Imagine if could take the lovable little scamp Naruto and all his ninja friends with you everywhere you go…and use them to whoop the tar out of any challengers that come along. Naruto is finally heading to the PSP and with him he's bringing a pretty solid fighting game, though be prepared for some rather simple combat that is surprisingly pretty difficult. And if you want any of those upper echelon ninja from the series, be prepared to work for them.

THE STORY SO FAR
There is no story mode – nadda, zip, zilch, zero! If you've read the manga or seen the anime, when you see yourself fighting against certain pairs of characters, you can pretty much assume what the story is there or know what associations are there. For example, if you're playing the scenario that looks at the destruction of the Leaf Village and you see Gaara there, you can pretty much bet he's going to be your final boss. So while you can make your own story out of the battles, you'll have to use just your imagination, because the game provides you nothing. It isn't really a problem, because when all most Naruto games do is recycle the same events, you aren't really missing out on much.

SINGLEPLAYER: GAMEPLAY
Though there is no singleplayer story mode, singleplayer is still the bulk of the gameplay. Much like the traditional fighter where you battle a series of fighters in succession up a ladder while the fights get harder and harder, so goes Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes, but with different opponents sanctioned for specific difficulty levels. The higher the difficulty level you complete, the cooler characters you unlock, and the more scrolls you unlock for another mode.

You'll start with a handful of characters, ultimately being able to use a total of 20 if you can unlock them all. However, you aren't just playing with one each match, as you'll be making a team of three ninja. You can pick from some premade teams, which are all based off the actual teams from the series. Though you can pick premade ones, you can also create your own dream teams, which, if you combine properly based on themes, can create special team moves. For example, though they aren't usually a team, you can put Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara together to create a team with a bonus attached to it since all the kids in that group are loners.

Each character and team comes with bonus moves that you can use before combat, which can do everything from reviving someone's chakra to its full amount, reducing someone's attack or defensive power, to depleting their health by given amounts. Though you can beat the fights without using them, knowing how to properly manage their usages and when to use them against what opponents can make victory even surer.

The basics of the simple controls are the X-button handling jumps, double jumps, and jumps into and out of different environmental levels; the square button throwing your weapons; the triangle button unlocking special techniques, and the circle button your all-purpose attack button. Combat is basically hitting the circle button over and over, but knowing when to do so and when to attempt a special technique against a constantly defending enemy proves the ultimate challenge. Besides the defending, the computer AI also does perhaps too good a job at substitution jutsus, often leaving you vulnerable and them getting attacks off on you. Also unfair comes the fact that it seems all your opponents have advantages right from the word go, including stronger attacks and better defense. If you like fighting uphill battles, good for you, but we tend to like things being a bit fairer.

Though the combat is simple, there is still some depth hidden around, such as the three level planes on each stage (a forward, middle, and back), chakra and health powerups you can find by destroying objects, more powerful projectiles you can throw, extra hits you can use to follow up an attack, and more. When you add in all these extras and give them to two players who know what they are doing, fights can be a dazzling spectacle and ballet of vicious fighting and defensive maneuvers, just like in the actual series.

Besides this Heroes Mode which we've been describing, by earning scrolls here you can open up Promotion Test mode, which gives you specific challenges you'll need to complete to fully beat the game and unlock everything. You've also got a Vs CPU mode where you can play specific one-time battles against opponents that you've determined. You can also play the game with other players who own a PSP by the local Wi-Fi Ad Hoc ability. By using characters, they also earn experience in a manner of speaking, which you can then use to powerup your characters so they are more powerful for certain modes in the game. So, if you are a Gaara fan, use him as much as you can, and then use his experience points to make him more powerful.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are a bit jaggy when viewing the action up close, but the PSP still pulls off the 3D nature of them rather well, and the cutscene inspired jutsus are especially pleasing to look at. The game isn't amazing looking by any stretch of the imagination, but there is still enough panache to thrill on occasion, featuring plenty of flashing smoke, dazzling sparks of lightning, and environments that feature a nice bit of depth and design.

SOUND
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes doesn't raise the bar when it comes to audio, but it's not terrible. You've got what sounds like, for the most part, all the English voice actors performing their characters from the anime, so there is a bit of comfort and familiarity of hearing an old voice. As for the music, it is pretty sparse, but at least the sound effects of characters throwing kunai and characters exchanging blows sound pretty good.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes is a very average game, but it probably won't attract many new players who aren't familiar with the Naruto brand. If you're a Naruto fan already, however, and you own a PSP, the game is a fine one to own and share with your fellow Naruto loving, PSP owning friends.

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