Once you’re finished with Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4’s Story Mode, unless you’re eager to step into the multiplayer, you’ll likely want to check out the Adventure Mode. Set after the events of the game, Adventure Mode sees Naruto take on a series of tasks helping out those in need in the Hidden Leaf Village and beyond.
The basic setup of Adventure Mode sees Sakura trying to help Hinata get closer to Naruto by delivering a letter to the hidden sand village. By progressing through the main mission with the two girls, you unlock extra side quests to complete. While it’s set after the closing events of Naruto, there’s not a lot here story wise and it’s pretty light and silly stuff, a bit like a filler episode out of the anime. Everything in Adventure Mode is set up to make Naruto and whoever he’s with reminisce about old times as most of the missions involve you playing as the cast’s younger selves. It does function as a nice epilogue as it shows how far these characters have come from their earlier days.
When you’re not working on the main quest with Sakura and Hinata, there’s other tasks Naruto can carry out. An early side mission has Might Guy task Naruto to join his fighting league and Naruto must travel to different locations to come out on top. Most of the side quests involve more characters reminiscing and offering a bit of humour or some kind of tournament setup for you to work your way though.
It just isn’t quests you can complete as there are little odd jobs and collectables to find dotted around the map. While you can explore the other villages, only the hidden leaf village is set in an open world environment. The rest use a fixed camera as you explore whatever location you’re in. As you’re exploring, you’ll come across people in need, which are usually simple one objective quests. Go fetch my cat, I need some money, give me some items. Naruto still has his Genin responsibilities despite all he’s done in the Fourth Great Ninja War. As you’re exploring the town, you’ll also have other ninja appear either wanting a battle, needing items in exchange for money or offering extra items to help you out.
Another large part of Adventure Mode is collecting Memory Fragments. These fragments are dotted around on the map and let you play a battle from the past. You’ll get a short description of the events leading up to the battle along with who your team is before you head on into battle. It doesn’t matter if you lose the battle as all the fragment battles you collect are accessible from the adventure mode menu. As a new player to the series, being able to play these battles in the newer battle system was a nice addition but you’ve already played all the previous games, it could feel like too familiar ground.
While it’s a nice extra and exploring Hidden Leaf Village is an unexpected bonus, the Adventure Mode does feel a bit tacked on once you’ve finished the main mission with Hinata and Sakura. While there’s plenty of memory fragments to find and a handful of quests to complete, there really isn’t much there in terms of motivation to get you to complete them.
