Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto Review - I'm Gonna Beat The Hokage! Believe It!

While Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 has received a variety of small character and story updates Road to Boruto acts as the first large DLC pack delivering new characters and a new story to play based on the Boruto movie/manga. For those who haven't yet finished Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 or do not wish to have the conclusion of the Naruto Shippuden storyline ruined, please proceed with caution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcACSC4z0zU The story of Naruto is over with the conclusion of Naruto Shippuden, and it's now the next generation of Hidden Leaf Ninjas that have become the center of attention. Set many years after Naruto and Sasuke's fateful battle against Kaguya, Naruto has now earned his place in the village as the 7th Hokage, and he lives with his wife, Hinata, his son Boruto, and his daughter Himawari. Much like where we originally met Naruto many years ago, Boruto is trying hard to fit in at school, make friends, and is starting his own journey to become a ninja powerful enough to beat his own father. It's during the lead up to Boruto's Chunin Exam that a mysterious new enemy appears possessing the Rinnegan attacks the city with Naruto in their sights. This story is not just the start of a brand new adventure but will also serve the purpose of introducing fans to Naruto's son for future installments of both the Anime and game series.

Accessing this DLC from the menu, you will experience an Adventure mode-style retelling of the movie through a mixture of 3D battles, cutscenes, and being able to walk around the Village Hidden in the Leaves and its surrounding areas. The 3D battles have you and an opponent facing one another head to head with additional aid from support characters. During these battles, you have free 3D movement to either get up and close with your enemy or retreat back to avoid attacks, hurl projectiles, or regain your energy. During some of the larger/boss battles, once your opponent has reached a certain health, you will finish the bout through a series of cutscenes and quick-time events. The speed and accuracy of your button presses determine stars that you gain for your score. Earn enough and you get rewarded with a secret cutscene before the final blow. These final QTEs are always a fun way to end an intense battle, getting to watch the spectacle while also being ready to press any button they throw your way. While the battles in Road to Boruto are entertaining, there are only about 10 battles over the whole DLC and whereas the full games QTEs have you earning up to 30+ stars the fights that did have this feature seemed to all cap out at 10 making it a shorter, faster process. The speed of ending battle might be seen as a positive to some who want to continue with their story progress, while others may see this as a negative that battles do not last longer. An interesting new feature that the game adds is during the Chunin Exam section, unlike previous titles that only have you take part in the battle sections of the exams you also get to take part in the test, and the capture the flag segment. For Naruto fans the quiz section, consisting of 10 questions, shouldn't be too difficult but for anyone who isn't likely to know all of the five hidden villages or who participated in the 2nd Great Ninja War you might need to do some fast research. The second part of the chunin exam, capture the flag, has Boruto running around the village collecting 200 flags as he goes. Each of these sections is timed (though not too strictly), and it's a nice bit of change that isn't intrusive enough to annoy you.

The hub world of Road to Boruto is similar to that of the main Adventure Mode but has been updated to take into account the changes that have occurred since the end of Naruto Shippuden including Naruto's new home, an increase of modern day technology like computers and televisions, and the new cast of characters roaming the village. In this free roam mode you're able to buy new items, collect titles and other goodies, and encounter a variety of side and sub missions. There are 10 different main side missions that you can complete in your own time, these are completely secondary to the main story line and are not required but serve to add more gameplay to the 3-4 hour story experience of the DLC. The sub missions are various missions that the people of Konoha will ask you to take part in, for these you will be rewarded with items and money you can use to continue building up your collections. These tasks work well to buffer on more time to the add-on, again this will be a situation where some people will see it as additional and that there's no purpose but for those who want to learn more about Boruto and spend more time in a Naruto game NOT playing as Naruto then this is the perfect chance. In between battles you might have to travel from Naruto's residence to the Hokage's office, watch a cutscene and then immediately head out to the forest. While the game does a fantastic job of recreating the layout of the Village Hidden in the Leaves from the Manga and filling it with a lot of people going about their daily lives with the only points of interest being spread out you will find yourself spending more time than you might want walking to and fro. On those walks, you will end up traveling past a few stores but once you realize how little you can interact with in the village it seems quite empty. Other content that this DLC delivers is the ability to play as characters from Road to Boruto in the versus and online game modes. Characters like Boruto, Sarada, Hokage Naruto, and more will be able to team up and face off against everyone else from the Naruto universe. This also is the only way that characters like Boruto are playable unless you had preordered the game before its original release. The Road to Boruto DLC delivers additional content that is welcome for both single player gamers as well as those who like to challenge themselves and their friends with an expanding story and additional characters for use in multiplayer matches. It also serves as a great way for fans to revisit the game once again and introduces them to Boruto a new main character who is about to continue carrying on the Naruto story into the future. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto was reviewed on a PlayStation 4 with a code provided by the publisher. It is also available on Xbox One and PC via Steam.