Highlights
- Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections initially disappointed fans with its lack of new and exciting content.
- It has shown improvement with the addition of new characters, changes to gameplay mechanics, and an original story mode.
- Connections still struggles to attract players due to its lack of truly new and interesting features.
2023 continues to be packed with hype surrounding lots of great fighting game announcements, but not all announcements are made equal, as some have missed the mark in drumming up excitement. This was the story for Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, and while that has started to change for the better, the game doesn't seem to be quite there on delivering something that many players will want to dive into.
Naruto Storm Connections was announced in February as a part of Sony's State of Play presentation. The trailer that revealed the game was shown to "connect" the stories of the main Ninja Storm series into one game. Along with that would be the hugest roster of the series, with some new characters joining as well. That was all the two-minute trailer had to offer, and the lack of any additional info left a lot of viewers feeling disappointed.
The trailer didn't have many new or interesting things that fans of the Ninja Storm series haven't already seen before. A majority of it was spent showing ninjas pulling off their attacks accompanied by some of their voiced lines. Even the new characters weren't too exciting, as only two were shown at the time, both of them being characters that haven't had much time or impact in the series. It looked like Naruto Storm Connections could've easily been DLC to Naruto Storm 4, so much that a lot of people just started calling it "Naruto Storm 4.5."
Fast-forward to a few months, and things are looking slightly upward. We've gotten more new characters from the Boruto series, such as the titular character with his new Karma ability. There's also Kawaki, Naruto and Boruto's adopted son and brother respectively, and a powerful antagonist from the show named Jigen. Some existing characters are also shown to have gotten changes in the form of new Ultimate Jutsu and Awakenings.
There are also tweaks to how battles play out, the most notable one being that the winners and losers both have their health bar refilled at the beginning of a round. Chakra recovery is much faster, so you don't need to stand still and charge it as much as you had to in the past. You're also able to use two Jutsu with each character and Chakra Dash to cancel out of them. There are other various changes to the combo system and the support gauges for balance. All of these changes could make gameplay more fast-paced.
The biggest change I've seen, though, is the special story mode of the game. Alongside the story of the first four Naruto Ninja Storm games is an original tale. It looks like new heroes and villains alike will be in the story, and Naruto seems to be taking a more antagonistic role. Not much about it is confirmed, but this alone seems to have people excited about the game moreso than they were at the initial reveal.
All of these things are great, but Connections is still struggling to get people to buy into its hype. The developers have changed up some of the mechanics and the battle system from the last game, but nothing about it feels really new or interesting, and the improvements can easily be overlooked by anyone that hasn't played the previous Storm games. As for those that have played them, they seem to share the sentiment that, despite there being a number of changes, the majority of them could've been added in a patch.
Even some of the new characters aren't all positives. Baryon Mode Naruto and the manga/anime version of Momoshiki were awaited additions to the game since they debuted, but they're locked behind Awakenings (which is a problem since Awakenings are much shorter in this game than they were before). While some characters are getting new and improved moves, the ones that have been in the Ninja Storm series for a long time don't seem to be changing much or at all, which only adds on to the disappointment.
One major thing Connections can do is reintroduce some older mechanics that many players have loved in past games, like the jutsu clashes and wall battles from the first game, but with some changes to make them competitive-friendly. It would be a great way to drive home the idea of connecting these Ninja Storm games, bringing a piece of each of them together.
Another is, of course, more new playable characters. While it's possible for new characters to come along with updates, some interesting ones to the base roster would be great for drawing people in. Other characters that haven't been playable yet, like Anko, Kurenai, and Shizune, would be amazing additions, as well as those that came from movies, like Menma and Toneri. The Boruto series alone, disliked as it may be, has many characters that could have full movesets, such as Shikadai, Inojin, Tsubaki, and Delta. The developers could also repeat what they've done with Tekken's Lars Alexandersson and bring over guest characters from other series.
Something else Connections doesn't seem to have done is bring along any new stages, which has disappointed me the most. While the Ultimate Ninja Storm series isn't short on stages by any means, it's still been the same old locations for several installments at this point. This is another way that the game could pull from the movies, giving the characters more beautiful stages to battle on, like The Land of Snow or even The Moon.
A new installment in the Ninja Storm series is something fans have been waiting six years for. In this year of great fighting game announcements and releases, they deserve something truly worth getting excited for.