Naruto: Ninja Council 3
Posted July 13, 2007
Some video games based on existing franchises try to win new fans to the source material. Others feel like they were created solely for pre-existing fans. Naruto Ninja Council 3 for the Nintendo DS falls into the latter category and offers little to entice fans unfamiliar with the manga series.
Gameplay:
Rather than offer a cohesive story, Naruto Ninja Council 3 consists of a large number of brief, unrelated challenges with no real background context. Levels might require reducing an enemy’s health by half, killing twenty spiders in a set amount of time or racing through a small board against a computer opponent. Some of these require skill to complete, but many feel as though luck is the primary factor, especially the levels with time limits.
Controls are fairly typical to a button-mashing fighting game. One button makes you jump, another causes attacks and a third will throw enemies. Respectively, the R and L buttons of the DS make your character block and teleport. The teleport function does make the fighting a little more interesting, as you can quickly dodge an attack and appear directly behind an enemy. Outside of this, the standard fighting controls are somewhat dull and unoriginal.
When playing, action takes place on the top screen, while a map and the character’s secret techniques appear below. Defeating enemies builds up your chakra meter, which enables the use of the secret techniques. To select one, the player must tap it on the touch screen and then perform whatever random action is requested. This might mean tracing a shape, rubbing the stylus very quickly in a specified direction or even blowing into the DS’s microphone. If the action is completed in time, an animated cut scene takes place on both screens and then your character will perform his secret technique. It’s an interesting use of the touch screen, but can get annoying when you’re in the middle of fighting a group of enemies and have to also be managing the stylus.
Fans of the Naruto franchise will probably appreciate the ability to play as over 20 different characters, but in reality, they feel pretty interchangeable. The default secret techniques are different, but those can be manually swapped out, making the selection of character feel even more inconsequential.
Naruto Ninja Council 3 does offer a party mode, where up to four players can face off against each other in battle via the DS’s wireless connection. Unfortunately, you can only play against people locally and each person must have a copy of the game, so I wasn’t able to try out this aspect of the game. If it is well executed, it could help offset the lackluster single-player mode.
Graphics:
Naruto Ninja Council 3 is at the high end of average in terms of graphics. Character animations are well done, but the various backgrounds used for the game’s relatively small boards feel pretty generic. The cut scenes for secret techniques break up the action a little bit, but don’t look particularly impressive.
Audio:
Naruto Ninja Council 3 is best played with the sound turned just about all the way down. Any of the various tunes that play during levels are highly repetitive. Sound effects are limited, so during a two-minute level, be prepared to hear nearly identical grunts emanate from your character around a hundred times.
Conclusion:
All in all, Naruto Ninja Council 3 isn’t much to speak of. Fans of the source material might get a kick out of it, but most general gamers would probably be best advised to go ahead and skip it.
Gameplay:
Rather than offer a cohesive story, Naruto Ninja Council 3 consists of a large number of brief, unrelated challenges with no real background context. Levels might require reducing an enemy’s health by half, killing twenty spiders in a set amount of time or racing through a small board against a computer opponent. Some of these require skill to complete, but many feel as though luck is the primary factor, especially the levels with time limits.
Controls are fairly typical to a button-mashing fighting game. One button makes you jump, another causes attacks and a third will throw enemies. Respectively, the R and L buttons of the DS make your character block and teleport. The teleport function does make the fighting a little more interesting, as you can quickly dodge an attack and appear directly behind an enemy. Outside of this, the standard fighting controls are somewhat dull and unoriginal.
When playing, action takes place on the top screen, while a map and the character’s secret techniques appear below. Defeating enemies builds up your chakra meter, which enables the use of the secret techniques. To select one, the player must tap it on the touch screen and then perform whatever random action is requested. This might mean tracing a shape, rubbing the stylus very quickly in a specified direction or even blowing into the DS’s microphone. If the action is completed in time, an animated cut scene takes place on both screens and then your character will perform his secret technique. It’s an interesting use of the touch screen, but can get annoying when you’re in the middle of fighting a group of enemies and have to also be managing the stylus.
Fans of the Naruto franchise will probably appreciate the ability to play as over 20 different characters, but in reality, they feel pretty interchangeable. The default secret techniques are different, but those can be manually swapped out, making the selection of character feel even more inconsequential.
Naruto Ninja Council 3 does offer a party mode, where up to four players can face off against each other in battle via the DS’s wireless connection. Unfortunately, you can only play against people locally and each person must have a copy of the game, so I wasn’t able to try out this aspect of the game. If it is well executed, it could help offset the lackluster single-player mode.
Graphics:
Naruto Ninja Council 3 is at the high end of average in terms of graphics. Character animations are well done, but the various backgrounds used for the game’s relatively small boards feel pretty generic. The cut scenes for secret techniques break up the action a little bit, but don’t look particularly impressive.
Audio:
Naruto Ninja Council 3 is best played with the sound turned just about all the way down. Any of the various tunes that play during levels are highly repetitive. Sound effects are limited, so during a two-minute level, be prepared to hear nearly identical grunts emanate from your character around a hundred times.
Conclusion:
All in all, Naruto Ninja Council 3 isn’t much to speak of. Fans of the source material might get a kick out of it, but most general gamers would probably be best advised to go ahead and skip it.