Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 [Wii]

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.

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