Naruto: Ninja Council 3 Critic Reviews

It’s a slick little pick-up-and-play experience, though sadly, it is a short one. The varied Wi-Fi Party mode almost would've made up for NC3's brevity... if it only allowed game sharing.

Sure some of the mechanics are weird, and the graphics aren't as good as they could be, but when you get to be your favorite ninja, that's the biggest plus factor for you, and everything else falls secondary.

Gamers with an undeniable need for Naruto gaming action will be amused – if only on the first play-through – by the gameplay this sequel distributes. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a beat-‘em-up with something more substantial than license amusement, you may want to look elsewhere.

Naruto may be a simple and confusing game, but one thing it’s sure to do is make fans of the license happy.

The game is a definite step above the previous Ninja Council, but the series still has a long road ahead, as this one suffers from some odd button layout, wonky physics at times, and a few annoying fetch quests or “kill 30 enemies” challenges that just get in the way off good old fashioned ninja battling.

I really wish the missions were more meaningful, because the roots of a great 2D brawler are here – it just needs more time to mature.

A shallow fighting game with a lame single-player mode but an awesome multiplayer mode.

Naruto-holics are better off sticking with the multiplayer Battle Royale if they want to toss the ol' shuriken around.

Ultimately this is a game that only the hardcore are likely to enjoy. Even if it isn’t a successful design at heart, it’s a good-looking tribute to the characters they love, and that’s a step up from what anime-licensed games usually used to be.

This is a bare-bones platform fighting game and will probably only appeal to Naruto fans.

Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 didn´t improve anything and it has the same problems of the last games. It has a serious lack of the game modes, only story and multiplayer, with a repetitive action. Also we need to see the problems with the desperate control. A game only recommended for true Naruto´s fans.

Where before there was too little, here there is not enough worth getting involved with. The home console installments are usually worth your time, but Namco-Bandai has yet to make a handheld Naruto worth it.

Far too simple to satisfy as an anime fighter and too bitty to enjoy for any length of time.

There simply isn't enough in Naruto: Ninja Council, but only a select few who enjoy the multiplayer might be able to forgive this.

In short, Naruto: Ninja Council 3 shows little to no improvement over its predecessors, with equally brain-dead play and a genre switch that sets it in competition with far better games in its own series, to say nothing of other games on the system using the same characters.

The game really holds no value for anybody outside of a Naruto fan, and even then, this game is simply not worth the money and frustration required for it.

Longer levels, more involving gameplay, Game Sharing and more attention to the general presentation would have really sky-rocketed its appeal.

Greater attention to gameplay mechanics might have resulted in a broader appeal, but with an off-putting control setup, poor hit detection and repetitive objectives, gamers who've never heard of Naruto probably won't want to take the plunge.

Ninja Council 3 comes across as a game that was quickly slapped together just to get something Naruto-related on the DS.

Ninja Council 3 is a frustrating and bland affair that has little to recommend it besides the extensive character roster from a recognizable license. It's not technically broken in any way, but there is no reason to purchase a game like this when there are so many other options available that are more enjoyable.