Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 | a Review
originally published on 05/04/2021;
Hello everyone, I am the S+ rated Rogue Ninja G.E.M.Simov, an incredibly powerful wielder of the keyboard style, and I’ve come to talk to you about Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 for the PSP, henceforth known as NSUNH3.
I’d advise reading my Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 reviews to be aware of what exactly I am talking about in this one.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
I think this game is a continuation of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes (NUNH) pair of PSP games, seeing as it has the exact same name, safe for the “Shippuden” and the 3 in its title. HOWEVER, it’s so… Different.
While the gameplay retains a 2D perspective from the side, it has a few changes that I can’t quite understand. For instance, it is a lot more sluggish, and the control fidelity is lackluster. Whenever the X button is tapped twice, while, like in NUNH, the character jumps, but then interrupts their jump to dash forward, the character does not actually zero in on a target. There are no means of stringing combos together, and the jutsu system has been heavily simplified, meaning that there are not too many options for what one can do.
In addition, as mentioned, there is no combo system. The player CAN use different moves, but they all end with something that causes a knock down, which ends the combo. And the attacks strings are so short that there is no opportunity to stop and double-tap X to break into another combo. On top of that, the sluggishness mentioned makes it so that there is an almost 1 second delay between the last attack being performed and the jump occurring. It is baffling how the combat system has been so majorly reworked to be so inferior, by comparison, to the combat system in NUNH.
Also, there are no longer grabs. Can’t break the opponent’s guard, and that guard never breaks - instead, the player actually takes highly reduced damage from attacks against them, as long as they are guarding. It’s not a good change.
The only new addition that I can think of, when it comes to the fights, is that when using the Triangle Button, and then another button, such as the Circle Button or the X Button, something happens. In the case of using the Circle Button, a Jutsu is performed, while, in the case of using the X Button, a… Strange Dash/Jump move is performed… One that doesn’t affect enemies. If the player double taps the Triangle Button before using the Circle Button, that is when they use their Ultimate Jutsu, which has an interesting mechanic to it.
Whenever an Ultimate Jutsu is used and landed, the player needs to input a series of button prompts which appear on screen, as quickly as possible. The faster the prompts are imputed, without errors, the more damage the Ultimate Jutsu will do. In addition to that, there is no longer an Awakened State after using an Ultimate Jutsu - the Awakened State is accessible via the “Awakening” mechanic.
Whenever a character takes enough damage, or is hit by a certain number of attacks, or a certain type of attacks, the player’s Awakening Gauge gets filled up, and they get the prompt to use the Left Bumper. Pressing it makes the character enter an Awakened State, during which they are generally stronger and might have an interesting effect, either exclusively visual or gameplay affecting, such as slowly draining one’s own health for an incredible increase in speed and damage.
One interesting tidbit is that there can be up to 4 characters in a battle at one point in time, and they can all be on different teams. That might explain why the depth of the game has been stripped so much, but it is still not a good enough reason, because, due to the fact the game no longer feels good to play, I don’t think anyone would want to play it against three of their friends, or do Tag Team matches.
There are, however, some interesting additions, when it comes to gamemodes. Sometimes, the player is presented with a mission (in the story), and that mission involves them traversing a field which has obstacles that need to be jumped over, avoided or navigated around. These involve breakable objects which drop items that provide momentary power ups, much like in NUNH, and also some pick-ups which restore a bit of Health, a bit of Chakra or even grant the player Ninja Points. This addition is very nice, because, in a sense, it allows the player to explore the world of Naruto.
Lastly, the reward structure. In NUNH, the player obtained Ninja Points, which they used to increase their power. In NUNH2, the player obtained Ninja Points, which they used to purchase vanity items. In NSUNH3 the player gets Ninja Points, which they use to… Water a tree? But then also buy slight boosts to stats, which, gradually, become big boosts, and also buy vanity items. It is much better in this one, though the gameplay has been butchered so horribly that comparing it to NUNH makes it seem bad. 1/3
Presentation
This game’s presentation is one of the reasons why I find it challenging to figure out HOW could this be a continuation of the NUNH franchise, as it looks quite unlike either of the NUNH titles. As an example, the loading screen. Unlike the loading screens in NUNH, the loading screens in NSUNH are… Very unpleasant to behold. After a black screen, the whole display is lit up by a massive blue rectangle that slowly gets filled up with ORANGE.
Another thing, the main menu, is no longer composed of still images, but, rather, an animated scene, at the side of which a wheel of options is presented. The graphics seem to be a tad crisper than what NUNH had for us, but it is still a PSP game.
Much like in NUNH2, however, the manner in which the story, and most events that occur, is presented, is through the utilization of still images of the characters situated next to one another with text boxes passing by. An improvement over NUNH2 has been made, however, because now the player can press the Start button to skip the dialogue and get to the gameplay. The voice acting is good, as you would expect, though I am biased - I used the Japanese option, rather than the English Dub, because I like how into it Japanese Voice Actors get. And, also, it’s as if those people sound better.
Surprisingly, the music is very pleasant, though that is to be expected, considering it is the same that gets used in the actual Console games (PS3, xBox). Overall, the presentation is good. Maybe quite good for a PSP game, and, thus, I am giving it a: 3/3
Story
It’s Naruto’s story. Naruto Shippuden’s story, before it got bad. It’s not too bad, it’s pretty nice… But that doesn’t mean this is a superb score. 2/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time?
No. The game is not really fun to play, to be honest. It’s super unresponsive, and that doesn’t even let me feel good while experiencing it. 0/1
Conclusion
6/10. It looks good, it’s decently interesting, but it’s not a game I would recommend you play, unless you are a BIG fan of Naruto, in which case go ahead and give it a go, if you happen to have a PSP laying around.
I tuck it under my belt, another achievement, I guess, that I proudly display.