GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

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Unique take on multi-person combat
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Surprisingly slick graphics
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Naruto series on Wii

Cons

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Hardly any innovation
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Wiimote moves are silly
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Could be a deeper fighter

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Beyond the quick buck that's to be made from its obsessive fans, there's really no reason for Naruto to exist on Wii at all. Its "new" control scheme is better served by the old-fashioned Classic controller than by remote and nunchuk, which achieve little beyond making you look like an idiot while playing.

Aside from the bells and whistles common to all Naruto fighters - the special abilities, charge attacks, etc. - it really is just a standard joypad game in motion-sensitive disguise. In place of button taps it asks for brisk directional swipes of the remote, which as far as gestures go feel less like throwing punches than slapping someone passionately about the face with a frozen salmon. Then there are the gestural special moves, triggered with a button press and built up with waggle and window-washing motions. Do they actually add anything? Do they resolve some longstanding genre annoyance? Or are they just the latest wafer-thin excuse to dip into people's wallets?