Six screenshots of Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 were released this morning and I have to say, the graphics really aren't that great, even by the standards of handheld consoles. They're good at a glance, as 90% of the details went into character costumes, but limbs appear like blocks during closesups and facial details amount to little more than white space and black lines.
There has been a lot of hype for this title, so hopefully gameplay makes up for the lack of aesthetics
Ninja Destiny 2 is the English-translated version of Naruto: Shinobi Retsuden 2 and will be released on October 20th, 2009.
Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 excels over its console counterpart, the Clash of Ninja series, in a single facet: speed. The one-on-one fighting in this handheld version feels faster than on the Wii, which produces frantic multiplayer... even though it's still local multi-card only. Action isn't the only area where this title shows its alacrity, though, as Ninja Destiny 2 also won the biggest race of all. It beat CoN to the Shippuden punch. That means this title is the first Nintendo destination where you can see how Naruto and his friends have grown up in full 3-D, blocky as it may be on the small DS screens.
Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Destiny 2 is a decent attempt at a 3D fighter on the DS. The problems mostly come in that it doesn't offer enough in terms of modes, and that the combat system gets extremely monotonous fairly quickly. With some tweaks and an extra mode of two, Diehard GameFAN expects the next game in the series to be a pretty solid outing. Until then, this is for the hardcore Naruto fans only.
Destructoid writes: "What publisher TOMY and developer Dream Factory are aiming to do is create a simple on-the-go fighting game with a recognizable franchise that is appealing to people. While certain features, like the lack of WiFi, is disappointing, the game is trying out some interesting ideas, as well as improving on ideas laid down with the original Ninja Destiny".
