ITADAKIMASU!

If you are reading this then I'm sure you must already be fond of Naruto. If you are then this game is definitely for you!

Pros:

The Graphics are phenomenal. The best cell-shaded graphics I have ever seen, no questions asked. I wish I could elaborate more, but you just have to see them for yourself.

Perfect blend of the RPG and Fighter genres. The game has RPG aspects such as learning new jutsus, new fighting techniques, gaining more chakra, more health, and doing quests. When you come in contact with an enemy you engage in fighting game-style combat. The combat is nothing short of FUN. It's not like most RPGs where you become annoyed of the random battles. The battles in this game are actually fun, and can be ended rather quickly with a perfectly executed shadow clone jutsu.

The jutsu system is unique and awesome. You perform movements on the joy sticks to perform hand signs to execute jutsus. You must also hold your jutsus to increase their damage. It makes for strategic executions of jutsus and disables you from simply executing jutsu after jutsu and effortlessly destroying your opponent. These jutsus are also not solely for combat use. They are used to help you progress and overcome obstacles in the Naruto world.

The voices in this game are done by the original American voice actors. For those of you who watch the show on Cartoon Network, you'll love it. But for anime junkies like myself who can't wait for the American releases and get all their anime from overseas, the American voices are just as annoying as they are on the show! Good news though! You can download the Japanese voices from the Xbox Live Marketplace for free!

Another great thing about this game is that it is semi-open ended. You can't run around and be a rogue ninja and attack towns people, but you are free to run (or should I say leap from building to building) about the town, buying ramen and doing side quests such as playing hide and seek with Konohamaru.

And last but not least, is the multiplayer gameplay! You can pick from a very limited amount of your favorite characters and fight against your friends on the same screen or from your houses on Xbox Live. There is also a tournament system for Xbox Live as well as Ranked matches or matches just for fun.

Cons:

There are only a couple of cons to this game.

The first is the lack of playable characters in the multiplayer portion of the game. You can be Naruto, Sasuke, Orochimaru, Neji, Lee, that girl with the ice mirrors, that guy with the girl with the ice mirrors, Sakura, Garaa, and I think that's it. The amount of characters is pretty pathetic. Not to mention they included two minor characters, whose names I don't even know instead of including Inoue or Shino or some other major minor character. You can, however download several characters off of Xbox Live Marketplace. They run at about 500 Microsoft Points a pack, two in each pack. The packs include the 4th Hokage, Jiraiya, Chogi, and I forget the other. But seriously, who wants to pay $12.50 for new characters? Not me.

The second downside is that they kind of botched the story. All the awesome parts from Naruto that formerly sent chills down my spine just don't seem to have that effect when they happen in here. They didn't mess up the story, but if you watch the anime you will see what I mean. They just seem to make parts that were once awesome, seem really stupid. The story, however, begins at the beginning of the anime and ends after the Chunnin exams and the fight with Garaa.