When most people think about a Naruto game, they think of a quick mock up of characters put together to make a fighting game.

Naruto titles have been fail­ing at their at­tempts of being a role playing game-you play as Naruto, the main character, and run around the Leaf Village doing missions for people that would usually result in a fight.

This is where Naruto Ninja Storm 2 differs. Yes, it is a fighting game. Yes, you do missions around the village that usually turn into a fight. However, there is one major difference: it has both game play styles in one game, and they didn’t go for “cheap” character develop­ment, or fighting move interactive cut scenes.

The story of the Naruto Ship­puden series is told beautifully in this must-have game for Naruto fans. It starts off with Naruto coming back to Leaf Village after training with Jaraiya for two years, and ends after the fight between Naruto and Pain.

The game takes a different ap­proach to telling this story, by breaking it up between two major characters: Naruto and Sasuke.

As you get further into the game, you start unlocking different ver­sions of the characters as they grow in the story. This makes for an interesting “Multiplay­er” gaming experience. Naruto Ninja Storm 2 has three different game modes: Adven­ture Game, Free Battle, and Online Battle.

These different modes add to the over­all gaming experience, whether you like to play Adventure games or just like to log on and fight people playing as your favor­ite characters. Naruto Ninja Storm 3 truly delivers gaming variety to its fans.

During the Adventure game you can acti­vate interac­tive cut scenes that allow you to accomplish moves that are visually stun­ning, and that usually would not be possi­ble on a basic fighting game.

These scenes rely primarily on your ability to react quickly to button commands that are shown on the screen, and the better your timing, the more stars you accu­mulate. If you accumulate enough stars, you win a cut scene that has to do with two characters fighting at that time.

Overall, the game has a fantastic storyline that is beautifully told. Its three game modes are all very fun and unique. Visually, this game takes the Naruto series to the next level, making you feel as if you are in the story of Naruto Shippuden. The fact that you get to play as both Naruto and Sasuke is another cut above the rest.

Do yourself a solid and buy this game for which ever console you own, and I promise if you are a Na­ruto fan, it will not disappoint you. Playing this game on one of the new game systems like PS3 or Xbox 360, however, definitely gives you some­thing more than if you were to play it on NDS or PSP.

The storyline itself is more than a reason to get it on a por­table system, and will make for a fantastic buy.