Naruto: Rise of A Ninja

Ubisoft's first Naruto platformer follows the story of the first hundred episodes of the kids TV series. While the story can feel shoddy in places, you definitely feel as if you're in the universe of Ramen and Jutsu. It draws you in right from the start, and much of this comes from the free-roaming village at the centre of it all: the Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha.

Konoha itself is huge and filled with beautifully detailed Japanese buildings. The houses, shops, streets and waterways have clearly been designed with the mystical elements of ancient Japan that the world of Naruto draws upon. The village serves as a hub for the rest of the game. From here you pick up most of the mission and side quests, purchase weapons, upgrade your abilities and ask the helpful (or not so) villagers for hints and tips.

This turns about to be a fundamental feature in the game. Naruto starts as an unpopular and lonely boy who's just failed to graduate from the Ninja Academy for the third time. His dream is to become a Hokage so that he can gain the respect of the village, and does this by completing quests and helping the townsfolk. As he does this, more villagers grow to like him and they can then be asked for essential advice on a series of quests.

The quests vary in their importance and relevance to the overall story. The blue missions will basically take you through the story of the anime series, whereas the other side quests range from helping save a lost kitten to taking part in timed races.

Sound-wise, Naruto doesn't disappoint. The voiceover work is just like the dubbed TV series for Western audiences (while the voiceovers of the original Japanese cast are available to download from Xbox Live).

The fighting takes influences from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja by Namco Bandai. There are the addictive mini-games that vary in technique from one character to another.
 
All in all, the single-player will probably take you around 15 hours. Then there are the additional game modes. 'Fight Mode' sets the fighting gameplay from the single-player game as a stand alone mode. Within this you can have one and two player match-ups featuring the characters from the Naruto world and there's also a 'Tournament' option, which has online leaderboards. So there is a lot of game to play outside of the excellent single player mode.