Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Gameplay

The gameplay retains many of the elements from the first game and has 23 fighting stages. It has 9 chapters including the prologue and extra chapter. Each character can also gain new combos and jutsu by activating the Awakening Mode. Lars Alexandersson, a character from Tekken 6 whose third costume was designed by Masashi Kishimoto, is also playable in the game. As the story progresses, players will unlock new Jutsu and Ultimate Jutsu for certain characters. Jutsu clashes, however, have been removed.

Support characters return with 2 new features. The first feature is Support Types. These types are Defense, Attack, and Balanced. Each of these can be unlocked for each support character and will decide the actions of the support character during Support Drive level 1. The 2nd new feature is the Support Drive. Support Drive has 2 levels. Level 1 is activated once the players support characters are summoned enough times. When Support Drive level 1 is activated, the players support characters will summon themselves automatically depending on their support type depending on what actions the player is executing. When a support character automatically summons itself, it will not reset the support character charge gauge, and can even summon when the gauge is not full. A support character cannot be manually summoned by the player if it has already automatically summoned itself. If a support character is set to Defense, it will automatically summon itself when the player is charging chakra, block the opponent from dashing into the player. When a support character is set to Attack, it will help the player attack the opponent through combos, and knock the opponent back when a combo sends them flying. When a support character is set to Balanced, they will throw projectiles alongside the player when the player uses chakra projectiles and block incoming Ultimate Jutsus, at the expense of losing that support for a while. When Support Drive level 2 is activated, for a limited amount of time the player will be capable of releasing a Team Ultimate Jutsu. A Team Ultimate Jutsu is activated by hitting the chakra button 3 times and then the attack button. A Team Ultimate Jutsu drains an enormous amount of the players chakra, and does massive damage if it makes contact with an unguarded opponent.

The game does not have free roaming in the same sense as the original, instead it is replaced by more traditional JRPG screens and movement. In addition to the Leaf Village, players are able to travel outside the village, ranging from forests to deserts, and also the Hidden Sand Village. Boss battles have returned, with quick-time events and cutscenes.

Players can access multiple online features; quick matches have opponents chosen at random, ranked matchees with leader boards, match customization, as well as the availability to host matches.

Plot

The game's adventure mode covers the original manga's chapter 245 to 450. Chapter 245, in addition to spearheading the start of a new story arc, also marks the beginning of the so-called "Part II" myth arc, adapted on television as Naruto: Shippuden. The main story that focuses on Naruto Uzumaki is told through 8 chapters, including a prologue section. Clearing them all unlocks an additional "fragment" chapter detailing Taka's failed capture of Killer Bee, based on several nonconsecutive manga chapters from 404 to 417.

Playable characters

Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 has 72 characters and 15 only support characters as well as Tekken 6's Lars Alexandersson. Lars appears in his costume from Tekken 6 designed by Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto.

Development

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 was officially announced on December 20, 2009 by Namco Bandai Games at a Jump Festa event. V Jump magazine revealed the game a few days beforehand. As CyberConnect2's first multi-platform project, they worked closely with Microsoft. The pre-release playable demo for Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 was first mentioned in the official Japanese website on July 8, 2010 and was made available for download on July 29, 2010 in the Japanese PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. The demo was also made available in an English version on the European PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on August 25, 2010. The English demo was also released on the American PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on August 24, 2010. Namco Bandai announced on September 27, 2010, the game had gone gold.

Reception

The game was met with positive to average reception upon release. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 77% and 74 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version, and 77% and 76 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version.

Namco Bandai hoped Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 would have sold 700,000 units by November. The game shipped 1 million copies worldwide; 500,000 in Europe, 340,000 in North America and 160,000 in Japan by November 25, 2010. In May 2011, Namco Bandai reported it became its second best-selling game from 2010 behind Tekken 6 with 1.1 million units sold.