Some cartoons were made with gaming in mind. The lengthy series of the Naruto anime, which follows the exploits of the titular ninja boy and his friends, is one such example. Protracted fight sequences involving high-flying kicks and super-speedy dashes all feature heavily in the cartoon, and it’s these which this gaming equivalent, Naruto: The Broken Bond, capitalizes on. Those who’ve grown up with (or are growing up with) the cartoon will be suitably impressed by the game’s accuracy and attention to detail it pays to the source material. It features all the original voice actors from the Naruto anime, all of whom have specially recorded dialogue for the game’s plot. There’s even the option to revert these voices to their original Japanese, for those who want to experience it without any of the pitfalls of a translation. All this attention to detail creates an impressive sense of authenticity, and die-hard fans of Naruto can feel at home with The Broken Bond, a game presented as an interactive equivalent of the show’s episodes 81-135. The new development team at Ubisoft Montreal have decided to put a different gameplay spin on the format from the usual roaming beat ‘em-up formula, hoping to seamlessly blend the show’s trademark high-paced progress with all-action combat.
Naruto: The Broken Bond blends two distinct styles of gameplay, previously tried and made familiar by other high profile releases not of the cartoon’s brand. The roaming element of the gameplay, where you control Naruto or one of up to thirty other characters from the show, is very similar to the recent Sonic games. For the most part of The Broken Bond, you view your character from behind, occasionally switching to a semi-side on perspective, to move them along a fixed path: running through valleys, across rooftops and even down Sonic-esq grind rails. This efficient streamlining of movement in the usually loose roaming beat ‘em-up sets a tight and exhilarating pace, perfectly capturing the essence of speed in the show. Also, due to the fact that the camera is held to a series of fixed emplacements, there’s none of the awkward perspective positioning that the genre usually gets bogged down in. The game removes your control over the camera for a good reason; it handles all the cinematic angles for you, always keeping your character in frame. This leaves you free to get on with enjoying the action uninterrupted.
The environments where this action occurs are well represented. Not only does the game utilize the impressive graphical power of the Xbox 360’s hardware, but it puts this to use in providing detail to the Naruto world which is not only nice to look at, but also similar to the cartoon. There’s a hint of the semi-cel shaded graphical style here which is also present in the cartoon, re-enforcing the idea that this is an authentic blend of anime and videogaming. These graphics bring to mind other similar-looking games such as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, from which Naruto: The Broken Bond is also influenced by. This is particularly apparent in the RPG town hubs, where Naruto can talk to people, partake in minigaming events, or just go on some impromptu exploration of his surroundings. It’s a welcome change of pace to the speedy action segments, and Naruto’s acrobatic ninja skills allow him to access and uncover every last nook and cranny of the town. Besides Zelda, the game lays its foundations over previous successes Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed, proving that it’s a game which knows the history of its medium; something above and beyond a blind yet faithful adaptation of the anime it’s based upon.
As with these games, Naruto: The Broken Bond provides you with some visually elegant, if rather unchallenging combat. These sequences are impressive to look at, and give you an alternative to the real-life re-enacting of cartoon violence you played at in the past, without the hassle of getting in trouble for dropkicking the cat. As this allusion suggests, however, it’s just as much childsplay. Anyone can win if they button bash fast enough: there’s no real skill in combat bar memorising the lengthy button combinations it takes to pull off long attack combos. These are no more effective than repeating the same few moves again and again, so there’s little incentive to perform, them since the only reward is looking slightly cooler than your enemy. Much like Assassin’s Creed, the emphasis of combat in Naruto: The Broken Bond is visual rather than tactical. This is very representative of the game’s primary fault: occasionally its aspirations as a videogame give way to providing purely visual cartoon thrills: sometimes you’ll feel as if you’re playing just to watch the game in action, a fact which undermines its desire to provide an interactive alternative to the anime.
To be more specific, the game’s combat can sometimes make you feel disconnected to the game, as if any person, gamer or not, could pull off the amazing combos. Button bashing makes you feel skill-less, rather than the expert ninja you’re supposed to be. The problem lies in the game’s choice of inspiration. The gameplay elements it copies come from games which put their visuals before their gameplay. While Naruto: The Broken Bond has everything that’s also good about Assassin’s Creed or Sonic and the Secret Rings, it also has the elements in those games which are bad. It may incorporate the beautiful-looking combat of Assassin’s Creed, but with that comes its lack of depth. It may include the sheer speed and high frame rate of Sonic and the Secret Rings, but as with that game, there’s no opportunity for you to explore the environments you’re racing through, and you have limited control over your character.
Nevertheless, Naruto: The Broken Bond certainly has plenty for the anime enthusiast. The game flows smoothly, and everything in it feels just like it does in the cartoon. The only problem with this is that the game sometimes sacrifices its gameplay to deliver this very authenticity, and you might find yourself wondering why you shouldn’t just go and watch the anime instead. Rather than developing its own gameplay elements, it simply borrows from other games. To be specific, it borrows that which is popular, rather than that which works well. All in all, this is a shame, and perhaps the only thing which stops the game from being the perfect equivalent to the popular cartoon show. But if you’ve already watched that to death and are looking for more, The Broken Bond as the best Naruto game yet, comes somewhat recommended.
