Naruto, the popular anime ninja series, returns in its third Ultimate Ninja game for the PS2. Forty-one characters, twenty locales, a few modes of play, and plenty of fan service await, but all of that won't likely add up to much unless you're familiar with the Naruto universe.

Ultimate Ninja You Say, Eh?

Let me begin this review by saying I have never seen or read anything about Naruto before. I have played just a few minutes of the Xbox 360 Naruto game that came out a few months ago, but that's it. Much like the series of Dragonball games that came out for the PS2, I felt like Ultimate Ninja 3 was really catering to fans of the series; and, there really isn't anything wrong with that, it's just that people like me who aren't familiar with the series can't appreciate it as much.

That said, there is a lot of content packed into this game that fans and non-fans should find enjoyable, at least for a little while. Personally, I don't see myself playing this game much longer after this review, but if I were interested enough, there would be a lot to play for. With forty-one characters, twenty locales, dozens of unlockables, and multiple modes of play, there is quite a bit of replay value packed right in. I've thus far spent most of my time in the Ultimate Contest mode, which unfolds a tale about the town of Hidden Leaf Village and how each of the fighters wants to win this tournament of crystals, if you will, and rule the town in their own unique way. The idea behind this mode is to fight other characters and acquire their crystal by beating them. Eventually you will step through the qualifiers, semi-finals, and then finally enter the final stage whereby you face another foe who has also gained many crystals.

In between fights in this mode, you are free to roam around the village and engage in some brief, rather unsatisfying conversations with a few NPCs. A radar-like guide helps you locate an available fight, kind of like finding a race in any of the recent Need For Speed games. I never found a great deal of fun to be had in just roaming around in this game however, so I was pretty quick to go from fight to fight. Outside of this mode, you can also engage in the Hero's History mode which allows you to partake in four of what appear to be some of the series' biggest story arcs. As someone completely unfamiliar with the series, this didn't do much for me, but I can imagine for big fans of the series, this would be interesting. Lastly, and of least interest was the Break Room, which features three mini-games that I didn't find very compelling, either.

Fortunately, the fight mechanics in Naruto Ultimate Ninja 3 didn't take me too very long to get accustomed to. Like many other fighters, a button combo that works for one character will work for them all, and so you can learn fairly quickly. The fighting is flashy and fast paced, but not really visceral enough for my tastes; the cel shaded look is a good one, but I don't particularly like it for fighters, although admittedly it's the best look for this franchise. The shining feature in the audio department would have to be the voice acting, from what I have read, it's spot on with the TV show and that definitely shows some fine dedication by the Namco Bandai and CyberConnect2.