We love that wee pesky scamp Naruto here at TVG. In fact, it pains us that the TV series hasn't taken off here in Britain to quite the same extent that it has in America and of course Japan. Imagine our joy, then, to discover last year that Ubisoft Montreal was developing the first Naruto game outside of a Japanese game studio. In the past we were lucky if we saw a Naruto game released in Europe a year after it was in Japan, if at all. That's not the case for Rise of a Ninja however, as Ubisoft Montreal's game is only being shipped to America and Europe (no doubt part of some confusing licensing mumbo-jumbo).

However, we can say quite confidently that Japanese Xbox 360 owners (all 2 of them) will be irate that a game that is as faithful to Naruto's source material as Rise of a Ninja is, won't be winging its way to Japanese shores. Ubisoft's first Naruto offering follows the story arcs of the first 80-odd episodes of the anime series and while this grounding is loose in areas, you definitely feel as if you're in the universe of Ramen, Jutsu and Hokages. It's immersive from the very start and much of this effect comes from the free-roaming village at the centre of it all, the Hidden Leaf Village (a.k.a. Konoha).

The village itself is quite large and it's filled with beautifully stylised Japanese buildings. The houses, shops, paved streets and idyllic waterways have clearly been designed with an eye for detail, recreating the mystical elements of ancient Japan that the world of Naruto draws upon. The village serves as a hub for the rest of the game. From here you pick up most of the mission and side quests, purchase weapons and scrolls, upgrade your abilities and ask helpful (or in some cases not so helpful) villagers for advice.

This actually makes up a nifty little feature in the gameplay. Naruto starts as an incredibly unpopular and lonely little dude who's just failed to graduate from the Ninja Academy for the third year in a row. Naruto's dream is to become a Hokage so that he can gain the respect of the villagers, and he does this by completing quests successfully and helping citizens wherever possible. As he does this, more villagers grow to like the kid (denoted by a friendly face above their heads) and they can then be asked for essential advice on a series of quests.

These quests vary in their importance and relevance to the overall story. The blue mission scrolls will basically take you through the story of the anime series, whereas the other side quests differ in their importance from opening the weapons shop (by finding some coins), to taking part in timed races. The most significant depth in the gameplay can be found in the mission scrolls though, and it's here that Rise of a Ninja really shines.

These mission scrolls most commonly send you in quests outside of the main village. The substance in these quests comes in the form of fiendish platform sections cut up between fights with the evildoers. Both the platforming and fighting elements of the game are so well done that each one could make up a single videogame in its own right.

The fighting, for example, takes influences from the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games by Namco Bandai. There are the addictive Jutsu mini-games that vary widely in technique and style from one character to another. Basically, you'd have to see the Jutsu moves to believe them. Naruto has his 'Sexy Jutsu' where a beautiful woman disorientates enemies, as well as his 'Clone Jutsu' which is basically an interactive cut-scene which can inflict severe punishment on adversaries. But, as we mentioned, each character has their own unique Jutsus to master and they really are quite varied.

Other nice little references to the Ultimate Ninja games include the huge aerial combos and the simplicity at the heart of these moves is also quite familiar. Other than when you're using Jutsus, most combos are instigated by two buttons (X and Y) or, at a stretch, three (adding in A for aerial moves). Having said this, you never feel like your mindlessly tapping away randomly at the joypad because, in Rise of a Ninja, it's a case of less is more. For example, some of the heavier combos will only work properly in certain positions and situations. The aerial combos, for example, depend on variables such as whether the enemy is in the air as well, their precise distance from you - that sort of thing.

Beyond that, Ubisoft Montreal has added complexities to the fighting mechanics and replaced the flat 2D arenas in Ultimate Ninja with traditional fighter game style rings. In short, given that we thought the Ultimate Ninja games were a simplistic, if endearing, fighting game and Rise of a Ninja beats them at their own game (literally), Ubisoft Montreal could've provided nothing more than the fighting gameplay in Rise of a Ninja (which they do for one of their secondary modes) and it still would've scored highly.

Instead, they've also provided some very well balanced platform gameplay that's all too often lacking from the genre in modern times. The platformers of yesteryear had to rely on stepping up the difficulty levels in varied and intelligent ways, while also triggering the gamer's imagination to immerse them in the gameworld. Modern platform games (of which there are considerably less than there used to be) tend to rely on graphics, gimmicks and a wholly undiscerning 6 year-old demographic to sell copies.

Not only does Rise of a Ninja have all the visual necessities (and then some, but more on that later), but the learning curve is set perfectly, the gameplay requires diligence while the fiendish sections are intelligently constructed to fool the gamer. One particular section, the Forest of Death, was like a labyrinth to traverse. You're continually getting spiked on perfectly placed booby traps and there was the unmistakable feeling of 'Now, I'm sure I've seen that tree before.' It was a master class in level design that harkens back to classics of the genre.

As if those two main gameplay features weren't enough, you'll also be kept interested by a couple of other mini-games that pop-up from one time to another. There's a mini-game that has Naruto hopping between forest canopies like a frog and another race mode which uses his sprint ability (once unlocked) to great effect. Speaking of which, the rate at which you unlock various elements of the game is also finely balanced. Whether it's a new area of map (usually bought in just as you were bored of the last), a Jutsu/combo upgrade (as soon as you'd mastered the last one), or a new ability such as sprinting or double jumping to unlock new areas of the village, the upgrading is perfectly paced with the story to make sure that your interest doesn't waver. Ubisoft Montreal has captured the style of a Japanese game nicely as well. Splicing up footage of the anime series with the gameplay is a nice touch and the trademark Western voice-overs are also well placed. But what really makes it feel Japanese is the difficulty, which will make you red in the face with annoyance when you can't complete an area/beat a boss (which happens a lot), as much as it makes you beam with glee once you've gotten past a particularly taxing section.

All in all, the single-player will probably take towards 15 hours to complete for the average gamer, while the hardcore player should be closer to 10. That's a fairly average amount of content but, when you add in the additional game modes the longevity begins to fill out a bit. 'Fight Mode' sets the fighting gameplay from the single-player game as a stand alone mode. Within this you can have one and two player match-ups featuring the characters from the Naruto world and there's also a 'Tournament' option. Online play is much the same affair as 'Fight Mode', concentrating on the fighting from the single-player game. There are the usual options - quick and custom matches, leaderboards etc. - as well as an interesting Forest of Death Exam. It's a ranked mode that's set as a Chunin exam; two consecutive victories in the Forest of Death arena grants players access to the tower, and three victories here makes you King of the Tower. It's certainly nice to see a nice bit of colour applied to the usual hardcore ranked match event structure on Xbox Live.

The cel-shaded graphics are a joy to behold. If done well in a game, cel-shaded visuals tend to be quite invigorating simply because they're a break from the norm. In Naruto: Rise of a Ninja's case, we couldn't think of a better game to use them for given the subject matter's uniquely stylistic anime/manga heritage. As we've already mentioned, the village of Konoha is beautifully designed but, in a slightly contradictory manner, the unique visuals also make the characters look more real. It's yet another factor that draws you into the gameworld and lets your imagination take flight.

Finally, the sound doesn't disappoint. The voice-over work is just like the dubbed TV series for Western audiences (while the voice-overs of the original Japanese cast will be available to download from Xbox Live after release). On the other hand the background music, while being slightly like elevator music when you're perusing Konoha, certainly does exactly what it's supposed to and adds to the atmosphere of the game when it's called upon to do so.