The game actually does a brilliant job of keeping the fights fresh from start to finish, introducing 'rage mode' to your arsenal late in the story. As Naruto gives and takes damage, you will see his icon in your upper left-hand corner begin to glow red, from bottom to top. When it is finally flashing red, pulling both the left and right triggers will enter 'rage mode', where Naruto does a great deal more damage to his enemy while taking none. The mode works for a limited time, however, leaving an escape for your enemy; so using it at the right time is vital to its success. If this is not enough, the game also allows Naruto the opportunity to purchase scrolls to enhance his skills. Up to four scrolls can be equipped at a time, leaving some room for strategy in how you beef up your ramen-loving ninja. Speaking of ramen, it is more than just a cheap dorm room meal in Naruto's world. Ramen is also Naruto's source of health, although its use is a little too limited. Gamers will want to keep a close eye on their health meter before running headlong into the world outside of Leaf Village. Ramen is only accessible to Naruto outside of battle, meaning if you start a battle with only a tiny bit of health left, you are likely to need one of your 'memoclips'. Keeping Naruto healthy when exploring the forest is a wise move, as once a baddie appears it is fight time, with no opportunity to escape.
If the fighting has a fault, it is the annoying knack the game has for forcing you to beat the same enemy twice. Many of the game's toughest opponents will lose to you, show a cut scene, then fire the fight back up with both of you back at full strength. Thankfully, the cut-scene is the restart point in the event of a death, but it still feels as though they drag out a few of the fights needlessly. In the end, it is forgivable; if you have memoclips, your opponent probably should too. With no monsters to speak of, it would have been nice to see a little more variety in the random battles Naruto gets himself into also. You can only fight a bandit so many times before you long for someone else to kick. The game does an excellent job of providing gamers a decently varied list of side quests to complete to increase your popularity throughout Leaf Village. You begin the game with every single person in your village angry with you, and a popularity rating of 0%. As you complete various side quests, those you helped will have their overhead icon change from the crabby purple frown to a bright yellow smiley face. Friendly villagers are always willing to assist you in locating your next mission or items you need to complete your current quest. This becomes relatively important early in the game, when you are not yet acquainted with the map.
The side quest mini-games are revealed slowly, with ramen delivery being the first available. Delivery minigames are on a timer so that Naruto has a set timeframe to get from one delivery to the next. If the timer runs down to zero, the minigame is over and you will have to go back to the ramen stand to start over. Complete the mission and you can keep all the cash you earn at each delivery and each of your ramen recipients is now a happy villager. The game eventually unlocks other minigames, like hide and seek and ninja races. The pause menu smartly keeps close track of exactly how many of each additional quest you have done, allowing you to track exactly how many ramen deliveries or hide and seek minigames you have left to do. After they have all been unveiled the additional quests can get repetitive, but there is a decent amount of variety; allowing you to jump to one of the other options if you get tired of doing the same tasks too often.
While the game is open-ended to a point, forcing you to talk to someone in order to move the story forward, there is some rather frustrating running in circles if you are not careful with how you upgrade your skills. With each successful minigame or side quest you earn training points to purchase combos or upgrade jutsu levels. If you are not careful, it is possible to stick yourself in a corner where you practically need your wall-running jutsu to be at level three to complete a side quest, but not have enough training points to purchase it. When you are finally done plowing through the story mode and appeasing all the Leaf Village residents, you still have the game's fight mode to compete in; both over Xbox Live and offline. Achievement whores beware; this is not your typical easy-to-attain Ubisoft achievement fest. Beating the story mode, even with completing a decent amount of side quests, will only net you about 350 of the available one thousand points. Those who want to get all the points of the game will have to become well versed in the game's deceptively complex fighting system and take their skills to the ranked Forrest Of Death tournament.
The tournament is overwhelming at first, even after beating the game. Before you jump online, you must choose a character to play as; leaving no chance to switch to a fighter more suited to your opponent once you see them. Finding your opponent's strong and weak points is essential to victory in the tournament; as it is single elimination, several rounds worth of battle to be done. While the balance of fighters seems skewed at first, gamers with a good handle on the battle system will find it fair. The game is a visual treat, beautifully rendering the anime series' 2D world in lush, vibrant 3D. From the colorful characters to the towering buildings in Leaf Village, the game never lets you down with its colorful, lively art style. It is also a joy to listen to, since the voice acting is well done and very often laugh-out-loud funny. The background music is lively and full of Japanese flair, enhancing the far-east feel of the game. Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja is one of the surprise gems of 2007. Its rich gameplay and compelling story make Naruto an absolute blast to play. In the end, it hints strongly at a sequel, leaving you salivating for more. That is all you can really ask of a game.
