Wow multiplayer! It has multiplayer. Did I mention the multiplayer? Yea... Thats about all this game has going for it.
Maybe this game’s most blaring weakness is the lack of any significant single player. While indeed there is a single player mode to be had it is horribly inadequate. The entire single player consists of a series of mission scrolls with generic task such as: kill X amount of the Y generic enemy in Z amount of time, or use X technique to kill Y ninja. I mean sure you have other tasks like your 1 vs 1s your 1 vs 2 etc. etc. heck if you’re lucky you might find yourself breaking crates looking for an item while dodging dozens random enemy clones. In the end there is no story what to speak of and just more of the mundane. You will probably want to play through it but once to unlock characters but after than I see no incentive to go through the single player ever again… assuming you can muster up enough will from your Narutard reserves to get through it the first time around. As things go on the game’s unimpressive AI won’t do much for any serious gamer looking for a proper fight and the game stacking things against you still doesn’t compensate for that sore weakness.
The gameplay is brawl-esq so expect something along the lines of Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers for DS just without as much depth, limited combos, and hit or miss specials. For those uninitiated in that kind of DS fighter expect a flattened out, shallow, super simplified Super Smash Bros over something like Ninja Academy. You can choose from over 20 characters and have the interesting ability to customize your special move set and though they don’t do the techniques themselves you can play as Naruto and use Sakura’s Healing Jutsu so it really doesn’t matter much at all exactly what character you choose in the end with the custom techniques and summoning of allies. Speaking of Healing Jutsu you will find some of the moves horribly unbalanced and if you’re doing multiplayer at times even flat out broken and Sakura’s Healing Jutsu is the perfect example. At times you will find it numbs down into a race on who can heal first and deny the other the privilege of killing you. Byond that the combat does not have a high/low hit system and the game doesn't reward players for using different moves so much of the actual combat boils down to breaking down your opponent's shield for free hits.
Graphically while having no complaints if you played any other Ninja Council game on GBA you will note that some of the graphics have been reused. It looks good but nothing amazing. The special techniques though can be a sight to behold. Some jutsus can look really good while others really do not do their originals justice. In the end while awesome at times its hit or miss special technique wise with the whole thing overall rubbing off as pretty mediocre as flashy as the special techniques are.
Sound was unimaginative and generic feeling. Really can’t say much besides the fact it was unremarkable. While there are sound bites here and there I could have gone without Maile Flanagan shouting “believe it!” through my DS’s speakers. Bottomline: For this game to be fun you need a friend to play it with. Even then the combat system is broken so you will need to come up with special cameplay rules. I wouldn't recommend this for even the most hardcore Narutard. Taking two copies to even possibly enjoy you are better off spending your $60 and importing a copy of Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 for Gamecube.