It is with great sadness that I play through this apparent last entry in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series, a fighting game series I have enjoyed for years. Starting out on the PS2, they were extremely fun to play, with a great selection of characters from the story to play as. The PS2 games peaked with Ultimate Ninja 3, with a strong adventure mode with lots of entertaining character interaction, and tight, fast paced action. Fast forward through seven increasingly disappointing PS3 games later, and the first Ps4 entry pales in comparison.
My first and foremost complaint is that my favorite character from that old PS2 game, Anko Mitarashi, the student of Orochimaru, has remained unplayable in any of the PS3 era games, and remains unplayable in this first PS4 Iteration. After seven years of waiting, she remains relegated to an Assist character, which are no longer supported in the new game, meaning she is now completely absent. Add to this the gross overage of different versions of the same character; Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi and Obito have a half dozen versions EACH. It becomes apparent there is a bizarre lack of priorities on the part of the game designer. The fighting itself has become slower and more aggravating in its transition to 3d as well, and players who cut their teeth on the original combat system will find themselves at a disadvantage when using chakra dashes and jutsu attacks. Guard breaks in particular seem random and poorly thought out, and limiting the main dodge mechanic to 3 uses before recharge reduces the game to a contest to see who dodges first.
Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 fails to live up to the potential of its own series, and seems to have been rushed out by CC2, the games developer, in order to get a last grasp of money out of a series that has drawn to a close. As a final insult, the two main characters of the next series, Boruto and Sarada, are dlc that is only available for people who preorder this game. CC2 and Namco Bandai seem only to be interested in money, not in pleasing fans.
With that in mind, I rate this game a 3/10. It may appeal to some Naruto fans, but most will feel this is a cynical and stale final offering in what was a legendary game series.