In Uzumaki Ninden, which is due out on Thursday in Japan, you control Naruto and his friends in a full-blown, mission-based action game, facing off against enemies on roof tops, in forests and in caves. The game promises many different missions, but the one that we were able to try in a recent demo had us work our way through an enemy-filled cave in search of someone who'd been kidnapped. Judging by this single mission, Uzumaki Ninden seems to be full of voiced cinema scenes to break up the action.
Fowl-mouthed Naruto himself is the game's main character. The action takes place from behind the back and has you facing off against multiple enemies simultaneously. You can make Naruto jump, perform weak and strong attacks and dash both on the ground and through the air. So quick is Naruto's dash that he becomes a momentary blur. The enemy ninjas are just as fast, though, so don't get too over-confident! Once you've locked on to an enemy, all your movements become relative to the enemy, making it easy to evade attacks; you can even perform a reversal move should an enemy start laying the beat down on Naruto.
As one would expect of a Naruto game, you have access to a number of special moves. Holding down the R1 or R2 shoulder buttons individually or in combination builds up a power meter at the bottom of the screen. Once you've let go of the buttons, Naruto performs a special attack, with the power of the attack depending on how long you've managed to charge. Attacks include the Kagebunshin no Jutsu, where upwards of five mirror Narutos are sent out to attack the enemies in your place, and the Rasengan, where Naruto blasts himself forward in the form of a blue energy ball. By defeating enough enemies, you can also make Naruto temporarily go into berserker mode, with his attacks becoming more violent.
Naruto fights alongside characters like Sasuke, Neji, Makamaru and Chouji. In addition to his life meter, Naruto has a spirit meter. When this meter has charge, you can tap the L2 button to switch to one of these secondary characters, inheriting all their moves and special attacks. You can only use them until the meter runs out, although you're free to switch back to Naruto whenever you like.
Outside of pure action, Uzumaki Ninden seems to offer some bonus features for those wanting to spend extra time with the game. You can equip Naruto with different skill cards and slot effects to the cards in order to build the character up with added power, moves and life, allowing for a customized ninja. The game also seems to offer a one-on-one fighting mode, which we were able to sample via a battle between Naruto and Sasuke on a rooftop.
With the focus on special moves and multiple characters, Uzumaki Ninden brings some unique elements to the action genre. We found some of the controls to be difficult along with some cheap hits, particularly with multiple enemies, but this is hopefully a problem that will disappear with practice. We're also hoping the lengthy load times featured in the demo will disappear before the final version of the game ships.
We've uploaded a few movie clips, including a lengthy trailer, straight from the demo. Those hoping to get their hands on Naruto's first console action title will need to import, as Uzumaki Ninden is currently due for release only in Japan.