The story behind Uzumaki Chronicles 2 isn't connected to any previous titles in the Naruto universe. Instead, the game revolves around a new threat that was believed to be destroyed years before. The Shirogane Clan was known for using soulless creatures known as puppet walkers to accomplish their goals, manipulating them for malevolent purposes. Fortunately, the monstrous leaders of the clan were sealed away before they could acquire the world's spirit orbs and awaken their final weapon. While everyone expected the Shirogane to fade away, the leaders planned and waited for their return, launching attacks against every village in the world. The Hidden Leaf village was the very last to suffer their onslaught, and it's up to Naruto and his allies to stop the Shirogane before they accomplish their goals.
Now, while we've played the title before, we were somewhat surprised to see how the game opens up from the initial prologue that tells the story of the Shirogane Clan's return. The game develops similar to episodes from the popular anime, with a prologue and numerous chapters telling the primary story of what Naruto and his friends do to beat back the puppet walkers. However, as players complete chapters and specific battles tied into the main plot of the game, they unlock everything from characters to game modes. What's more, the game modes will receive new content as you progress, making the overall exploration of the title rather expansive. For example, as you complete the first few chapters, you'll unlock Survival mode and mission modes, each of which has different ranked objectives. As you take on side quests and other moves, you unlock new challenges, which you can take on to earn items, orbs and money.
Each one of these objects comes in handy when it comes to improving your warriors. Your items can be sold back at the shop to purchase new skill chips, which enhances your abilities. For example, Naruto will start out with only his Rasengan and Shadow Clone Jutsu, but you can only gain his Sexy Jutsu, True Rasengan and Uzumaki Barrage attacks by expanding the skill plate and equipping these abilities on this grid. Similarly, money can be used to purchase items that restore your health or your chakra, which you use to trigger your skills. Orbs, on the other hand, boost your health and chakra in battle, along with providing your characters with virtue points. Virtue points are saved up in the game and are redeemed at the end of missions to level up individual stats like your attack power or jutsu defense. Since the amount of virtue points goes up as you purchase each new stat increase, you'll find yourself constantly taking on missions to strengthen your characters.
While story missions are usually locked as to what team members you can or can't bring with you on a quest, side missions will present you with the option to bring along one or two other characters to fight off the various bandits, puppet walkers and other enemies that you'll face in the game. Players can switch between any of the additional teammates that are along with them at will, taking advantage of each character's skills to better succeed at their tasks. However, there two reasons why players will want to change frequently between warriors. First of all, the number of virtue points that are collected on a mission aren't shared between party members, so if one character is used to grab all the orbs, they receive all the points while their friends are left in the cold. The other reason is that injured characters slowly heal damage and chakra points when they're not used. This allows you to save characters from being incapacitated during long missions so you can complete your tasks. We'll have more on Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2 soon, but for now, check out some new movies of the ninjas in action.