The continuation of the Naruto story is as fun as it looks.
Firstly I'll break down the different game modes. There is a Story mode which plays through the Naruto story up to the Pain Arc, as we get to relieve each battle that has taken place. There is a versus mode which pits the player against a friend or the CPU with a character of your choice. You can fight as a team of three or in a one-on-one. And then there is the online mode which does what it says on the tin. We can go into more detail on these later.
Next is the graphics. They are still nice and crisp, blurring the line between anime and video-games. The cel shading looks excellent and the different areas in the Story Mode have a distinguished, artistic feel to them as if you are running around on a work of art. The developers did a fantastic job of recreating Konoha and the outside world in artistic detail. Lighting on chakra based attacks in Ultimate attacks are pretty as well as entertaining to look at as well. They seem slightly dumbed down in areas in comparison to the first game, but due to it being multiplatform this is understandable.
Now onto the story. Story Mode pits the player at the beginning of the Shipuuden series, where your first fight is against Sakura, one of Naruto's best of friends. Without going into too much detail and giving away too many spoilers, the Story is very fun. Cinematic boss battles are epic to play through and have jaw dropping cinematics. The game represents the anime brilliantly. The mix up of characters you play as also helps to slightly freshen up the gameplay to prevent the gameplay from becoming too repetitive. However, any fight that isn't a boss battle is pretty much the same, and there are a lot of regular fights. However the mixture of characters helps to prevent gameplay from becoming too dull. Aside from the main story, there are also side missions, and plenty of them. They have you fighting cursed dolls to bring to an old man, and collecting ton-ton's pearls which were scattered all over the map by a pesky crow. They are a welcome addition and all add to the entertainment the game brings. In addition, there are shops that sell various items. You can purchase items that give you a boost in battle and collector cards for viewing in Online mode. These can be purchased with Ryo which is earned by winning battles. Running around on foot all the time becomes quite a tedious task when running from one area to another, but purchasing a teleportation scroll assists in speeding up this process.
The VS mode is something I don't want to go into too much detail on. You can fight either the CPU or a friend in a fight with a character of your choice that you unlock from Story Mode. You can also choose the stage to fight at as well. It is a basic fight mode that is still entertaining to play and keeps you busy. Also, playing on an easier difficulty gives you a bit of practice to prepare for the main story battles, and to adjust to the control scheme.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 also boasts a multiplayer mode as well. This is fun as you work your way up the ranks and show off whatever cards and titles that you own. However, connection issues can sometimes get in the way and hinder you in a battle, not to mention unbalanced tactics such as spamming attacks and chakra shuriken, taking the fun out of the fight. Bring along a friend you know well and who is willing to fight properly and you will find yourself having a much better time.
There is an options mode, too, which lets you change the basic things such as audio levels, the language (English or Japanese) etc.
Another important factor is the actual fights themselves. The controls are quite easy to adjust to and combo's require minimal effort to perfrom. They consist of an attack button and one push of the analog stick either left, right, forwards, backwards or not at all. There is chakra mode, which lets you charge up chakra for a chakra based attack that uses up chakra meter. This is used for; chakra shuriken, chakra dash (forwards and backwards) or a jutsu. Press the chakra button twice and then attack, and your character performs an ultimate jutsu, a short but cinematic and entertaining attack that causes a lot of damage. You can also guard or call in a support character. The support characters can also aid you in an ultimate jutsu if you build up your support meter high enough, or can guard you from an opponents ultimate jutsu, taking the hit for you. If you are being attacked, tapping the guard button gives you the chance to use a substitution jutsu behind the character and start a combo of your own, at a small cost of the chakra meter.
The character roster is very large weighing in at 44 characters, and contains 23 stages. This adds to the excitement as every character has their own unique grab attacks, combo's and jutsu's.
The game also consists of trophy support, and there is in-fact a large amount of them.
So what is the verdict? NUNS 2 is an incredibly addictive game that will have you coming back for more. It's a must have for Naruto fans and provides fantastic entertainment. If you like fighters then buy it, I guarantee this is maybe simple, but definitely fun to play. Pick it up now.