Another Naruto game, and although its still not an elite beat 'em up, it'll please fans and is a good game on its own.
The story is well thought out but it becomes dull due to the lack of cutscenes and is quickly stagnating, afterall, no matter how good a story is, you can only tell it so many times.
Despite the dissapointing lack of cutscenes, you can't go wrong with this games visuals, wich provide you with the most amazing cell shading graphics ever created, it can easily pass for an episode of the series and the ultimate jutsu scenes are just stunning to watch, you will literally be drooling at the screen with these shinobis displays of power. And as i said at the beginning, this is a beat 'em up, so now i will talk about the actual fighting.
First of all, if youre looking for an alternative to titles like street fighter, tekken, virtua fighter, etc, look elsewhere. This title is not so much a classic arcade style fighter as it is, put simply, button mashing fun. The fighting is good, and you have a wide selection of characters from wich to choose from, although some remarkable absences do startle, mainly the dissapearance of Zabuza and Haku, not only from the character screen, but the story mode as well, wich might shock some... more hardcore fans of the series. Another inexplicable absences are of the sound ninjas, and, one can only wonder why they were implemented as support characters, and not full fledged fighters, but, despite those misshaps, you'll find the regular cast of the shows fighters in this game. Once again, the visuals shine, actually elevating the fights to a new standard of greatness, you'll gawk at all of the characters moves and combos, and speaking of combos, there are a lot of them, but, it would have been nice to see a little bit more variety than just "circle six times, then left, then circle". The game's sound design is nothing special in my opinion, but it gets the point across, and cruising around konoha to the sound of the calm, ambient music is very pleasant and relaxing. All in all, you wont find a smashing hit to revolutionize beat 'em ups, or even Naruto games all around, but you will find a very fun and sharp adventure that will be extra pleasant for fans of the series, but also delivers a good experience on its own.