Most of the time, the one on one matches in Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 are smooth online. The majority of fights I joined only had a bit of lag, an impressive feat considering the Wii connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi. Slowdown occasionally occurred during partner attacks, but few people online used them. The biggest hurdle Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 has online is how long it takes to find a contender for a random match. The way the game does this is a black box, but if you want to find matches faster play in the early evening. The lack of late night players probably isn’t Tomy’s fault, but the game can hang for minutes, even during afterschool hours, when searching for an opponent.
When lag rears its ugly head it can cripple matches. Blocking seems to be the biggest problem because there isn’t a block button. Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 is designed with neutral guard, which means you automatically block when not pressing a button.
While the online mode is better than I expected, it probably isn’t good enough for top tier competitive play. It’s still an improvement over other online enabled Wii games and the PlayStation 3 version of The King of Fighters XII. One advantage Tomy has is Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 isn’t as technical as Tekken 6 or Street Fighter IV. Even with a little lag fights are still fun to play.
Eighting kept fighting fans in mind when developing the online mode. While selecting character(s) your choice(s) are hidden from your opponent. Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 has added an impressive list of statistics too. There are leaderboards and handy fighter card keeps track of all of your fights. Increasing your rank from genin to chunin sets you up with stronger opponents, supposedly. Matchmaking could use more work. I didn’t notice a difference when jumping to a new rank.
For a first effort, Tomy and Eighting did a fine job. I do wonder how Eighting is going to handle Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, though. Tatsunoko, which comes out in just a few months, requires more precision when it comes to inputting commands than Naruto.
