NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS brings improvements, but doesn’t make the same impact as its predecessors

The Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series began in 2009 on the Playstation 3, and has always brought graphic quality equal to, if not superior to, the animation and, in many cases, making its combat a work of art for everyone watching and taking part. 

Over the years, the game has had six sequels, four of them major and two with only a few improvements. And here, in its seventh game, we once again have a title that focuses more on improvements than on its story mode. 

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The simpler story mode didn’t really appeal to fans

Something that is quite common with unnumbered Storm games, such as Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations and Revolution, is that they have less emphasis on the story mode of the manga or anime and bring original stories, more focused on improving the gameplay in order to bring it to the next numbered game. And that’s exactly what happened here.

Some fans have come to expect this to be the definitive version of the Storm games, in terms of enjoying the story mode, which is not the case here. Sure, the game features fights and memorable moments from the previous games, but not all of them, unfortunately. And that could have made the game better received by the public.

The story being told through static images and narration, followed by an ordinary fight, left something to be desired compared to the open map to explore and incredible fights of the previous games.

The original story is interesting, but could be better

In addition to the Story mode, we have the Special Story mode, where we venture with Boruto, Naruto’s son and the protagonist of the current series, on an unprecedented adventure exclusive to the game with his original characters and some boss fights created specifically for the game.

Unfortunately, this mode has no way of exploring the world as in previous games and is more focused on scenes with the character models, followed by fights. This mode can be completed in around 5-6 hours, which for a streamer can work well, after all you’ll be able to discover a new story from this universe together with your audience, appealing mainly to those who are fans of the Boruto franchise, more so than Naruto, i.e. probably the younger audience. 

Within the Special Story we are introduced to two original characters created for the game and it’s a shame that they are not available to play in versus mode, which is the main attraction here. It would also be a great reward for players who have completed this mode to have these two new fighters available after finishing the story. Maybe in a future update they’ll be made available to fans. 

Versus and Online mode are the big draws of NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS

This is where the game shines. For fans of versus play, whether with friends or online, there are more than 130 fighters available with various outfits and customizations to unlock as you play. 

The combat system in the Storm series has always received changes between games, whether more radical, such as the bar system for Substitution Jutsus (a way of dodging blows and teleporting behind your enemy) that was included in Storm Generations, or just balancing the characters and modifying their blows, as in Storm 3 onwards. 

Here, the power system has been modified, with all the characters now having 2 Special Powers, whereas in the predecessors they only had 1. The round system has also been modified, with both players’ life bars recovering between each fight, which makes the game fairer by fighting game standards. 

The speed of your Chakra bar, which is the equivalent of your special bar in fighting games, has been accelerated, allowing for more dynamic and faster combats, among many other changes. I could go into a lot of detail, but it’s worth a look for fans of the previous games. 

On top of all this, an accessibility option for simple control has been included, which is very welcome as it is very customizable, where you can adjust it in the way that suits you best, allowing new players to learn more easily how the game works and feel more at ease with so many mechanics. 

After its troubled launch, how is the game today? 

Almost six months after its release, which was not so well received by the public, after the frustrated expectation of being able to play everything from Storm 1 to Boruto’s story, it is possible to see that the developers are interested in correcting their initial problems, at least in terms of versus mode, the great highlight of this game, as I said earlier.

The lack of online lobbyies for playing with friends was something that was sorely needed at launch and has been added with updates. Better character balancing has also been worked on, especially with some fighters being very strong compared to others.

There’s also a new mode where players need to perform specific actions in order to get a big boost to their fighter, which makes for a very fast and dynamic fight to see who can fulfill the requirements the fastest.

Each DLC character released also comes with various adjustments requested by the community. Unfortunately, the delay between the release of DLC characters is something that hurts the game a little more, although it is improving, with only 2 of the 5 promised characters released at the time of this review.

Streamers will get a lot out of the game, especially if they focus on online mode

NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS, in its story mode boss fights, is a spectacle for the eyes, with so many beautiful effects and animations. But unfortunately, because it’s not a complete package, only some of the fights will have that feeling. 

However, streamers who have an audience that likes to watch online matches and versus mode will be able to make the most of both their current mode and the new game mode and put on a real show for fans of the franchise.

NARUTO X BORUTO Ultimate Ninja STORM CONNECTIONS is available in an incredible 16 languages and is dubbed into 6. This makes it much easier for any streamer who wants to bring the game to their audience

Tested on its Steam version, the game runs well and I had no problems, even when streaming. However, the game has a hard time keeping the resolution good on my current monitor, which isn’t 1080p, and this was a bit annoying, but nothing that hindered my experience.

Fezudu