Naruto: Star Students - Ninja Survival | a Review
originally published on 14/12/2024;
Hello everyone, I am the most powerful ninja, G.E.M.Simov, a master of shadows and kunai so powerful I bested the Chunin Exams at my first try, here to tell you about the flash game “Naruto: Star Students - Ninja Survival”.
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.
Gameplay
The game (henceforth NSS) is… Somewhat similar to Space Invaders? Somewhat similar to a bullet hell?
It features Character selection, during which the Player is presented with 3 different Characters who function roughly the same way, but have slight differences. As an example, Sasuke throws a shuriken (which features a lower rate of fire but does more damage) and has a Fireball jutsu, whereas Sakura throws a kunai (which features a higher rate of fire but appears to do less damage) and has a bomb jutsu. Aside from that, the Characters are roughly the same.
Then, the Player gets thrown into the game - they control their Character with the Arrow Keys, going Up, Down, Left and Right with the corresponding arrows. The Character naturally moves forward - or, rather, the screen scrolls forward and the Character’s idle animation shows them off as walking - but they can go further forward, then back, as well as left and right.
The Player can press the SpaceBar to attack (throw either a kunai or a shuriken, depending on their chosen Character) and must do so to get rid of enemies that appear on the screen, appearing at certain ‘locations’ along the ever-scrolling scenery.
These enemies deal damage to the Player Character (PC) by either bumping into them - with the ‘bump’ radius being humongous and almost always meaning that the PC takes damage without having its sprite intersect with that of the enemy - or by throwing projectiles at them. The Player avoids those projectiles by moving around, while also positioning their Character appropriately so that their own attacks (also projectiles) can hit the enemies.
The issue here is that the field of play is very tiny, and by the time an enemy appears they are already attacking, and their projectiles move slowly enough, while their attacks are performed at small enough intervals, that it becomes almost impossible, or at least very difficult, to kill an enemy that is attacking without taking damage.
That is further exasperated when more than one enemy is on the screen at a time, or when special enemies start showing up, because said ‘special’ enemies fire multiple projectiles (often arranged in such patterns that they are literally impossible to avoid without being at the other edge of the screen). On top of that, some enemies do not just move, but become invulnerable, requiring precise timing to be hit (which is actually not bad), and then there are other enemies that deal more than just one pip of Health as damage. All of this would be very reasonable, if the movement was smooth and the hitbox-detection was working properly. However, due to the fact that the movement feels somewhat clunky, and because the way collisions are detected is absolutely ludicrous, there’s a profound issue with enemies doing those things.
This is not that great an issue, because nearly every enemy killed drops something - with that something being a ball that either restores a pip of health (a sixth of the total available to the Player), a pip of Chakra (a third of the total available to the Player) or grants them an extra life (up to 9, after which the counter fails to display a higher number).
However, it is an issue in another regard, because after every stage (the game is split into stages) the Player is given a grade based on their performance, while also being told how high their accuracy was. That indicates that there is something that the Player needs to do to get the highest possible grade, and, naturally, the assumption is that the Player needs to not take damage, or to not miss. However, those are almost mutually exclusive, and there is no clear indication what, exactly, contributes to the grading system. An additional issue relating to accuracy (or not taking damage) is the fact that the game is very uncertain how it wants to approach its control scheme. Sometimes, pressing the SpaceBar makes the Character fire two projectiles, other times the Character does not fire even one. That’s… That’s just NOT GOOD.
On top of all of that, there is also a scoring system, which may or may not have some relation to the grading system. Lastly, there is also a counter that tracks how many enemies have been defeated, which also has some relation to the scoring system. Ultimately, it is not just esoteric, it is downright mysterious and inexplicable, and that leads into a futility related to engaging with it.
What’s left, then? Well, getting through the game, which features a number of stages, with every third stage featuring a special ‘boss’ enemy with unique mechanics. Those are neat, but also poorly done, as their hitbox detection is either very wonky, or they have short periods of invulnerability that are not indicated in any way.
Fortunate as it is, the saving grace here is the jutsu, the “chakra attack” that the Player can perform by pressing the X key and expending one pip of chakra. While performing it, for a short amount of time, the PC is invulnerable to damage, making it possible to avoid the ludicrous attacks that the enemies (and bosses) perform.
That said, it is very closely related to chakra, and the balls that drop from dead enemies. There’s an issue with those, though - and that is the fact the balls need to be walked into from below to be picked up, otherwise they do not get picked up, meaning that sometimes, the PC might be literally on top of a ball, their sprites overlapping, and no picking up of the ball can occur, which is bothersome. Similarly, using a jutsu and picking up a ball while moving (because, as mentioned, the PC moves even while no arrow key is pressed) does not actually grant the chakra pip, but collects the ball.
These oversights, the wonky design, and the weirdness surrounding the grading system all contribute to making a bit of a mess, and one that is more bothersome than enjoyable… And there is no Pause button. 1/3
Presentation
NSS looks quite good. It starts off with a blurb about what is going on, then a list of instructions, then allows the Player to pick a Character, and off they go. The sprites are all quite nicely done, and some of them even have neat animations when attacking, when taking damage/dying and, in the case of the PC, when clearing a stage.
The stages themselves feature very satisfactory backdrops which change whenever the “area” changes. Areas change every 3 stages, so the Player has the opportunity to get a good look at them all before going on to the next one.
Then, there’s the matter of music - every area has its own musical accompaniment, and, on top of that, following a successful area clear (or PC death) there’s a specific jingle. The one that plays whenever the PC dies is particularly impactful and somehow really dour, which I quite like.
Ultimately, the way the game presents itself is very neat and I must say that it has no issues in that regard. 3/3
Story
The story is very simple - the chosen Character represents Team 7 as they make their way through the Chunin exams, and that’s it. It fulfills the role of setup for the gameplay, which is enough, but still - there is no story being told. 0/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the Legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? NO is the simple answer, and I need not clarify. 0/1
Conclusion
4/10. “Naruto: Star Students - Ninja Survival” is a short little flash game meant to drum up excitement and fondness for the show and, in particular, the Chunin Exam Arc. It is somewhat reminiscent of the Bullet Hell games (like Tohou) that one might know and love, but it fails in almost every regard, aside from looking neat. I would not recommend it to anyone, aside from, MAYBE, fans of Naruto, or those with nostalgia for NSS.
In the bag of mediocrity. A neat looking thing, but nothing special.