You know every so often I’ll mention that my brother was the inspiration was behind a post? This is more than one of those times. This is peak “thank my brother for this post”. We’ve entered maximum broverdrive here.
Strap in. This is Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker.
I’d say that there’s a story behind me playing this game, but there isn’t. I came in one evening, and dear old big bro followed behind with “two questions”. Chiefly, he wanted to know if he should get the new Naruto game. I think he already made his choice without my input, given that he set up a remote download less than an hour later -- and since I hadn’t followed the game in the slightest besides the “create your own Boruto!” news, I couldn’t tell him yay or nay.
So here we are. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve played a Naruto game; I’ve owned a couple, and the latest I’ve touched was Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. It hasn’t been as long since I’ve read anything related to Naruto; I tapped out on the anime and manga LONG ago, though I’m still a casual observer of news and screencaps. Don’t ask me to detail anything about Boruto, though. All I know is that it follows the kids of the old cast, which heavily implies that after the great ninja war there was an implied ninja orgy that allowed everyone to have similarly-aged children at the exact same time.
Also, some of the pairings don’t make sense. Ino and Sai got together? TF you on, mate?
Still, it’s not like I had any choice but to give Shinobi Striker a fair shake. And I did. Before I can go over it, though, I need to talk about a certain…discovery I made. See, when you boot up the game, you’ll -- as usual -- see the logos of the companies behind it. Bandai Namco had a hand in it, as expected. So did a company called Soleil. “Soleil? Huh. Never heard of them before,” I thought, and I pushed it to the back of my mind. At least for a little while.
I looked into it later. And the news is worrisome, to say the least. Apparently, Shinobi Striker is this developer’s second game. The first? RockShot, an online multiplayer shooter that’s kind of in early access, but more importantly will be shutting down a few days after this post goes up. Not good news, but there’s more. See, RockShot is actually the western release of the multiplayer suite of a different game: Devil’s Third Online, itself an offshoot of the 2015 Wii U game Devil’s Third. Further research has shown that Soleil is, in fact, a subsidiary of Valhalla Game Studios, AKA the company spearheaded by Tomonobu Itagaki after his very public break-up with Team Ninja/Tecmo. To date, VGS has only produced three games, two of those being Devil’s Third and Devil’s Third Online.
For those unaware? What little notoriety Devil’s Third has is mostly spent on it being a mess. Given RockShot’s “condition”, I’d say that’s a running theme with VGS and Soleil. And I can say that confidently because…well, Shinobi Striker is here.
So the very first thing that happened after I created my own Boruto (not the actual Boruto, just a catch-all term I use for create-a-character OCs) is that my hair glitched out and flew all over the place as I descended into Konoha. This has been a recurring theme, given that I made a female character; whether her hair is mid-length or long, the physics engine will make it snap in weird directions even when doing something as simple as standing still. I guess the solution is “use short hair” or “play as a guy”, but those aren’t what I’d call satisfying.
I made the joke to my brother that “the game is unfinished”, but it didn’t take long for me to start seeing the joke as a distressing truth. NPCs won’t spawn sometimes, forcing you to quit out of the game and reload it to bring them in. Enemies and other assets won’t spawn in correctly sometimes; the former might appear behind a gate you’re trying to protect from monster hordes, and with the latter? I used a summoning jutsu to call in a toad, but he was submerged 3/4ths of the way into a staircase. My air combo made me get stuck in a boss’ armpit for a good 20 seconds. One of the marquis modes flat-out doesn’t work because of constant network errors.
This game is in a dire state. There are major issues -- probably some I haven’t even run into personally -- but all these little, missing quality-of-life details make a bad situation worse. You have a 3D hub area to “explore” like Dragon Ball FighterZ or BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, but without the ability to warp to areas of interest like the former, and not putting constraints on the size like the latter. So if you want to go outfit yourself or take on a VR mission, you have to walk there, slowly, despite plenty of game mechanics that emphasize clearing distance quickly. Speaking of, why do you even need to physically walk to areas of interest? Given the rate at which you acquire items -- and update your loadout even more so -- why not just add the feature to a menu?
