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Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm is, obviously, the first game in the Storm saga of Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games. As a fan of the original, 2D Ultimate Ninja games from the PS2 era, the first time I played a Storm game (which was 3), I was surprised by the change in gameplay (since the Storm games are 3D fighters), but I found that game enjoyable. Now that I got to try the first one, what can I say about?
Well... I think this one has not aged well. It's not necessarily a bad game, but being the first in the 3D era, you can notice the roughness around the edges. The game features two modes: Ultimate Adventure, where you get to free roam around the Hidden Leaf Village, completing various missions (including Flashback missions, which tell the story of the anime), and Free Battle, where you can fight against the CPU or a friend if you have an extra controller. As I said above, this game is a 3D fighter, although many mechanics from the original Ultimate Ninja games was carried on: the control scheme is pretty similar, you get your regular combos, as well as ninjutsu and Ultimate Jutsu.
Now, talking about the Ultimate Adventure mode, I gotta say, it leaves a lot to be desired. Voiced dialogue is pretty minimal, limited to only a few cutscenes during certain Flashback missions, beyond the normal combat voicelines. And speaking of Flashback missions, there's a glaring omission in this game: the Land of Waves arc is completely missing, despite the game covering the entire span of the original, pre-Shippuden anime. That means Zabuza and Haku are also completely absent from the game, despite being some of the most popular characters in the entire anime (and seriously, how can't you not have Zabuza and Haku, come on, the end of that arc is one of the best moments in the anime). Anyway, I digress; beyond that, you get all the other main arcs covered: from the training with Kakashi, to the Chunin exams, the Leaf Destruction, the Search for Tsunade, and the Sasuke Retrieval arc.
Now, the missions featured in the game, beyond the expected fights, also include minigames, some for climbing trees, and some for chasing an objective, or reaching a destination, these last two minigames being practically the same. Now, for short minigames they could be fun, but the game sure loves placing a bunch of them during each arc; what's worse, sometimes you'll be going after a companion, and they'll still place traps for you! By the end of the game, I was annoyed with the missions, and what's worse, to get the true ending, you have to completely almost every mission twice, the second time fulfilling extra conditions.
The open world roaming, as I said in the second paragraph, is limited to the Hidden Leaf Village, and it reminded me of the similar mode in Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3 (noticed I didn't say "Storm", I'm talking about the PS2 game), as after each mission, there'll be hidden scrolls for you to collect around the village, which can then be exchanged for extra support jutsu, which is something I forgot to mention: during fights, you can have up to two companions who can provide support with either ninjutsu or a combo, and you can even summon them to finish certain combos.
The character roster, minus the obvious abscense of Zabuza and Haku, is pretty comprehensive; it has pretty much all major characters from the anime, although some of them are relegated to being support only. While it's understandable for characters like the First and Second Hokage, or the team leaders that aren't Kakashi or Guy, the Sound Ninja Four are also support-only, causing some weird continuity issues during the Sasuke Retrieval arc, as Kimimaro single-handedly (ok, with the support of the Sound Ninja Four, although only one at a time) fights Shikamaru's team (plus, Gaara and his siblings only show up to help Rock Lee; guess Temari isn't winning Shikamaru's heart this time around). On the plus side, the "Awakened" versions of certain characters also become available after beating the story, and a couple characters get alternate looks.
Graphics wise, well, it looks good enough for its age, although there are a few weird details with some character models, there's nothing particularly bad about it. As for the music, it's good, what you'd expect from a Naruto game if you're familiar with the anime and previous Ultimate Ninja games.
To finish this off, even though my review might seem to be overall negative, I must say I quite enjoyed the game, even went for the true ending despite it not being needed for 100% completion. Same goes for completing the collections. The only thing I didn't do, was the "Desperate Successive Battles" mission, as that one was not needed for the true ending, and after doing the boss fights several times (oh, I forgot to mention, you get to fight Gamabunta, the Shukaku, and Manda during the story and in some missions), I didn't feel bothered to do it once more and with even harder QTEs. So yeah, that's not for me, the rest of the game is great, but I'm not doing that.
So yeah, do I recommend this game? Absolutely, if you're a Naruto fan, this one can be fun. Just don't expect to see Zabuza or Haku, or to have them even be acknowledged. Harrumph.