The demo for the much anticipated Naruto game for the Playstation 3, “Ultimate Ninja Storm” was added to the Playstation Network Store yesterday. I downloaded, installed, and tried out the demo to see if it lives up to expectations for Naruto fans, old and new. It has some potential…

The demo has two playable characters: Naruto and Kakashi. The controls are loose and fluid and doesn’t involve a lot of button smashing like the first Ultimate Ninja (Narutimate Hero in Japan) for the PS2. The camera angles focuses behind your opponent and it rotates as you move around, never losing sight of your character. If you’re not paying attention, however, you can easily get confused thinking your opponent is your fighter.

The graphics are amazing, which is why I’m interested in buying this game when it comes out, even though I’ve slacked off of Naruto a bit. Watching the trailer, it looks as though you’re controlling the characters directly in the anime rather than just computer generated clones. Last, but not least, you can select the dub track to either English or Japanese, which is something a hardcore Naruto (or shall I say Narutard?) fan will really like.

The demo only lasts 5 minutes in terms of fighting. Plus it’s available in High Definition to get the full interactivity; If you’re playing on a SDTV, you’ll see a tiny letterbox, but it’s nothing major except you’ll be missing out the extra awesomeness of the graphics. You can play it as long as you like, but with only two characters, there’s not much to go around until the game is released this October.

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