Naruto: The Broken Bond - XBox 360

Naruto: The Broken Bond for the XBox 360 picks up where Naruto: Rise of the Ninja left off. And pulls off a rarity now a days where the game keeps what was good in the first game, expanded on it, and added new features that don't overtake the original feel of the game. My personal favorite was the diversity in the Achievements this time around. The game follows Naruto, and a cast of fan favorites this time, as the story continues. The main story lines picks up around the half way point in the anime and ends right before the point where the new Naruto anime series picks up. Now true they leave out a good one hundred episodes of events that happen to Naruto in the anime series. However these episodes are all considered to be filler and really don't impact the main story line. No crucial plot points happen during those episodes so you really aren't missing much. Back to the game now, the mini games have been expanded with new takes on the old ones and brand new ones. New areas for you to roam include Tanzaku town and a Hot Springs Resort. The Battle system has been upgraded to allow you to switch mid battle between various other playable characters. The game definetely feels bigger but what the game lacks is more original content. While the designers do give you some new content and bigger areas to explore, it goes by really fast. Once again the game falls prey to a pitfall the previous one experienced. The main story was fantastic but once that's done, the replay appeal is very low. All in all, once again, a solid game but once it's over the content really doesn't keep you coming back.

Naruto: Rise of the Ninja - XBox 360

Naruto: Rise of the Ninja is the first game adaptation for XBox 360. It chronicles the life of young Naruto from the beginning of the story to a good half-way point in the anime series. Now it is true that the game does not follow the anime story event for event and word for word. However the story is put together in a way that if you did play the game, without any prior knowledge of the Naruto universe, you would not miss any key events or crucial plot elements. Alot of the game takes place in Naruto's home town of Konoha: The Hidden Leaf village. Where you have free reign to go where ever you want. Fans of the series will find familiar places like Naruto's favorite Ramen shop, and the Hokage's office enjoyable to see. Another enjoyable feature for purists of the series is the ability to change the voices of the characters from their english versions to their japanese verisons with sub-titles. Sorry but I really can not stand it whenever the english voice actor for Naruto says "Believe it!" There are a few mini games to distract you from the main storyline and rewards for these will benefit you by upgrading your health, chakra, and other abilities. The game is slightly challenging for experienced gamers, but nothing that a newbie won't be able to handle. Can not say that I am pleased with the fact that most of the Achievements are for completing the same task with different characters. Feels like a sad cop out on the designers part. The battle system is solid and simple which works well for this game. You aren’t going to have to remember long combos and counter moves. However make no mistake that while it is simple, your enemies can use the same cheap moves on you too. I felt the travel via tree sequences concept was designed very well. Also the concept of doing tasks for villagers in order to get them to change their opinion of Naruto is another well designed concept. Now there are events in the game that were created and exist only in the game. I felt the designers should have added more of these because the game was a little short in my opinion. The game, while having no obvious technical flaws, is a good solid game and a bargain to pick up used now.