As it stands, you have to “run” over to Tenten’s item shop. She asks if you want to enter the item shop. You load up the item shop. You appraise scrolls, i.e. open up loot boxes (yeah, there are loot boxes in this game. Riveting). You leave the store. You head over to Sakura’s inn. She asks you if you want to enter the inn. You load up the inn. You check the stuff you just got. You equip the stuff you just got -- and if you’re like me and want a consistent look across your four roles/loadouts, then you change your equipment across all four roles instead of universally. It’s all a bunch of tedium for a process that could have been streamlined in the hands of competent devs. Oh, and as the coup de grace? Load times in general are pretty hefty.
To the game’s credit, there are times when Shinobi Striker actually looks kind of good -- the color palette is just what you’d demand of the franchise, with some smear effects that imply speed and motion. But there are other times when things look off. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m not used to the Boruto redesigns, but some characters didn’t make the transition well. Tenten in particular swings back and forth between “general jank” and “eldritch emissary peering into your feeble soul”. Certain idle stances and walk cycles are awkward, too. If you’re looking to make your Boruto cooler than cool, you might have your work cut out for you.
Speaking of which? Near as I can tell, it’s impossible to make anything other than a Frankenstein’s monster of other Naruto/Boruto characters. There are no generic options, either; you HAVE to use a canon hairstyle and canon outfits, and even canon body features like eyes. On top of that, you don’t have a full range of color choices. You can shift hair, eye, and skin colors, but outside of a couple of accessories you’re locked into whatever loot you’ve pulled. Also, this is a minor complaint (or major; your mileage may vary), but did they have to gender-lock all of the customization options? Because it seems like if I want to put my Boruto in a Boruto jacket, I’m out of luck.
Those are a lot of negatives right off the bat, and I haven’t even gotten to the gameplay. To be fair, the gameplay is -- well, it has potential. Take Overwatch, Splatoon, and Dissidia Final Fantasy, throw them into a pot, sprinkle in a liberal amount of ninja magic, and you’ve basically got Shinobi Striker. You go online (or tackle offline VR missions, though you can co-op run those) and form a team of four with either your Borutos or canon characters. From there? The standard mode I’ve run into in quick matches is a base capture objective, i.e. you duel another quartet over control over three points on a map. As long as you hold more than your foes, you gain points toward a goal. Reach the goal first, and you win.
Probably the best part about the gameplay is that for moments at a time, you actually do feel like a ninja thanks to the mechanics in place. Hold down one of the triggers, and you’ll be able to launch yourself with a long-distance jump. Press the same button in midair, and you’ll throw out a wire kunai; if it hits a wall, you’ll pull yourself to it and be able to move around it at your leisure. You’re basically Spider-Man in the sense that, if there’s a surface, there’s a VERY good chance you can move across it.
Just like Overwatch, you’ll be able to play the regimented role of Attack, Defense, Ranged, and Heal, and each one supports the team in a different way. You don’t have to create a new/different Boruto for each type, though; you customize beforehand, preemptively choose your role before starting a match, and then have the ability to switch roles while you’re waiting to respawn. It gives you a suite of options to suit your play style and mid-match situations. The core downside? Because it’s a team of 4 instead of 6, there’s a higher likelihood for role overlap with teammates. Nobody’s jumping at the chance to play Heal, I bet.
In any case, combat reminds me of Dynasty Warriors more than it does, say, one of the Ultimate Ninja Storm games. You’ve got weak attacks and strong attacks, and chain them together in the exact same way as a Warriors title; you’ve also got an item button mapped to Circle for long-range attacks or sneaky setups. Triggers activate one of your two jutsus; both are on a cooldown, so you need to pick your shots wisely. And of course, you’ve got your ultimate jutsu on the D-pad. None of the ones I’ve seen hold a candle to a Ninja Storm ultimate, but that’s probably for the best, what with the game being built around online play.
No one can say that the groundwork isn’t there for Shinobi Striker. It is. And in some cases, the design intent and creative vision shine through. I haven’t confirmed it in full because I usually get my ass kicked from corner to corner of the map, but there may be some hidden depth to the combat system.
While you have access to jumps and double-jumps, you seem to be able to jump cancel attacks for extra combo potential. Similarly, being able to dodge in a direction while blocking works in tandem with your attacks -- meaning that you can dash cancel your attack strings, either to extend your offense or come at a foe from a different angle. Good stuff.
Not to throw another game comparison into the mix, but there are times when Shinobi Striker feels like Anarchy Reigns. Matches can get extremely chaotic when you’ve got seven other ninja warriors going at it, with all the jutsu flying around and bodies scrambling from point to point. As with any game, it feels good to win after a hard-fought battle that’s pushed you to your limits since the first minute.
