yes....yes....YES!!!!!!!
Naruto Rise of a Ninja is more then a game...its a great game!! what i loved about this game was the balance between the characters and the jutsu's (which i will get into later) but i will start off with the story line.
The story line goes through 1 to about mabey 82 episode of the naruto series which we have really all seen before in naruto clash of the ninja 2...but not as good as this. Naruto Rise of the Ninja gives the idea of a freeworld concept which i belive paid off big time!! it really wasent all about just fighting it was about finishing missions and getting your stats and rank up and the fighting was more like the 2nd component to the game.
More or less you will spend a good deal of time finishing other missions like delivering ramen and of course real ninja missions but you can just go through the campaign pretty quickly if you just go through mission after mission after mission without exploring the great Leaf Village of Komoha.
As i said above the characters are pretty well balanced with the new jutsu's. Each character has diffrent jutsu's and also a rage mode which can be activated when you have 1/4 of your health left but its the JUTSU'S that we all love.
The jutsu's take a bit of the idea from naruto ultimate ninja by moving the controller stick to both side or up and down which is a really nice way instead of just pressing one button to set off a killer combo. Once you pull off your slick jutsu (good job took me a while lol) you dont imdetiatly attack the opponent, some jutsu you might have to lock on and they can roll around and dodge and with others come actions sequences when at the right moment then can press the A button and they flip backswards dodging the attack!!! its a really great idea and it feels really good.
The fighting does feel kinda the same as in clash of the ninja though and button mashers can shine but there is a combo list and there is a new grab system where you can throw your opponent in the air then hit them down to the ground which gives it a nice look.
The graphics are eye candy and just looking at the surrouding area you can tell that they spent a great deal of time of drawing and colouring then eventually shading in the coloured area which gives it that nice cell shaded anime everyone loves.
the voice acting is good but its not the best characters tend to messup a couple of times with the diffrent pronunciation of the words....especially RAMEN!!!! which can be kinda annoying but you will eventually get over it.
There is one thing that bugs me....its that the game only goes up to about 82 episodes....ive been waiting for a naruto game that would go through ATLEAST 100 of the episodes it makes the game feel short and which is why ubisoft created the side quests so it wouldent seem as short as it is.
Overall though if you've been waiting for this game for a long time as i did then you will be SATISFIED its is truly a great game and it is truly the naruto game that we have been waiting for 3-5 years for and for new comers that are new to the series this game is a nice start because it does start from the beginning of naruto to where they ended it at 82 episodes (the anime is at 111 now in english and the japannese is on the next portion but i wont give any spoilers) So to new comers or to the old lovers of this series...a couple of words....get this game.....LOVE THIS GAME!!