Nintendo DS Review: Naruto Shippuden Shinobi-Rumble!!

After defeating Hidan and Kakuzo (the assassins of Akatsuki), Naruto Uzumake returns to Hidden Leaf Village to train and strengthen his abilities for the next battle. Sasuko Uchiha becomes more powerful learning under Orochimaru and he hopes to defeat Itachi Uchiha in battle.

As you begin the game, across the bottom screen are the options Story, VS Battle, Personal Battles, Special Missions, Summoning and Extras. In Story, you will play Naruto and fight a series of predetermined battles interspersed with dialog scenes based on the Naruto Shippuden story. There are 21 different chapters in the story and in each battle you win gets you further along into the story.  In VS Battle, you can battle wirelessly with up to three other people.

In the personal battles section, you can fight as your choice of one of sixteen characters including Naruto and Sasuko. Each character has a different fighting style and you will fight a series of ten random personal battles with the character of your choice. If you can win the final special battle, you'll see a unique dialog scene for the character you chose. Mastering personal battles also earns you summoning marks that can be used to unlock new characters and stages.

In special missions you can chose one of three scrolls that will allow you to earn stamps if you win the battles. If you meet all the conditions of the mission, you earn that mount of stamps on a bingo sheet for the character you chose. If you earn enough stamps to complete a row, you unlock a new ability for that character. The more stamps, the more difficult the mission will be.

The fighting in Naruto Shippuden Sinobi-Rumble takes place on the top screen. There are three modes the game can be played in (easy, normal and hard). The bottom screen contains the icons for secret and ultra techniques that you can use while fighting. The top screen also contains information on your character's name, stamina gauge, chakra gauge and player number. There are three stamina bars (red, yellow and green) and they change color based on how much damage the character has taken.

As you fight, you fight both in the air and on the ground using the control pad and the a, b, x and y buttons. During the battle, there are items you can touch by jumping onto them or running through them that will help you regain stamina or increase abilities. A bowl of ramen noodles will help you recover stamina. Food pills help you recover chakra. A Katana (sword) increase your attack power temporarily. A shield increases your defense temporarily. There are also traps you can run into like a poison jar that drains your stamina, a paper bomb that explodes sending you flying and a light ball that reverses your controls.

The graphics are about what you'd expect from a manga type game. They remind me of Pokemon cartoons I've seen. The characters move easily with the controls and having an easy setting allows you to get used to how the controls work. Naruto Shippuden Shinobi Rumble uses autosave throughout the game. If you choose New Game when you've already created saved data, it will be overwritten. You can advance through the dialog by pressing the A key. If you want to skip the dialog completely, you have that option as well which is great once you've played a level a few times and don't want to read the same dialog over and over. You don't use the stylus at all during the game. The play is done entirely by the control pad and the buttons on the game. Defnitely a great game for teens who are attracted to manga. Both of my teens enjoyed playing this and have chosen it as one of their favorite games. It's fun to play and not so difficult that you can't advance through the levels slowly. While there is animated violence, there's not a lot of blood and gore like you see in some teen games.  The action and dialog are interesting and fast paced enough to keep your attention. This one has my thumbs up.

Naruto Shippuden Shinobi-Rumble is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Cartoon Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes.


 
My thanks to the sponsor for allowing me to review this product.

As required by the FTC: I received a product sample in order to write my review.  I received no monetary compensation.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

Article first published as Nintendo DS Review: Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Rumble on Blogcritics.