Article by Pietro Gualano
The manga dedicated to Naruto has long since ended, the ending has literally split the fan base, disappointing many, but the franchise is still much loved and appreciated. Bandai Namco has decided to take advantage of the latest volume of the magna (the one dedicated to the epilogue) and the last film to propose to the public a new expansion of Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, a DLC called Road to Boruto. In our opinion it was a wise choice, it would have been difficult to propose an entire game based on this character but not to treat him or just insert him in the roster without a narrative in-depth. it would have been unforgivable. Naruto players and fans, therefore, can once again embark on the adventure and discover the world after the conclusion of the great ninja war.
The legend of Boruto
Who is Boruto? The answer is very simple, he is the son of the seventh hokage, Naruto. The similarity with the protagonist of the first series of the manga is remarkable, the symbol on the uniform is that of the Uzumaki and also the arrogance is the same. "The legend of Boruto" is undoubtedly the highlight of the expansion, a real story mode structured in a similar way to that of the base game that allows us to see the protagonists of the manga in action when they grow up and, of course, allows us to follow the exploits of Boruto and his companions. The plot created for the occasion does not shine for its originality but it is still very pleasant, especially for a fan of the series: seeing Naruto grappling with a problematic kid is quite funny, as is discovering what happened to all the other ninja of the series. leaf.
Of course there is no shortage of antagonists of weight even if we would have expected something more from this point of view ... It is probably difficult to compare with the renegade ninja of the manga and we realize that making a well-characterized villain for such a short story is not the simplest thing in the world. The longevity of the story is not the best and in a few hours at the most everything is finished, there is no shortage of secondary missions (never really exciting) and bonus objectives to be achieved during the battle. The clashes are exactly identical to those present in the base game and there is no news from this point of view, the difficulty is low as usual and we never lost even playing at the highest level.
New additions to the roster and new modes
The developers took advantage of the launch of Road to Boruto to include some characters in the game to be used both offline and online: in addition to Boruto and Sarada (already available in pre-order actually) we have the latest member of the team, Mitsuki, Naruto in version seventh hokage, Sasuke in wandering traveler version and some bonus characters like Mecha Naruto.
The new additions to the roster overall work and are sure to be fun to use, there is also no shortage of new secret techniques that will undoubtedly delight fans of the manga and special themed content. Maybe the new version of Sasuke (for a change) and Mitsuki they are a bit unbalanced compared to the others, but we are sure that in case of problems the developers will intervene with a corrective patch.
We also really liked the idea of introducing spectator mode into the game, which is simply perfect for those who want to organize competitive tournaments, but the overall improvements to the endless mode also seem noteworthy (these changes will be introduced with an update at the launch of the expansion) .
Ninja technique
Technically speaking, the expansion is extremely similar to the base game: the developers offer very rich and colorful anime-style graphics and make extensive use of QTE and comic sequences. The level is high and the management of the light is, as always, of the first level, but strangely in this expansion we encountered a few too many problems with the game camera in the exploration sections.
The frame rate does not drop even in the most hectic phases and this is an excellent factor for a game of this genre, there are no bugs or particularly serious problems that force you to restart and the audio sector is as always up to the situation.
Conclusion
Road to Boruto is definitely a good expansion, the new characters introduced to the roster are fun to use and the story mode has a nice storyline (albeit a bit short, the developers could have come up with something to lengthen it). Technically, the level is as always very high and we are convinced that there will be no problems in this sense.
The purchase is definitely recommended for those who have finished the manga and want to return to immerse themselves in the world of Naruto, while the others should wait: the story, in fact, contains an impressive number of spoilers on the last chapters.
