Welcome to our review of Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, the new game in the Naruto franchise.
The Naruto franchise is back with a brand new experience in Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker! This new game lets gamers battle as a team of 4 to compete against other teams online! Graphically,Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is also built from the ground up in a completely new graphics style. Lead your team and fight online to see who the best ninjas are!
Equipped with a big online battle system, where you battle four on four, which I will not be reviewing. We all know what a four on four battle is like and therefore I do not think it needs further introduction, I want to address the single-player mode and everything around it. You can enjoy the capturing of the flag on your own!
Upon starting the game, You get to choose from which hidden village you hail from, as a long time fan of the franchise, I just had to pick Konoha. I went into the designer and created my own character, which reminisces me of none other than Asuma, who was one of my favorites of all time. The editor is very elaborate and does create a true Naruto feeling.
Once I was done, I was greeted by none other than Konohamaru, who started the tutorial with me. As I encountered a small snafu here, I was not going online and it left the entire Konoha village empty. The Konoha village dubs in as the hub for everything. You are explained the VR battle situations and the missions behind them.
Next, we meet Tenten and Sakura, the owners of the hotel and the shop next to it. During missions, you can get scrolls which will give you in-game items in return, making up for the collecting side of the game. Once we get through this part of the tutorial, I went to do some missions. In the beginning, you have a handful of missions available, all D and just 1 C, the C-mission being to defeat Gamakichi.
That mission felt easier than the one where you join team Naruto to grab Kakashi his bells. That was a seriously intense battle and it instantly set the pace for rest of the game. Hectic and frantic battle gameplay in a completely new Unreal engine. The design is looking much slicker compared to the older titles and I loved that fake sense of 3D when wall climbing or I should say, Shakra running.
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker has a lot of options to really personalize how you play. There are 4 main classes where you can choose what your preferred method of fighting is. I chose an attacking mode as I like to head straight into the action.
Once you get used to the fighting mechanics, which did take me awhile. I said it before, I love 2D fighting games over 3D any time of the year! But once you really get used to them, there is just a lot of fun to be had. While the missions are rather plain at first, it is clear that the overall variety is where the money is. The more you advance, the more impressive you will find the missions and obviously, a lot harder.
The entire VR idea allows you to experience every battle from past and present in the Naruto franchise and this is highly appreciated by a long time fan of the works of Masashi Kishimoto. Wether you want to enlist Sasuke or Naruto as your VR teacher or even want to battle them, it is all possible.
Franchise based games like Naruto or One Piece usually have a big legacy to live up to and with a few rare exceptions never live up to the expectations. Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker does do just that and sets the standard for future entries of the series!
In conclusion, the variety and the idea behind the VR are pure gold and are what makes this game shine bright. Much brighter than its predecessors and I might even go as far as say this is the best Naruto game I have played so far. I look forward to see what the next installment of the series will bring!
