I have some mixed feelings when it comes to Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. I've believe that the Ultimate Ninja line has been the best of the Naruto fighters for a long time, and while I feel that Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is still better than most other Naruto fighters, there are some areas where it falls short in the Ultimate Ninja line.

One place it isn't hurting is in presentation. Both the visuals and audio of Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 are high quality. After all, the characters look just like their anime counterparts and the voices sound just right. I am not sure if all of the voice actors have actually reprised their roles, but that is typically the case with Naruto games, but if they weren't, then the stand-in actors did a great job of sounding just like characters do in the show.

Of course, if it's Naruto, then it isn't just the characters that have to look right. All of the flashy chakra and jutsu effects have to match as well, and like the past Ultimate Ninja games, all of the pizzazz and special effects come through loud and clear.

Unfortunately, there are some areas in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3's gameplay where things break down a bit. As a fighter, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 seems to simplify the controls a bit from previous games and makes it even easier to deal out amazing looking attacks. On the one hand, you could argue that this makes sense because none of the fighters are learning anymore. They all have their techniques and they all execute them flawlessly, so why make it hard to pull off things like Naruto's shadow clone attack or his rasengan. On the other hand though, it feels like there is no real skill needed to plow your way through the game's story. Granted, when you go online or play against a skilled friend, then simple button-mashing won't get you far, but it still feels like there is more style than skill in Ultimate Ninja Storm 3's fighting system.

As for the game's story, once again, I feel a bit torn. Unlike most anime-based fighters, including past Ninja Storm games), Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 goes into great detail in covering the plot between fights. There are lengthy cutscenes that are CG recreations of what you see in the anime or manga, and when there is a fight, the cutscene ends and you take on the challenge that the discussions led up to. I like this a lot and I feel it is way better than the skimming of a story that you would find in other similar games. In those, if you hadn't strictly followed the anime, then you would have no idea what was going on. Here, while you still need to know what the story was in the show or manga, the player isn't as reliant on outside information. I say they still need to know what happened in the show because the game starts off just after the Leaf Village's defense against Pain and the rest of the Akatsuki and Naruto being declared the hero of the Leaf. Besides a lengthy bit of text that scrolls across your screen while the game installs, there isn't any back-story presented to the player.

So, why do I say I have mixed feelings about this? Well, I like the fact that the game goes deep into the show's story, but the trade-off is that there is a long time between fights and, quite frankly, a lot of those fights feel like they go by way too fast before you are done and watching another cutscene. It feels like there is a balance to be had between the two, but in the case of this game, it leans too far on the story side.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 introduces a new system to the Ultimate Ninja series that can help a player adjust the difficulty a bit in the middle of the story. This new mechanic is called Ultimate Decision. At points throughout the game's story, the player is faced with two paths in its limited open-world environment. Simply put, one path is more difficult than the other and the results of the more difficult path is a chance to earn more XP to level up your character's gear. An early example of this is controlling Sasuke as he attempts to storm the Five Kage Summit. One option lets you go straight to Danzo, while the other sends the player through more rooms and more battles. The end result is the same, you get to Danzo and you face off against the Sixth Hokage so there are no lasting effects except for the extra experience gained in the extra fights.

Outside of these instances, the game's difficulty is fairly straightforward. You enter a fight, you attack with all your abilities and you either beat the enemy or you don't. I found that most of the fights that matter (i.e. against Danzo and not against the other collections of enemies) were not all that hard to beat. Of course, this just helps exacerbate the feeling of fights that are over all too quickly just to be followed by cutscenes that are all too long.

While Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 seems to have simplified its fighting mechanics, what it has done is successfully conveyed the sheer amount of power the fighters have. Like I said before, it is ridiculously easy to pull off the various moves each character has in his or her arsenal. The only real exceptions come in some of the bigger and more powerful moves that they can do. Even then though, it's the prerequisites of being full of chakra and/or being in Awakened mode that makes activating some of the flashier moves harder to achieve. What I was really impressed with was how well the game conveyed some of the show's larger fights, especially when facing off against one of the tailed beasts. In fact, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 starts off with such a fight and the epicness of facing off against Nine-Tails is an impressive way to get the game going. Put simply, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 doesn't shy away from the larger scale fights that other Naruto games only pulled off by the barest of definitions.

For fighting game fans in general, I don't see a lot of appeal in Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. The only people I see truly enjoying this game are those that enjoy the Naruto story and don't mind the quick fights. It at least gets you to the next story point quickly and there isn't a lot of frustration to be had as you work your way through the Fourth Ninja War.