Although Japanese developer CyberConnect2 has worked on other games, like the .hack franchise and a few individual titles, its name became commonplace recently in the Naruto world thanks to its extensive work on the anime license with Namco Bandai. Although CyberConnect2's Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm came out recently for the PS3, the developer's take on the Shippuden universe is coming to the U.S. on the PS2. Based on the manga/anime story arc set several years in the future, the Shippuden story revolves around an older cast of fan favorites and finds Naruto as a more mature, stronger ninja. Ultimate Ninja 4 feels more like the other Ultimate Ninja games as opposed to Ultimate Ninja Storm and brings battles back to two separate 2D planes. Although I've only had a brief amount of time with Ultimate Ninja 4, the game already has a fair amount of promise.

In the past, I've referred to CyberConnect2's Naruto efforts as "casual fighting games," as they're fighting games in that they focus on one-on-one combat, but they don't require advanced move inputs or viciously precise timing. Ultimate Ninja 4's main combat system is just like the other Ultimate Ninja games, where you freely move around a 2D plane and run, jump and teleport to your heart's content. When it comes to said teleporting, you can move between the foreground and background of the arena, which gives you some evasive options in case the battle is getting too heated on one particular plane.


Each character has an assortment of normal combos, as well as the ability to throw projectile weapons, and each ninja can tap into his or her pool of chakra energy to perform special moves. You also have access to dashes, wall-runs and Substitution Jutsu which is standard business from the other Ultimate Ninja games. In other words, battles in Ultimate Ninja 4 are all about mashing away at the Circle button (occasionally pairing that rabid mashing with a simple directional input) and accurately timing defensive moves. The result is a fairly easy fighting game to play but one that's infinitely less complex than traditional fighters like Street Fighter.

Although most of these systems are the same as CyberConnect2's previous Naruto games, there are a few tweaks that make the combat fresh. Ultimate Ninja 4 boasts a system called the Shadowblur Extra Hit, which allows you to participate in a sort of rock paper scissors mini-game mid-battle, if you and your opponent collide with a dash. Along those same lines, another mini-game pops up when two normal Jutsu techniques collide, which adds a little something to the overall experience. These mid-battle mini-games are reminiscent of landing an Ultimate Jutsu, as you and your opponent are entered into a race to see who, for example, can enter the most correct button commands from an on-screen prompt.

Speaking of Ultimate Jutsu, the famed attacks return in Ultimate Ninja 4 and still look pretty slick, even for the PS2. The nice thing about Ultimate Ninja 4 is that characters have three different Ultimate Jutsu techniques, which gives things a bit more variety.

New to the scene, as I mentioned before, is the fact that you can now select between the Shippuden versions of characters and the original versions. Obviously there's plenty to unlock but having those two different character sets lets players create some pretty interesting match-ups. If you ever wanted to see the grown-up Naruto take on his younger form, now's your chance.


Ultimate Ninja 4 has a number of different modes to experiment with, including the story-driven Master Mode that lets Naruto run around large, open environments in order to collect experience points and items, as well as fight in free-roaming battles. Unfortunately, the environments I've seen so far have been terribly bland, but that could just be how the beginning of the game looks. I'm hesitant about how engaging this Master Mode will be in general, as I had much more fun wandering the Hidden Leaf Village in Ultimate Ninja Storm.

There's also a Hero Mode that follows various story arcs from the original Naruto anime, though this seems to boil down to an assortment of cutscenes and normal battles. The Free Battle Mode, on the other hand, gives you the opportunity to fight a battle of your choosing, without any cutscenes to hold back your wild ninja skills. Alternatively, you could just dive into Practice Mode to learn the ropes, or buy special goodies at the Shop.

Regardless of when the games were released in Japan, jumping from Ultimate Ninja Storm to Ultimate Ninja 4 here in the states feels like a huge step backwards, despite the PS2 game covering later story material. And yet, Ultimate Ninja 4 still seems full of cool features and should give PS2 owners plenty to do. Fortunately, the battle system seems to be the same solid (albeit simple) system I've seen before, which means Naruto fans will have no problem exercising some extreme ninja justice.

Author by: Ryan Clements

After having spent a massive amount of time analyzing Capcom's recent Street Fighter IV, it was interesting to change gears and jump right into King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, an upcoming PS2 fighter from SNK Playmore. The King of Fighters franchise -- which in itself pulls from a number of different SNK properties -- has been around for a long time. As the title indicates, the original King of Fighters '98 was released in arcades over ten years ago and is just now hitting the PS2 in updated form. Ultimate Match takes the meat and potatoes of the '98 experience and adds even more content, making it a very appetizing deal for King of Fighters enthusiasts.

Ultimate Match, like its predecessors, is a 2D fighting game that pits characters from across a variety of SNK franchises against each other in a worldwide tournament. This version not only has the aforementioned additional content but also contains the full Neo Geo version, for purists interested in enjoying a blast from the past. Although there's no real story mode to consider, the game does allow players to face off against a series of opponents in either one-on-one or three-on-three battles, as well as play an Endless mode (which is like a traditional survival scenario) and a Challenge mode for providing specific tasks the player needs to face in the ring.


