Summary

  • Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections brings improvements to the already flashy gameplay, making it better than ever. With a larger roster, new characters, and enhanced customization options, the multiplayer battles are more varied and strategic.
  • The game includes multiple storylines, including History mode which covers important moments from the Naruto series, and Special Story mode centered around Boruto and a potential fifth shinobi war. The original story starts strong with an epic battle between adult Sasuke and a brainwashed Naruto.
  • The gameplay mechanics have been refined with minor adjustments to hitboxes and character attacks, making it easier to perform long combos. The addition of two ninjutsu attacks for each character and improved transitions between team add depth and satisfaction to the combat experience.

CyberConnect2's Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections brings changes that make the flashy, fast-paced gameplay better than ever. In recent years, anime fighting games have dramatically improved their presentation and gameplay, with games like Dragon Ball FighterZ gaining an impressive competitive following. The Naruto Ninja Storm series began by adapting Part 1 of Masashi Kishimoto's storyline. CyberConnect2's reverence for the series shined with the series' larger-than-life boss battles, intense quick-time-events sequences not seen in the anime, and a multiplayer component for friends to have their own epic ninja battles.

Each installment continued to adapt Naruto's tale while improving the fast-paced 3D arena gameplay. While the franchise has continued to grow with the Boruto series, players have been hungry for an updated roster and a further evolution of the unrivaled arena combat. Thankfully, Naruto Storm players will need to wait no longer, and it's been worth the wait.

Multiple Storylines That Deliver

Although the Boruto series has more than enough story for its own Storm game, the developers of Naruto Storm Connections include two separate story modes. History mode covers the most critical moments of the Naruto story, while the Special Story features an original tale centered around Boruto and a mysterious VR game that could trigger a fifth shinobi war by brainwashing a large population of the ninja world. The original story starts with a bang by having players take control of an adult Sasuke as he battles a seemingly brainwashed 7th Hokage Naruto in a battle that satisfying delivers the epic boss battles that CyberConnect2 excels at.

Screenshot from Naruto Storm Connections show silouttes of Naruto and Sasuke as they fight with lightning, sparks, and dust fills the air.

Connections has taken most of the series' pivotal moments, including the previous Storm game's epic boss battles, and made them available in Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' History mode. Each chapter contains animated slides with voice acting that faithfully retell the series' story while allowing players to fight its battle with updated, vibrant visuals and controls. Players unfamiliar with Naruto's story will experience the beloved epic in the mode that also unlocks an extensive Naruto encyclopedia and character customization options upon completion. Still, remastering previous Storm game content feels like a missed opportunity to expand on fights previous games glazed over, like Sasuke's brutal battle against Danzo.

Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' original Special Story mode features Boruto while a mysterious new enemy attempts to kickstart a Fifth Great Ninja War. Unfortunately, the mode does not allow Boruto to explore any recreations of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Instead, players must watch the story unfold with cutscenes between battles that move the story along. The new mode includes epic bosses never seen in the Storm series with a story that feels more engaging than some of the Boruto anime's plentiful filler arcs. Still, it is disappointing that more can't be explored or that Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections includes an original story rather than some of the most epic arcs of the Naruto sequel series.

An Arena Fighter That Went Through A Training Arc

Multiplayer has always been a highlight of the Storm series, and Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections hasn't changed that trend. With the most extensive roster in the franchise's history and the addition of new characters like Koji Kashin, Kawaki, Isshin, and more, players have a nearly endless amount of combination attacks and strategies to build on. Particular characters like Rock Lee specialize in fast, close-quarters combat, while others like Deidara are devastating from a distance, so choosing a team of three ninjas with a healthy variety of abilities will help any player dominate. Updates to Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections controls and drastically improved customization options help multiplayer battles feel more varied than most fighting games on the market.

Both player's health bars now reset after a round ends, meaning a player's health and debuffs no longer carry over into subsequent multiplayer rounds.

Compared to more technical fighters like Street Fighter and Tekken, memorizing complex button combinations is unnecessary in Ninja Storm games. For example, each character executes a ninjutsu attack by pressing the chakra button and then the attack button, but each of the game's 130 playable characters has unique abilities that are executed with the same buttons. The new Simple control scheme further streamlines Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' gameplay so inexperienced players can enjoy the game's action by simply spamming a single attack button.

Screenshot from Naruto Storm Connections shows Kashin using his ultimate attack as he walks through a wall of flames.

Minor adjustments to hitboxes, specific character attacks, and recovery mechanics in Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' gameplay have made it easier to pull off long combos against foes who've exhausted the game's means of escaping attacks, the stamina and substition meters. However, the most significant changes to the Storm formula have removed the series' (often superfluous) charged shurikens to give each playable character two ninjutsu to use in combat. Veteran Storm players will notice that most of the second ninjutsu attacks are upgraded versions of the signature tilt attacks that each character was capable of in the previous games. This adjustment has provided more options to Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' varied combat mechanics, especially during local and online multiplayer.

Screenshot shows from Naruto Storm Connections shows Rock Lee and Guy Sensei punching through an enemy with intense flames erupting behind them.

Players can still switch between team on the fly by flicking the right stick, and can even choose which of the two available ninjutsu their characters can use in battle. By adding more ninjutsu and making transitions between characters during combos easier, Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' simple but layered combat has become even more satisfying.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

Besides gameplay upgrades, Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections includes more customization options for playable characters than any previous game in the series. Completing story mode content and playing as a specific character in any mode unlocks cosmetics and customization options that further personalize favorite characters and online profiles. With so much material to unlock, and updates that help the Storm series' already satisfying gameplay become more fluid, Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is a game that can be satisfying to both new and long-time players.

Source: Bandai Namco Entertainment America/YouTube

A PC code of Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.