyline in Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2), Rise of a Ninja plays it safe and follows the first season of the anime starting with the tale of the Nine-tailed Fox and how it could have destroyed Konoha Village were it not for the efforts of the Fourth Hokage who trapped the demon within the body of a young child whom we all know as Naruto.

Most of the game and it's playstyle is nothing that Naruto vets haven't seen before. Yet, one thing that sets it apart from the rest is its' fighting system. To perform your jutsu, you have to do a series of hand gestures like they do in the anime(by using a series of thumb gestures on the Xbox 360's analog sticks) to execute them. The fighting can get downright intense at times but, considering the lack of opponents & the variety of them to face in the game, it left me wanting more. Although using your jutsu to accomplish certain tasks in the game proves to be quite fun.

Considering this is the first American made Naruto game, I think the fine folks that developed the game did an excellent job. One that Japanese developers should take note of and implement into future Naruto titles. This is, definitely, a title all Xbox 360 owners should add to their library. Believe it!

Great Game - Naruto Fan or Not

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Let me cover this from two aspects - as an anime/manga adaptation and simply as a game.

Ok, I'm not a Naruto expert. My son started watching it on Cartoon Network and got really into it so I (trying to be a good parent) looked into it to make sure I was cool with the content - which I was. He has since also been reading American Shonen Jump. So, most everything I know about Naruto is simply due to proximity to my son. :) That being said, I do like Naruto story and characters quite a bit.

I also am an anime fan and have bought many games on different platforms that were based on manga or anime I liked. I think most anime fans, when they buy these games, are looking for faithful recreations of the characters and universe they love. They want to be able to interact with these people and places. If that is the criteria, this is probably the best I have ever played. All the voices (either the Japanese or the English versions) are the same actors as in the anime. The conversion of Naruto's world to 3D is remarkably well done. The "village hidden in the leaves" looks perfect, all the character (down to their special moves and fighting style) are dead on, and it faithfully recreates the first 80 episodes as the primary story thread you follow through the game - integrating scenes from the episodes themselves as the cut scenes in the game. For Naruto fans as well, this is the only Naruto game that includes story based, role playing elements as well as fighting game elements. So, from the perspective of an anime adaptation, I would give this game an A+. Really outstanding.

But what if you aren't a super-otaku Naruto or anime fan? You are in luck because this also happens to be a really fun game. Think of any character/story driven platform game (Ratchet, Jak, Sly, etc.). This game develops the characters and story as if you have no context, and does it very well - so you can simply think of this game as a platform game about a boy ninja and never worry about the anime. The game mechanics are very good, using a good variety of components to keep things interesting while never getting complicated or overly frustrating. You will see a lot of familiar aspects, like platform jumping and rail grinding, as well as new things like wall and water walking. You will see familiar activities, like object collection and timed races, and some more unique ones like hide-and-go-seek and healing broken hearts. And finally, the fighting aspect of the game is fun and fair (even for people who aren't into fighting games) while not being too easy.

My biggest complaint is that the game is pretty short and the missions can start to feel repetitive at times. So, while I find every aspect of the game of the highest quality and extremely fun, based on how short it is I would give the game play a B (but not enough to bring in down from 5 stars).

One of the best XBOX 360 Games so far

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I all I can say is wow, maybe I am biased because I enjoy the Naruto Anime Series, but this game is awesome so far. I just recieved it yesterday and played it for two hours, but I felt like I actually watching the anime series. It is a brilliant mix of fighting, RPG and story line. Though I own Halo 3 and Command & Conquer, I will not be playing them for quite a while, since I am very into this game.

Best Naruto Game Period

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you are even slightly a fan of the Naruto series then you can not pass this game up. This game has action adventure, rpg and fighting in it and it works flawlessly. I must also point out that it has one of the most satisfying game endings. I can't wait for part 2 and after playing this game neither will you.

Naruto the beginning of a fun series on Xbox360

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: November 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was, before the game arrived on the market, a fan of naruto and naruto shippuden.
The moment I found out this game was going out on Xbox360, I was impatient and very excited about it.
After playing it for two complete days, I finished the story mode, except for some details like the village satisfaction and all the mini-games.
To my disapointement, the game goes only until the 80th episode. This is a bit sad, as I would have loved to try the rasengan and see all the cinematics that follow.
It is also disapointing to see that there are not many moves in this game, not many chakra jutsus. The most you havbe is 3, for naruto and sasuke if I am not mistaken.
This game is a lot of fun, a nice game play, maybe with a little bit too sensitive controller, but otherwise a lot of fun.
My neg points go to the fact that they could have gone even further with the episodes, a missing Playstation 3 adaption and now current Playstation 3 project, no rasengan, only twice the use of invocation and that's about it.

Anime to Video Game at it's best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Just got to play this game yesterday. (Yeah. I bought it for a while, but my 360 had the 3 red light hardware failure. Microsoft was great at getting it fixed. Not mad at Microsoft. Only inconvenience was not being able to play 360 games for a 3 weeks).

These are my first impressions of the game.

Very interesting and dynamic. Story line follows the anime VERY well. I'm happy with the graphics during gameplay, but the video clips are pretty low res. Only got to some of the mini games. Not very challenging yet and slightly boring start. But I expect it to get much better as the story progresses. Controls are great. Love being able to go through the Leaf Village. It's like RPG meets fighting.

Highly recommend this game.

A Must for Naruto Fans

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First, let me say that this game sticks to the original plot pretty much, with actual cut scenes from the series. The 3D rendering and animation of Konoha and your favorite Naruto characters is worth purchasing the game. Neji's gentle fist fighting style, for instance is lovingly reproduced. The story mode game play is not the most exciting (lots of grinding races and ramen delivery) but the fights are both challenging and fair. There are not many jutsus available but the ones there are signature for the characters and have an entertaining "hand sign" execution. The fighting is fairly difficult to control but unique. I recommend downloading the Japanese voices from Xbox live if you prefer them to the dub voices. That feature alone makes this game the most enjoyable anime game we own ( I wish Bleach: Shattered Blade for the Wii had a Japanese voice option). Original and fun. You'll enjoy it if you're a Naruto fan.

Rise of a Ninja

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you like Naruto and have a 360, definitely buy this game. Also, if you watch the original japanese anime rather than the CN dub, *make sure* you go download the japanese voices off of xbox live - they're free! Do this before you play through, it'll make it all the better.

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