The Good:
- About as fun to fight/play as Ninja Storm 3 was (minus one big problem I posted below), the demo allowing for Team Battles was a nice touch, those always get pretty crazy.
- Roster size is going up to 100+ from the last game which was 81 (if you include the DLC character). I assume there'll still be a bunch of characters that are the same but have different movesets included, but that's still at least +19. Some of the older characters might be removed, freeing up more spots for newcomers. Demo has 4 selectable characters, which was a good amount (Injustice's demo had 2).
- MechaNaruto (selectable in the demo) is my new favourite character. Craziest
ing thing I ever played, specifically his awakening.
- The substitution bar seems to refill quicker.
- The trailer for the game included a mention of Tag-Team battles which is a first for the series, and the possibility of combined Ultimate Jutsus. Incredibly hyped for that, best part of the trailer.
- The trailer also mentioned four-player battle free-for-all. Another big new feature I'm hyped for.
- The story mode for the game will include a lot of the Akatsuki backstory, seems like an interesting saga to play through.
- Game's release date is set for
September 2014.
- My brother (who's played the demo longer than me) told me there's a new counterattack system for guardbreaking. Didn't run into it during my gameplay, but I'll elaborate on it if I do when I play it again later.
The Okay:
- The game feels very similar to 3. The UI has a new look, which is nice, but the engine/gameplay just feels real close to 3. I could tell the difference between 2 and 3, though Generations (released in-between) wasn't that big a jump either. Hopefully 4 will launch on next-gen and be the big leap I'm hoping for.
The Bad:
- The complaints about Ninja Storm 3 seem to still be there. The sub bar is a bit better now, but there's still a missing combo string. On the bright side, the Edo Kages which were used as a bait and switch for the third game seem to be made playable for this one instead of just being enemies. Hopefully they don't release a million cosmetic DLCs like they did for 3, and there won't be a re-release or a $10 1-character expansion.
- My big complaint, and the only reason I'm kinda annoyed with the game: When you select your character, you
have to choose between having an Ultimate Jutsu and an Awakening now. Can't have both. This is supposedly to deal with the overpowered Awakenings, but it's half-assed, and I don't like it one bit. Takes some of the fun out of it. There's a third option you can select, but I didn't bother with it, my brother says it's a support class kind of thing and has neither available.
- Speaking of Awakening nerfs, being in an Awakened state no longer protects you from Ultimate Jutsus. This is a terrible idea for some of the bigger ones, as you're basically a giant target that can get locked into unblockable attacks. Half of the fun of being Awakened is trampling over people for a limited amount of time. Disappointed with this decision too.
Overall: I'm hyped, but that UJ vs. Awakening decision leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Seems like a lazy way to balance Awakenings. It doesn't help that they did several things regarding UNS3 that I wasn't too thrilled about (mainly in the DLC realm). It'll still probably be a day 1 buy, provided there aren't a million pre-order DLCs.
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