Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Ultimate Nina Storm 2 is definitely an improvement for the series, faithfully utilizing its source material to create a fun, striking game. The online multiplayer is still a work in progress for the series, and while not all revisions are for the better, there's plenty of content stashed into the package to make it a worthwhile pick up.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja: Storm 2 is one of the more gorgeous games I've seen in a long time. They've really captured the feeling of the cartoons, and playing the Adventure Mode -- at least in the less tedious portions -- feels like you're playing inside an episode of the anime. The fighting system is surprisingly rich; I just wish they'd unlocked the full character roster from the start. No one wants to buy a fighting game, invite their friends over, and then realize they need to play hours of the game just to get their favorite characters.

Unfortunately, those great moments are separated by a whole lot of forgettable traveling back and forth through a world that looks gorgeous but that you can't interact with in any interesting ways, and although the fighting system works well enough in the context of the story, it doesn't have the depth necessary to stand on its own for very long. But the good moments are good enough to make up for the game's shortcomings, and you'll remember the intensity of those epic battles long after the tedium of what's in between has faded from memory.