Since the first episode aired on October 3rd, 2002 I have been the biggest, dedicated and passionate fan of the Naruto anime series around. I have figurines, headbands and even an exact replica of the Akatsuki gown. Call me a fan-boy, but I really do love this series. It was the reason I got into anime, and that in its self says something.

Being such a huge fan of Naruto, I’ll try not to be too biased and put aside the rumours of American voice-overs, block out my doubtful thoughts, and hopefully review one of the best Naruto games to hit the market in a long time....
RASENGAN!

Presentation

If you are at all a fan of the fighting genre you will immediately see ties and similarities to other fighting titles. But this is not a bad thing at all. Naruto Shippuden: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 3 brings everything you love about fighters, adds in the experience of almost 10 titles behind it and with a brand new story arc, brings us closer to the action than ever before.

That said, if you haven’t played any of the Naruto games before, and are worried about being left in the dark, don’t be. This Naruto title does such a brilliant job at bringing you up to speed that by the end of it you will feel like you have been a Naruto fan your whole life.

The result of this is an enjoyable, and fulfilling fighting experience. You will spend hours ploughing through the story line, earning new characters, unlocking new modes and ‘living’ one of the most prevalent story arcs in Naruto history, the 'Garra Arc.'

Naruto, Sekura, Suske and all of the other 40+ characters look great! You can see the developers spent a lot of time getting them looking just like the anime. This combined with the most visually stunning cut scenes ever to be seen in a Naruto game, it is near to perfect… however, with the good comes the bad:

While the characters look great, the whole thing is brought down by some bland background, stiff in-game animation and some of the worst American dubs in Naruto history - Yes I realise I might take this slightly over board due to my patriotic Narutoism and yes the dubs are slightly saved by the inclusion of the original Japanese voices during the fight scenes - but my god... it is honestly like scraping nails down a rusty chalk board... its excruciatingly bad.

Gameplay

The action in Naruto Shippuden: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 3 is spread across five different modes; a story mode, one on one, tag team mode, online play and four player simultaneous battles.

These are all great fun and can be easily jumped into with not too much practice. The controls are simple; single button mashing for weak and strong attacks, and more complex combinations to pull off special moves or secret techniques. With any fighting game, it depends on you as to how deep you want go down the proverbial rabbit-hole, and believe me it’s a nice change for a Naruto game to have such depth.

I seem to be ending every section off with something bad, but here goes again: This game is amazing, but unfortunately when it comes to the game play the flaws are just as bad as my before mentioned chalk-board metaphor. One of the most frustrating things about this game is the lack of any choice when it comes to difficulty. After a while, it can get extremely frustrating repeating the same fights over and over and over again. I like a good fight, don’t get me wrong, but when the odds go from enjoyably challenging to frustratingly unfair, it puts a huge dent in a game that could have been so much better.

Verdict

With all its faults, Naruto Shippuden: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 3 remains one of best experiences out of any other Naruto game. Yes, the difficult issue and yes the American slang drama that eats away at our very souls can be a bit much. But all in all, practice makes perfect, all speakers have volume control and from my very critical standpoint; Naruto Shippuden: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 3 holds enough action to keep the most dedicated ninja busy and for that reason, and its potential to be one of the best fighting franchises ever, I have given it the rating I think it deserves.

Get it late June 2010 when it launches on Wii across South Africa.