Naruto: Ninja Destiny review

If you're a Naruto fan who's been enjoying the Clash of Ninja series for the past few years, we have good news for you. Now, you can take that goofy 3D fighting with you wherever you go. Naruto: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS lets you go one-on-one with 16 familiar characters taken from the Naruto comics and TV show, and it delivers the sort of cartoon style characters and smoothly animated Jutsu attacks that you want from a handheld Naruto game.

Although the 3D backgrounds look plain compared to what we've seen in the console Clash of Ninja games, the toon-shaded characters are still very large and highly expressive. Attacks flow smoothly from one to the next, and, if you pay attention, you'll notice clothing flapping and dust kicking up as you move. The fighting system gives you multiple opportunities during each fight to unleash Jutsu-charged finishing blows, which often result in ground cracking explosions and sweet camera moves.

Speaking of the fighting engine, here's how it works: Combatants trade attacks on a two-dimensional plane - fairly typical, right? However, you can always tap up or down at any time to take a few steps sideways. The fighting itself is full of variety. Two buttons let you attack high or low, a jump button lets you initiate aerial assaults, and a Jutsu button lets you unleash your character's finishing move if your Jutsu meter is full. The shoulder buttons enable you to block or trade half of your Jutsu meter for a quick teleport move that'll put you right behind your opponent.