Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Era (3DS) Review

I’m a bit of a inbetweener when it comes to Naruto. I love the design and the art direction of the franchise, and I’ve run into very eager and rabid fans no matter where I go, but I’ve yet to actually watch anything on the series just yet. Having just played previous games, I was intrigued to see how a 3DS adaptation would fair against other titles I’ve played in the franchise, and thankfully it’s not all that bad, although some of it is a bit disappointing.

Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Era follows the titular hero, Naruto, on his quest to discover why the five villages in neighbouring lands have all of a sudden decided to declare war. These problems are further exacerbated by the actions of the five Kage, or sages, whose strange behaviours are causing chaos throughout the continent and it’s naturally up to Naruto to fix the problems before something awful happens. The story in Naruto Shippuden 3D is serviceable and quite cliché however it is written in a rather mature manner, particularly for a tie-in with an already existing franchise. There is a little bit more to the story but in the interest of fans who may be reading, I’ve chosen to leave them out, though once players delve deep into the game the story is rather obvious and simple to suss out without problems.

In terms of presentation, The New Era is a little bit of a mixed bag. The character models and environments generally look good, with the models themselves sporting a cel-shaded style of look that makes them look very faithful to their cartoon counterparts. The environments themselves are lush and varied, although the quality of the textures in some of them is a little bit disappointing. It is nice, however, to see a colourful and vibrant looking game on the system too. Overall though, the game would’ve looked much better if a lot more effort was put into its graphical presentation – the textures and geometry are all there, but they lack any amount of detail to make them particularly impressive.

The 3D effect is used to good effect, however, and not only do characters stand out from the environment but also appear to be coming right at the player during the more intense action sequences. Dialogue boxes and menus, as you would expect, are displayed on varying depths. The backgrounds on the levels have a nice sense of depth with different layers too. Ultimately, though, the 3D effect doesn’t have as much depth as it could and it generally feels pretty half arsed and flat.

Unlike previous games in the series, The New Era is a side scrolling platformer that keeps things pretty safe in the gameplay department. Naruto can summon assisting characters for quick attacks or access to closed off areas (think Metroid but a bit more “lighter”), as well as doing both short range and long distance attacks to take down his enemies. Occasionally, players will have to tilt the system during quick time events to dodge certain moves and it’s also possible to jump between the foreground and the background, however generally speaking this is a very linear platforming affair.

Between missions, Naruto can visit a dojo in order to restock on supplies, which includes refills for the Sage Mode gauge. Sage Mode essentially augments Naruto’s powers for a limited time to deal out more and more damage, although to be honest it didn’t feel all that powerful during the game’s numerous boss battles when compared to the standard attacks.

Generally speaking, the game isn’t really that difficult and the AI of enemies is absolutely horrifying. You will feel pretty cool pulling off a multi-faceted combo during the heat of the moment, but eventually the coolness wears off and it becomes easier to just skip the enemies rather than bother defeating them. Sometimes the use of the gyroscope for the quick time events is a little bit hit and miss and it can become a little bit frustrating too, but generally the function works quite well.

The biggest problem with The New Era comes with the lack of replay value in the package, with there being hardly any incentives to replay levels once you’re done with them, and the action is seriously over within three to four hours, which is also a tad disappointing. There are collectibles to find and a subsequent playable character to be unlocked, but this doesn’t really add anything new to the package, but instead adds a fun and very momentary diversion from the main game.

Completionists will enjoy finding items to upgrade their own moves as well as their assist characters, but it’s hard to find motivation if you don’t have some weird compulsion to do so. There’s also a Sharingan Codes system which uses the 3DS camera to read certain codes and unlock content, though to be quite honest we had no idea how to work it and when we did we had already unlocked the skills that it was meant to provide.

In terms of the game’s sound, Naruto features a varied soundtrack ranging from some very fast paced oriental and rock themed pieces to some very soft and ambient pieces. The soundtrack is actually quite original, and features some key tracks from the anime series too, and provides a nice backing to the action. One big downfall, however, is that the game has no voice acting whatsoever, and in this day and age it’s a bit of a letdown.

Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Age is a decent platformer with a few design flaws and a glaring lack of effort being put into it, however it’s bound to satisfy fans of the series as well as anyone who is a little bit younger. Generally speaking, though, for the average gamer, it’s probably something you should grab based on your own fandom for the series.

Graphics 6.5

The New Era features some nice character modelling and well designed areas, but the general quality of the textures and the somewhat lacklustre 3D effect really brings it down.

Gameplay 6.5

A good mix of platforming and very simple combat make a solid game, but the terrible AI and lack of a challenge makes some of the cooler parts of the game, like doing all kinds of ninja moves, more of a chore.

Sound 7.0

A great soundtrack featuring fast paced beats as well as some slower ambient tracks, but a significant and noticeable lack of voice acting during cutscenes feels a bit outdated in this day and age.

Tilt 5.5

The main adventure will only last you four-five hours at max, however there are collectibles that will satiate a completionist, but outside of that the game is a little bit too light on content.

Value 8.5

I really wasn’t expecting anything from this game, thinking it to be another soulless cash-in, however despite its somewhat disappointing lack of substance, it was quite enjoyable for me.