Hands-on Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3

Oct 12, 2009

We've been telling you for what feels like months on end now that Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 for Wii is a more balanced fighter, and that this year's effort is all about playing the previous versions of Naruto from both the US and Japan and finding that perfect mix of tournament combat. We've been telling you this, but it isn't until now that we can really give you specifics on what exactly is changing with Revolution 3.

While every version of Clash of Ninja has gone through iteration after iteration to lock down exactly what feels right, Revolution 3 had tweaking and fan-based play-testing pushed to the forefront of development. The team worked hand-in-hand with fans (not just "Yay Naruto!" kind of fans; dedicated tournament fighters) to find out exactly what should stick around, where the exploits are, and how to make the game the most balanced experience out there. I've still yet to sink dozens of hours into it, but from what I saw at the latest hands-on demo the game is definitely fine-tuning things to an insane degree.

First off, the latent ninja powers. In previous Clash games there was the ability to pull off new supers or get added abilities when in your characters final pixels of health, but that system has been blown up in a big way, and the result is the new "latent ninja powers" system. Anything can change now, such as damage rates, hit-stuns, block-stuns, and so much more. The amount of chakra for executing attacks or evasions can change, and at the forefront of the system, character-specific changes are made across the board.

Tenten, for example, has the obvious character-specific attacks that deal with different weapons. As a bit of a blademaster, she can spawn different items to use during battle, which can then be used for custom combos or as throw objects to distract and throw off opponents. The catch? If she gets hit, those items disappear and she has to re-spawn them again. As one of her latent ninja powers though, getting hit no longer causes her to drop those weapons, changing up not only how you play as Tenten, but how you play against her as well. As for a few other characters, Gaara can block all unblockable attacks, he takes no chip damage (the damage lost when guarding), and he even has a block-stunning super that can freeze opponents. Itachi gets free teleports as one added benefit, and Kisame can make free water clones; obviously a huge advantage.

This is the case with every player, each offering more and more once you get into the latent ninja powers. Sasori, for example, earns a new "Iron Sand Super" when in latent ninja mode. An added ability to literally walk through attacks (suffering damage, but not hit-stun) also make him a very difficult opponent to put away, and his poison attacks are also ramped up considerably, adding a poison effect to literally every attack when near death; harsh. Kakashi – another awesome fighter this time around with his Sharingan attacks – is morphed drastically during his final 30% of health. When entering latent ninja mode he no longer uses Chakra to enter into Sharingan mode. Normally you have to expend some of your special to transform, and then build it up again for his biggest super. When near-death, he transforms for free and can pull off his special right away. I asked D3 if there were any players that actually took damage on purpose to enter "Latent Ninja Power" mode, and they affirmed that assumption, although it takes a truly impressive player to come back from a full health deficit. Still, with characters like Sasori and Kakashi benefiting in huge ways from that final desperation mode it offers up yet another level of strategy for those daring enough to try it.

The other huge changes made to general balance come with the new pressure system. While not something you'll find in any instruction booklet, Revolution 3's features all new tweaks to the nuances of gameplay, including a laundry list of changes that the hardest of the hardcore tournament fighters will appreciate. And yes, most of these will also help your casual fights as well, even though you may never notice they're there specifically.

The sidestepping mechanic is completely redone now, so the ability to just side out of every attack is now gone. It was cheap, fans cried out, and D3 responded. Different frames are now checked during sidesteps, so while there's still block moments within it, other times during the animation can allow for hits. Same goes with backstepping as well, which also was invincible constantly before. Now the intro phase of the flip (when your back and head is exposed) allows for a hit, with the later part of it offering invulnerability.

Some of the teleport balance is all-new as well too, implementing some of the tactics found in the fan-favorite Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 on GameCube. You can now sidestep out of a teleport to counter it, and there's even time to sidestep throw as a counter to those constantly using teleports. Throw teching is also a little tougher (still not too hard though, as demonstrated by our hands-on demo) and there are some other nice nuances as well. Landing from a jump, for example, will offer players a few frames where throws (shorter range than previous version) can be executed from about double range since you're technically ducking. That can also be used to do "tech crouching" as well, which lets you duck and attack from a lower point; pretty interesting.

This is all teamed with a new get-up system as well. In previous Naruto games players that were 100% offense would often take victories simply because they were aggressive. The get-up game is now fine-tuned though, having more balance with get-up attacking and teleports. Teleporting out of a fallen state now takes half your chakra, but the mix of teleport, standard stand, and attack stand means there's less predictability. Before it was as simple as grounding an opponent and then setting up a super for when they started to stand. Now there's far more strategy in place.

And finally, something that everyone can enjoy. Revolution 3's online previously wasn't much more than just a simple confirmation on the mode. D3 is letting us pull back the curtain on the details of that mode though, and there's a lot to see. Both head-to-head and two-man squad battles are included with online, and in a nice change from regular online games on Wii the amount of options and modes is pretty large. You've got standard ranked matches with a specific rule set, as well as exhibition matches where you can set flexible rules as the host. Players can also view and customize their friend and rival rosters, or jump into random matchmaking and fight anyone.

In addition you've also got full-on leaderboards as well, so fights within actual "ranked" matches mean something on a global scale. Nice to see so many options with Naruto's first online offering on Wii.

We'll have a whole lot more on Naruto as we near the game's release. Until then, be sure to check out our latest screens and video, and sound off about the game's changes in our comments section below.