The battle system is all over the place and the game just isn't fun to play. And now, to make matters worse, Namco Bandai is publishing Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising on the PSP - which follows the exact same story arc as Ultimate Ninja 4. So even though Ultimate Ninja 4 was a decent enough game, it was trying to follow a far superior Naruto title. This snafu was just a result of bad timing, as Ultimate Ninja 4 launched in Japan before Ultimate Ninja Storm, but that wasn't the case in the US. I had to jump from CyberConnect2's fantastic PS3 Naruto project (Ultimate Ninja Storm) to this PS2 game that ran on CyberConnect2's older combat engine. When I reviewed Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden earlier this year, I was disappointed in the experience.
Is anyone else upset by how many Naruto games are released, and how few of them are actually worth our time and money? Under normal circumstances, I totally understand why a publisher would want to launch numerous games in a popular franchise, but Namco Bandai's handling of the Naruto license is starting to get mind-boggling.
