The new Naruto Game, Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage (NARUTO X BORUTO 忍者BORUTAGE) has finally been released. The game is not the only Naruto game available, but Ninja Voltage features not only characters from the Naruto’s generation, but also Boruto’s generation.
The biggest highlight of the game, as one would expect, is the appearance of iconic characters from the series, from the team 7 trio (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura) to the new generation including Boruto and Sarada. The game does feature incredible 3d models and visual effects for each character’s signature skill, for that reason alone, is all a Naruto fan needs to give the game a try. Naruto is a story about Naruto, a boy with the nine-tailed beast sealed within him and how gains strength and recognition through his unrelenting will and hard work. The new game is… pretty much not that. Effort is still needed to earn a place in the game, but ultimately, the game is like most other Bandai Namco game, where if you have money, you can get easily get an edge over other players. Here’s why the game doesn’t preach the same life lessons as the original series.
▲Bandai Namco Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage PvP Trailer
Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage features classic mobile action game controls and PvE content with a twist of Clash of Clans-like PvP.Starting with PvE, currently, the game doesn’t feature a lot of content. With just five chapters, most of the PvE just has players farming for materials and character shards in event stages. In terms of gameplay, the game is more biased towards PvP. The PvP of Ninja Voltage has players set up and create their own mazes from pre-made layouts to defend player invasions. Admittedly, the concept of the game has its own selling point, but Bandai’s execution makes the game pretty unbalanced. Much like most of their games, Ninja Voltage is a game that adds weight to free-to-play player’s progression. Money solves a majority of the problems in the game, an obvious case is the instant upgrade feature, which is an important feature with great benefits to games of this genre. Sure, players will still need to farm for the materials needed for the next upgrade before they can throw money at the problem, but through paying, players will be able to reap the benefits from upgraded buildings much quickly later on in the game as upgrade takes longer to complete. Additionally, the game also has a VIP system which grants paid players passive bonuses to including features that makes farming easier for players, including the “Auto-Run” feature that allows players to instantly complete any 3-star cleared PvE stage.
▲Maze Trap/Unit Customization
▲VIP Rewards
Under these circumstances, free-to-play players will have to be playing the game constantly just to catch up. If you’re a Naruto fan, just know even if you try as hard as Naruto or if you’re as smart as Shikamaru, when up against pay-to-win players, you’ll still most likely hit a wall, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing in the game for you.
Although the game doesn’t have a lot of PvE content right now, given time Bandai Namco will most likely add more PvE content and characters considering how the PvE stages seem to reflect on the series storyline. Ninja Voltage also perfectly creates some of the most important elements in an Action game.
First off, the game runs quite smoothly. Playing the game, players really get a sense of control over their characters and this makes it quite easy for players to attempt to dodge enemy attacks. Secondly, the character models and skill visual effects are really well made. Characters retain their looks in the manga and the skill animations are almost exactly what players would expect to see in the anime. The prospect of the game also looks good. 5 stages in and the game has still yet to scratch the surface of the original series’ storyline, as more stages become available the game can grow to be a game that is still worth investing time into, looking purely at PvE.
▍Final Thoughts
Ultimately, the game isn’t entirely bad. As an action game, it has almost checked off every item it needs to a good mobile action game. Although the game does require an insane amount of farming to obtain characters that aren’t rewarded from the main story stages currently, the game still tugs the hearts of Naruto fans.
If competitive PvP is something you look out for in a mobile game, then without a doubt Ninja Voltage will be something that you will be able to appreciate. One of the problems with the game’s current unbalanced PvP is there simply because the game is still quite new, pay-to-win players and free-to-play players are all sitting in the same rankings and the game hasn’t truly matched players with other players of the same ranking. As the things start to settle down and players become matched with players of similar rankings, the balance of the game will most likely be less extreme. The PvP of Ninja Voltage is also quite fun, exploring different player customized mazes for resources has the same sort of addiction as you would expect from games like Clash of Clans.
If you’re more into PvE, then the game will be less satisfying since the content is quite limited as of this moment, but if you consider how little of the series’ story the game has tackled right now, then it wouldn’t be a complete waste of time to start playing and building your favorite team as you wait for more content to be released.
At the end of the day, Naruto X Boruto Ninja Voltage is a game that is worth trying. Noted, you might get bored of it quickly, what the game offers now is limited, but the quality is still great.
READ MORE:
• How To Bind Your Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Borutage Account
