see deal Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 - Xbox One $19.93 on Walmart

I both love and hate Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

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Watch the first 16 minutes of gameplay above.

“ What I like most is the ability to switch between your active fighter and two support characters on the fly.

Unworthy Opponents

That strategy isn’t always needed, though, because the AI opponents have a bad habit of falling into a repetitive cycle of constantly evading and spamming ranged attacks. This happened to me many times and became incredibly annoying, especially when I couldn’t get an attack off without taking a kunai to the face. That’s made even worse by the way some areas of the Story Mode give the computer a huge edge in battle by increasing their damage, which can make things feel very cheap and unfair.

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See the Official Secret Techniques trailer above.

“ The level of polish in the storytelling is disappointing.

Trailing Off

After that comes the follow-up Adventure Mode, an epilogue that takes place immediately after the events of Story Mode. However, it acts more like an obligatory excuse to reminisce about key events from the early parts of the series, such as Naruto’s first battles with Sasuke and the Chunin Exams. With more of the same AI troubles and nothing new to see by way of the story, it feels like it can be skipped entirely without missing anything.

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Watch Gaara vs Rock Lee above.

Multiplayer in Storm 4 is both a hit and a miss. Local matches are great and have a bunch of different competitive modes to explore, along with 61 playable characters with varying attacks, jutsu moves, and alternate costumes. Online multiplayer, however, can be frustrating with its connection issues, where I found it nearly impossible to find a game, much less a stable matchup. Almost every match suffered from massive input lag or stuttering that rendered them pretty much unplayable.