NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress

Like most fans of the popular Shonen Jump anime and manga simply titled Naruto, I’m rooting for the young ninja with the spiky blonde hair and orange jumpsuit. Maybe it’s his stubborn determination to prove himself or his bold claims that he will one day be the Leaf Village’s Hokage (which is what they call the village leader), but you can’t help but want to see him come on top. In the past, only a few games were able to do justice to the series and, on the PSP the first Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes came very close. So, not surprisingly, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress brings us more Naruto action. It’s not a large leap forward but it’s not a step back either.

While the last Ultimate Ninja Heroes game didn’t follow a particular story arc from the show or manga, at least it remained true to a specific time frame familiar to fans. The same can be said about The Phantom Fortress that roughly takes place after the story arc that had Naruto Uzumaki battling against former teammate Sasuke Uchiha and thus losing said teammate to the “dark side.” You’ll feel the absence of Sasuke the minute you start playing either Heroes Mode or the game’s new story mode called Mugenjo Mode.

Mugenjo Mode features a story that feels like a lost filler episode of the anime so it doesn’t really follow any particular story arc covered in the manga. The story revolves around yet another dastardly plot by none other than returning villain Orochimaru who unleashes a summoning spell that makes a mysterious floating fortress appear above the Hidden Leaf Village. According to the Hogake, the fortress is known to suddenly appear and destroy villages within days. So, naturally, Naruto and his fellow ninja classmates decide to come to the aid of the village and unravel the mystery behind the phantom fortress and its legend of Princess Dusk. It’s not a very deep story but at least it’s not a dull one.

The game’s story mode places you on a grid where you move an icon that looks like Naruto. Each block on the map represents a room that pushes the story forward. Of course, because of the phantom-like nature of the fortress, some rooms require scrolls you pick to make them solid. Each scroll you use has a specific effect on the phantom room so it either becomes a Battle Room (where one-on-one battles take place) or Drama Room (which is tied to the story). There are some scrolls that have a mini-game effect on a room so you’ll be tasked with completing fun mini-games. One mini-game has climbing up a tree attempting not to run into a branch while another is a memory game featuring Shikamaru. There’s even a gambling mini-game and a game that has you trying to pick out a Leaf sensei from his two other clones. There’s even a Naruto trivia game only die-hard fans will get right. 

The good news is that not only is the story decent but the story mode is rather lengthy and filled with different challenges. It’s actually fun “recruiting” fellow Leaf Ninja as you continue your quest and having to interact with them in ways true to the series. You’ll still find Hinata trying hard to overcome her shyness in front of Naruto and Shikamaru becoming increasingly annoyed by having to go through the trouble of completing a mission. Each character you recruit adds his or her own unique skill and ability that will help you move forward. For example, your path to the next room might be blocked by rubble so you can either use Naruto’s Rasengan or Kiba’s Tunneling Fan to clear it. If you can’t see the path then Hinata’s helpful Byakugan can see it for you.

Lengthy story mode aside, there’s also the return of Heroes Mode - a game mode that has you picking an already established team or creating your own three-ninja team. As I mentioned above, Team Kakashi is out one man but Naruto and Sakura are given boosts to make up for it. Essentially, your mission in this mode is to go up against the other Leaf ninja teams in order to impress the Lady Hokage or something to that effect. It’s still a blast to play, albeit a bit repetitive.

Of course, there’s also VS CPU and Wireless Mode for when you want to play against real gamers. The good news is that there are secret characters to unlock in the game so you’ll add more to the already impressive lineup of characters. Some characters are left out of the mix, though, and it would have been great if they had added the others from the first Ultimate Ninja Heroes game. The unlockable extras can be found in a cute mode called Ninja Road where you pick up extras along the way.

As far as the battles are concerned, not has really changed aside from a few new Jutsu moves and techniques Naruto and some of the others picked up along the way in the timeframe. Naruto himself uses his Shadow Clones but they feel similar to the first game. Even many of the arenas are taken from the original game so you won’t see many new locales. I would have also liked to see new elements in the battle such as better ring-outs. Wouldn’t it be cool to kick an opponent off the screen and follow him or her down to yet another area within the arena? A tag team match would also have been appreciated for VS Mode. 

Graphically, Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 looks similar to the first game and that’s not a bad thing at all. I loved the visuals from the first game and on the PSP the characters, backgrounds and effects looks wonderfully crisp and detailed. My only complaint is directed at the cut scenes that are beginning to look boring. We want animation like in the Xbox 360 version of Path of the Ninja. Anything besides the boring images of the characters pasted on the same backgrounds would have been great.

The game’s music hasn’t changed either but I’m not complaining here seeing as it feels like it belongs on the show. It’s great to find the same sound effects too that come through nicely via the PSP speakers or head phones. I’m also glad to find the English dub talent performing the voices for each character and doing it just as good as the show. For those who love the Japanese dub cast, though, you will find that there’s an option to switch to Japanese voices. Either way, you can’t go wrong with the voice work in this game.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 isn’t a huge leap into new territory as far as the fighting mechanics are concerned but there’s some fun to be had in The Phantom Fortress. For starters, the game’s story mode is good fun and a nice change of pace that adds something else to do besides just pitting familiar characters against each another. Still, the series needs more diversity if it wishes to satisfy fighting game fans looking to sink their teeth into a Jutsu-filled title worthy of the orange ninja.

Gameplay: 7.5
Stylistically speaking, Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 doesn’t change much from the original but at least there are some new Jutsu and secret techniques tossed into the fights. There’s a solid story now and it’s lengthy enough to keep gamers busy. Still, you won’t help but wish the game shakes things up for the battles.

Graphics: 8.0
Visually, the game looks rather slick and colorfully detailed on the PSP. It’s basically the same look as before and it still works. I wish there were animated cut scenes rather than the same boring pop-up-book-quality cut scenes.

Sound: 8.0
The music sounds straight out of the show and if you played the first game it been basically ripped off from that so there are no new tunes here. There are some solid sound effects but the star of the audio is the English dub voice cast providing the voices for each character.

Difficulty: Medium
Like the first game, the strongest characters on the show or the manga are the strongest characters in the game so expect Gaara and Neji to be dangerous foes to go up against or great characters to use against the likes of powerhouses such as Naruto or Rock Lee.

Concept: 7.5
The Mugenjo Mode story line feels straight out of the anime’s filler episodes and it’s actually quite decent. There are mini-games and a number of extra characters to unlock and use in the other game modes. It’s still cool to create your own Naruto dream team for Heroes mode.

Multiplayer: 7.0
Yes VS Modes are mandatory in fighting games but Naruto fans won’t help but love fulfilling certain battle fantasies with their favorite characters. This Naruto fan is dying to see Kakashi-sensei take on Orochimaru but my heart is set on seeing Sakura slap around Sasuke … leave the Leaf Village, will you?

Overall: 7.5
A slight improvement over the first Naruto PSP offering, The Phantom Fortress still plays the same while not really pushing the fighting series to exciting new heights. Don’t get me wrong, though, there is still much fun to be had in this game and the Mugenjo story mode is a major plus. If you missed the first game, you can’t go wrong buying this one. Everyone else will feel like they did all this before.