The main difference between Ultimate Match and the original King of Fighters '98 is the addition of several characters, including Geese Howard and Mr. Big. This gives Ultimate Match one of the largest rosters in King of Fighters history. Perhaps more intriguing, however, is the option to adjust your fighting mode between Advanced, Extra and Ultimate. These modes dictate a number of things about your characters, including how the power gauge builds up and what sort of evasive techniques you have access to. For example, Advanced mode lets players build up their power gauges by landing attacks and allows three different Super Deadly Moves to be stocked. Similarly, Advanced mode's evasion type is called "Avoiding," which causes your fighter to roll to one side.

Both the Advanced and Extra fighting systems have been in previous King of Fighters games, but Ultimate is new to Ultimate Match (go figure). Ultimate mode lets you tweak each option individually, letting you mix and match different gauge types and evasive techniques to suit your tastes. When you consider this many options, along with the sixty plus contenders in Ultimate Match, you'll soon realize just how many different combinations you'll be able to create. And then, of course, there's the fact that you can fight with teams of three, which makes matches even more interesting.

And that's really where my primary concern comes in to King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match: I wonder how balanced a fighting game it can be when it has more than sixty characters to choose from. You can always argue that having unbalanced characters doesn't necessarily break the experience, especially if you're just playing around with friends, but it's certainly something to keep in mind.

I was recently asked by a Japanese game developer why first-person shooters are so popular in America. Don't we get bored of doing the same thing over and over? At the time I was at a loss for an explanation, but after playing Call of Duty 3 I can answer that question. We don't mind playing scores of shooters because month after month we're presented with games in the genre that up the ante in terms of presentation, mechanics, and overall quality. For example, only a year after Treyarch brought us Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, they're back with another installment in the series. They've added enough to the successful Call of Duty formula that we were happy to once again join the battle for the free world.

Last year Call of Duty 2 hit store shelves as two separate games with Infinity Ward on next-gen development while Treyarch created Big Red One. The latter developer was put in charge of the third installment as well and has successfully taken the look and feel of last year's 360 title and ported it to a much less powerful system.


Dzien Dobry!
This time around Treyarch decided to tighten the focus and center the game on the Normandy Breakout. The chapters are told chronologically through 14 single player missions that span the 88 days leading up to the liberation of Paris. Players fight as the Americans, British, Canadians, and Polish. That's right - you have the honor of joining a Polish armored division as they roll their tanks across enemy lines. Canada and Poland are two forces that have yet to be represented in a WWII game and their inclusion is refreshing.

The cut scenes that tie together the story are filled with enough personality (and heavy accents) to make for a few memorable characters. However, the action is always seen through the eyes of the main character so players become something of a floating name that is secondary to the drama they witness. COD3 does a good job of humanizing the soldiers reminding us momentarily that real heroes don't have to resemble a roided out linebacker with no neck. And they don't always make it through the day. The cut scenes are well directed, but it would've been nice if the user was able to skip them after the initial viewing.

Icing on the Cake
If you want a near perfect descriptor of the gameplay in COD3 just pop in last year's hit Call of Duty 2. The core mechanics are identical down to the slight auto aim that occurs when players use L1 to look down the sight of a gun. The "overshield" damage system has also returned allowing soldiers to recover from all damage by resting behind cover for a few seconds. The beautifully rendered smoke grenades are back, only this time there isn't as heavy a stress placed on using them to obscure the enemy's field of view. To spice things up Treyarch did add a few new combat mechanics. The most commonly used technique is the ability to toss grenades back at the enemy by picking it up by hitting a face button and quickly tossing it with R2. Running towards an unexploded grenade to lob it in the other direction can be exhilarating but overusing the technique will eventually lead to some messy deaths.

Also new are action events that have replaced mundane tasks like placing a charge or aiming a mortar. Players now have to complete a series of button combinations that appear on screen as the task is completed. The most successful example of this occurs during the hand-to-hand combat sequences that put you in the face of the enemy to struggle for your life It's more exciting than just pressing "X" but not difficult enough to add any real tension. Overall, the action events are used sparingly and barely add or detract from the overall experience.

Enemies to a decent job of taking cover, varying attack patterns, and acting aggressively with grenades; don't get caught thinking you're the only one that can toss those babies back. A new facet of enemy behavior occurs when a line of Germans are outgunned. This sometimes causes them to retreat as a group to find better cover. Act fast and you can pick them off as they turn tail, drag your feet and you'll be faced with a better entrenched enemy.

Author by:  David Clayman

With the release of Dynasty Warriors 5, KOEI is putting out its 10th Warriors game on consoles if you include the Samurai Warriors titles. It's been a crazy amount of hacking and slashing and the relentless pace has by no means stopped with this title. The gameplay has been tweaked and refined just a little further to make this a new enough experience even if the core game hasn't changed all that much. Yet even with all of that it still feels all too familiar.