And I wish I could end it there. But I can’t.
The chaos factor is as much a curse as it is a blessing. Maybe more of a curse. Just like Anarchy Reigns and Dissidia NT, it’s hard to have a decent fight when you constantly have to worry about someone sniping you in the back (and I know, because I’ve made a dynamic entry against enemy Borutos). Compounding the issue is that the camera is the secret 9th shinobi on the field; you have a lock-on function, but it won’t help you when you have to swivel around the camera to find your foes before they backstab you.
Getting comboed into oblivion is a harsh reality, and a common one. Good luck if you have to fight two opponents at once; comboing one leaves you side open for a combo from another. Coordinating with teammates is crucial, then, but relying on them is an even riskier proposition than, say, relying on a quick play team in Overwatch. Everybody wants to be a Genji, and now there’s never been a greater incentive to fly solo. Well, unless you enjoy running headfirst into a team of two, three, or four enemy ninjas.
My personal beef is with the substitution jutsu system. If you’re taking damage, you can hit a trigger to save yourself, replacing your body with a log and warping a decent distance away. Like all jutsus, it’s on a cooldown; you can’t spam it to escape damage whenever you want. Fair enough. The problem I’ve found -- or at least the one I’ve constantly been tripped up by -- is that your defensive mechanics are generally borked. Substitutions will save you, but they’re only a stopgap solution -- a tool that’ll warp you away, only to let an enemy mix you right back up if you’re not careful. And this time, you won’t be able to escape. It’s like the Burst mechanic from ArcSys games, only worse because it doesn’t genuinely reset the situation.
I feel like things would work better -- just a little bit better! -- if there was a tech roll/ukemi option in the game. But there isn’t. If you get hit against a wall, and you will, you’re helpless. Your prospects get slashed in half every time you get knocked down or into something, because you can’t reposition. (And you’re down for a long time, making you ultra-helpless.) You’re at the mercy of a foe with no chance of escape, unless they break off their pursuit. And why wouldn’t they pursue you? All it takes to be put in dire straits is for someone to trigger a Chidori or Lariat offscreen so they can stab you in the back.
And I have to ask: what’s it all in service of?
Right now, the only reason I can think of to keep playing Shinobi Striker is the novelty of making and customizing your very own Boruto. Like Orochimaru before me, I’m in it (tentatively speaking) to get my hands on all the jutsu I can. For others? It might be the chance to take on one of the canon’s characters as a mentor, taking on their abilities and gifts as you clear online matches and complete VR missions. But by and large, it’s not worth it.
Making the progress you want in this game means grinding the shit out of it. Want to look cool? Pray to the gods that you get good pulls from loot boxes. Want new moves? Inch toward reward tiers with intensely-flawed gameplay. Want to hang out with your favorite characters? You’re better off reading the manga, because they only have hints of their iconic personalities and even less chances to meaningfully interact with them. Props to the guys who made it up to Level 60, 70, and 80 in the span of a week, but there’s no way I’ll ever be one of them.
Here’s what really kills me, though: Naruto deserves better. Boruto deserves better. It’s INCREDIBLY easy to make fun of both -- with LOTS of ammunition -- but saying that they’re gutter trash is flat-out wrong. The tale of the gutsy ninja left a huge mark on the world for a reason, so love it or hate it, there’s plenty to respect about the canon. This game pays respect in the cheapest, most superficial way possible. I don’t know if it was a rush job or a cheap cash grab by Bandai Namco, but whatever the case? This game is not in anything even close to approaching an optimal state.
With all of that said, there is a silver lining to Shinobi Striker. It’s not just that it manages to hold together -- barely -- to reach the level of “competent”. It’s that the game is so janky, and so objectively riddled with problems, that it’s almost a gem in its own right. In a world where AAA titles have routinely become perfectly functional but anodyne and rote, it’s actually eyebrow-raising to see something whose badness is worn loud and proud like a bright orange jacket. I’d feel better about it if the game hadn’t apparently sold abysmally in Japan, which suggests that (as an online-heavy title) it’ll be dead in a few months, but hey. Lessons learned for Soleil.
So. Let’s see how Jump Force turns out. My boy Tsuna showed up in J-Stars, so let’s have a repeat performance, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment