Naruto Online Review

Even though Naruto has come to an end you can still relive your favorite moments through Naruto Online. Being a Naruto fan myself I couldn’t wait to play this free-to-play MMORPG browser based game. You can also download the client to your PC and play that way. The game is based on the story line of the anime. Once you have picked your character the story starts off with the academy around the time where teams are assigned. In Naruto Online the classes are Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. As you progress through the story you unlock characters to be on your team such as Naruto, Sasuke and others. There are a variety of ways to unlock characters. You can unlock them through completing campaign quests, rewards, and the cash shop.

I was kind of skeptical before I started playing because there are quite a few Naruto games online. This one is different from the others because it is the only Naruto MMORPG that is officially licensed from Bandia Namco Entertainment. You can tell when you play it because they characters look exactly like how they are suppose to. The characters from the anime also have their original voices. One feature of this particular online game that many of you may not like is that you can’t create your character from scratch. This feature didn’t bother me at all. I actually loved that I didn’t have to waste time on what my character will look like.

You choose from 5 pre-designed characters. When I play an online game I never know what they should look like. All the choices just annoy me. I liked being able to dive into the game. I know some people who spend a lot of time just deciding what their character will look like. Each pre-designed character has their own strengths and weaknesses. The good thing is that you get to choose your own name. I didn’t do that and just went with the one that was already there because I am not good at naming my characters either. Another feature that makes this game different from other Naruto games is the ability to explore the Hidden Leaf and other areas. A few Naruto games I played on a console didn’t give you that option.

There is also a auto-path feature that I found helpful when completing quests. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. I did a lot because it just made things easier. I started the game out by completing some quests first. Your quests are handed to you by the third Hokage. After you complete your first few quests you unlock Naruto and Sasuke. You can explore the village and other areas at your leisure just like other online games. Not everything in the village is interactive though. That didn’t bother me much either. Whenever I play an online game I usually focus on completing quests. The whole point in Naruto Online is for fans to play through the Naruto story from the anime and be apart of it.

Now let’s discuss the fighting aspect of the game. The battle system is part turn-based and part arcade style. When a fight first starts you either can press start or wait for the countdown to hit 0 to begin. All the characters’ signature moves are available such as Naruto’s shadow clones or Shikamaru’s shadow ability. It is up to which ability you want to use and character. Each character can use one move at a time. A feature that I didn’t use at all during battle was the auto combat feature. That means you can let your team fight automatically on their own. All you have to do is sit back and watch. I don’t really get why add that feature at all. That’s the whole point in playing an online game is to battle so you can level up your character. If you are just going to use auto combat then you might as well play a visual novel.

Players can get items as well as coins for completing quests. Revival potions, stamina potions, ramen, scrolls are just some of the items players can use in the game. Just like most online games players can buy items using real money. Weapons, abilities, and your character can be strengthened. There are multiple game modes available. There is single-player, multiplayer dungeons, PvE campaigns, PvP ladder matches, and worldboss battles. The difficulty in Naruto Online increases as your character levels up. There isn’t any objectionable content, and there is a tutorial explaining things when you first start off. That makes Naruto Online user-friendly in that sense. You don’t need any fancy controllers to play either since the game is point-and-click. The graphics in the game are spot on with the anime. The backgrounds are nicely done, and the words are drawn in the typical Naruto style. No complaining here though. It only validated the fact that this is an official Naruto game.

As far as online games go I say Naruto Online is a pretty good one. The graphics are well drawn and accurate to the anime. I liked that as a player I can play through the original Naruto story-line. I also liked that I didn’t have to spend hours creating a character, there are a variety of places to explore on the world map, and there is single-player mode. I also liked that I can unlock Naruto characters and put whoever I want on my team. The best part is this is an official Naruto game and it is free-to-play. I think not being able to create your own character from scratch may be a problem for some players. I also didn’t see the point in creating an auto combat feature. Other than that I think this game is a good option for Naruto fans to play who don’t want to spend money buying another Naruto game for their PS4 or Xbox One.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.