A Vast, VAST Improvement

The first Uzumaki Chronicles was an utter abomination with only a good soundtrack and good graphics going for it. I don't know why I gave the sequel a chance but I'm glad I did.

Story:

Naruto returns to Konoha after training and meets up with Kankuro, who tells him Konoha is being attacked by puppets. These puppets are controlled by a thought to be deceased clan called the Shirogane clan. Their goal? To collect objects known as Spirit Orbs to revive the Master Puppet, and the last one they're looking for is with Konoha.

Dosen't sound like much but it is an entertaining to play through story, unlike the disjointed and absurd story in the first Uzumaki chronicles. This has a full on storyline from beggining to end. Overall, a good, worthwhile storyline. Sadly however the story is too short. With only a prolouge and ten chapters. I mean I guess I can understand wanting to make room for more unlockables, but couldn't they have sacraficed a few to make the story mode longer?

Graphics:

The graphics are basically the same as the first. Somewhat cell shaded with some nice if repetitive enviroments, many of which are from the first one. All the caracters are highly distinguishable in both cut scenes and gameplay with solid texture.

Sound:

Another great soundtrack. The music of every stage fits the atmosphere perfectly. You have your tense msuci, dramatic music, and the more lighthearted music, everything. The voices are all from the anime and come in perfectly clear, no muddledness(ahem Ultimate Ninja 2)

Controls:

The only real problem I have is the dash and jump button being the same button. There are times when even if I hit it in the way so I can jump, I do the dash and this can become a big annoyance, especialy when you have to jump from platform to platform in certain areas.

Gameplay:

What immidiately distinguishes this from Uzumaki Chronicles is the amount of modes here. In the original, there is the story mode, and then you could unlock a 2 player vs mode. That was it. In this one however not only are there more modes, but they help.

Story Mode-The core of the gameplay here. I allready described the storyline so I'll get to the mechanics of story mode. It starts with the title screen and a cut scene to introduce the next mission. After that you have the option to leave the village, level up, shop, and save. When you leave the village, much like the original there is a basic map with dots to represent destinations, the red glowing dot where you're supposed to go. As you travel from point to point you may run into a random encounter, which also like the first one you can't run away from. I can't say I'm not dissapointed in this, as you don't even have the option to play it smart and avoid a fight, you HAVE to fight. Your characters will have two taijutsu attacks:weaker ones and stronger ones, with the stronger ones usualy better to use against multiple enemies. Then you have two ninjutsu to be used by the R1 and R2 buttons. Then when you get to the destination point there will be a mix of cut scenes, and a level you have to explore. On these levels you might have to find your way around, solve a puzzel, and in some instances fight a boss along with other enemies littering the screen.

Also I must mention the best improvement:NO SPOTLIGHT HOGGING FROM NARUTO! That's right, no more less then 30 seconds garbage. You can play as a character other then Naruto for however long you want. You can spend the whole mission as Kakashi or as Lee, depending who they have on your team, if you desired.

Mission mode-As you comeplete chapters, you unlock missions ranking from Practice to A, and S class is unlocked after comepleting story mode. The missions do vary a bit. Most will, with a few twists thrown here and there, concern wiping out all the enemies. Others will be comepletely different like finding a treasure, having target practice with enemy ninja, protecting objects for a set amount of time, etc. Usualy you will have the ability to assemble teams of 3, sometimes only 1, from characters you unlock in story mode. This will also give you money and virtue, which leads us to:

Level up mode:When an enemy is defeated, they leave behind gold and virtue. Virtue are points used to level up. You have several different stats to level up:Tai Attack(hand to hand)Tai Defence, Nin attack(ninjutsu attacks like Raseguan) Nin defence and health. As you increase these stats more, more virtue is required to level it up further.

Shop:Here you can buy items. Before you even enter the story mode you can earn money and level up. Now this is a great concept, unfourtanately if you save in the middle of a mission, you lose this ability which was a bad move on the game maker's part.

Survival move:You choose one character and go through several stages defeating all the enemies within a time limit. Basicly another way of getting money and virtue for your character.

However there is a downside to all this:unless you have a strategy guide or have played through story mode once, you're going to have no idea who's going to be on your team later on, which means you'll have no idea who to level up other then Naruto. This will come back to bite you at least or twice.

2 Player vs:You can unlock characters for 2 player vs, which unfourtanately can only be played with 2 player and not the computer(may I ask why?) Each side picks two ninja, and then have the first two fight, when one is eliminated, the next one comes until both sides are eliminated. All leveling up and such will not apply to characters here.

Unlockables:

The unlockables here are pretty cool. You can unlock Temari for use in 2P vs mode by comepleting all S class missions and story mode twice. Sasuke can be unlocked simply by comepleting story mode twice in both 2Player vs and Mission mode. Comepleting all S rank missions will unlock another story, Kakashi Gaiden, which chronicles the past of Kakashi, working with his team mates under the sensei who would go on to become the 4th hokage. Comepleting this will unlock Itachi and Kisame for use in 2 player vs mode.