I've been a fan of fighting games for decades, and I've heard a lot about Naruto, so I've been anxious to try it out for myself.

In essence, Naruto: Ninja Destiny is a 3D fighting game like Tekken or Virtua Fighter, a series of one-on-one matches. That said, due to the nature of the DS graphics, the characters and scenery are all 2D with the option to sidestep. Each of the 7 characters has a slightly different fighting style, but all use the same controls, so unlike the Street Fighter series, there's no button combination to pull off cool moves with the exception of a jump attack.

The most unique gameplay element is the Substitution Jutsu, which teleports your character to the opponent's opposite side, thus turning the tables on your attacker. Since both characters can do this fairly regularly, the fights can be fast, furious, and confusing, but this provides the most exciting part of the game and gives it a unique and exciting feel.

The game offers 3 modes: Story Mode, Battle Mode, and Wireless Battle Mode. In Story Mode, a series of slideshow cutscenes connects fights where different fighters pair off to duel, and you play one of them each time. This would be interesting if you got a choice of whom to fight as and affect the outcome of the story, but the story is strictly linear and will only appeal (and make sense) to fans of the Naruto universe. Everyone else: the "Start" button skips past it.

In Battle Mode, you choose one character and fight each of the other opponents with that character, and Wireless [Multicard] Battle Mode allows for single battles with a friend.

Because of the limited number of available moves, the characters, and thus the fights, are easy to master. My 12-year-old has never played a fighting game in her life. She sat down tonight with it and played through the entire story mode in a few hours without using the power-ups. She handed the DS to me and said, "Too easy." After that, I played and got to the point that I could usually win fights with my eyes closed, going by sound alone and repeating the button combination: LBBBYY with a short pause after while the opponent starts to get up. That said, each character's moves, especially the Special Jutsu, look cool at first, but once you've seen each character's Special Jutsu a few times, the wow factor goes away.

Parents with small children will note that this is a hand-to-hand combat game and is rated T for cartoon violence. By cartoon violence, they mean martial arts, not slapstick.

Fans of the Naruto Shippuden anime or Shonen Jump manga magazine will enjoy this game, but for fans of fighting games, you'll be better off with a different franchise. It's fun and worth a rental, but once you've played a few hours, it'll go to the bottom of your pile of games, maybe to be played once in a while for variety.