By Jason Nimer
I think it would be fair to say that Christmas ’07 is Naruto’s season and
Naruto’s season alone, especially when it comes to the video game world. With no
less than three brand-new, console-exclusive games bearing the popular young
ninja’s name, Naruto is going to end up under quite a few Christmas trees and
Chanukah bushes this year. Be warned, though – while some of the games shatter
the stereotype that “all anime games suck,” others reinforce it like never
before. Unfortunately, Naruto: Rise of the Ninja is one of those. The game
looks, sounds and feels dated, nothing about the game is original or fresh and
the overall package redefines the lazy, cash-in anime game. If you think last
year’s Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Naruto: Path of the Ninja follows the first part of the Naruto anime’s story.
It tells of an orphan boy with an amazing hidden power and his quest to become
the greatest ninja the world has ever seen. If you know about Naruto, the game’s
storyline is nothing new. The show, the games… they all seem to start and finish
in exactly the same way. In the other two new Naruto games, for Xbox 360 and
Nintendo Wii, you’ll be following this same story. The difference is that those
two games are pretty good. This one is not.
Path of the Ninja is set up like a (very) old-school RPG. Random battles,
lots of text with almost no voice acting beyond a catch phrase or two, NES
graphics, no diagonal movement, linear storyline… this game is as much as a
disgrace as Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku was for the GBA about five years ago.
But that was five years ago; this game is brand new and doesn’t even look as
good as the widely hated DBZ title. Speaking of the GBA, imagine my surprise
when I found out that Naruto: Path of the Ninja is actually a straight port of a
years old Japanese GBA game. Yup, you read that right: A brand new Nintendo DS
game is, in essence, a very old port of a very old GBA game. I don’t have any
idea who thought this was a good idea, but let’s hope they go back to school to
get their real estate license. The video game industry is clearly not for them.
Aside from the popular Naruto license, this game has absolutely nothing going
for it. It is an old game; it probably wasn’t all that great then, and it is
absolutely shameful now. The game is made even worse by the fact that the other
two Naruto games that were recently released are so, so, so much better than
this. While my reviews for games are usually between 1,000 and 2,000 words, this
game is so bad that I’d feel terrible about writing a long review, just because
someone may actually waste their time reading it. In case there is any
confusion, I’ll clear it up right here: Naruto: Path of the Ninja is an
absolutely awful game. It has no redeeming qualities. This game isn’t even
suitable for fans of the show and people seen playing it should be shunned by
their friends and neighbors. Don’t buy it, don’t rent it, don’t even look at it
on the shelves. Naruto: Rise of the Ninja isn’t worth one second of anyone’s
time and if I hear one person describe it as “underrated,” I am just going to
snap.
Do yourself a favor and check out my review for
Naruto – Clash of the Ninja
Revolution here on this site. I promise; it is at least 1,000,000 times better
than this disgrace of a video game.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
5%. 
