Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 is nothing but pure, anime-inspired fighting fun. This follow-up title not only covers more of the Naruto storyline in the game's single player mode, but it also offers a few more characters and even an enhanced multiplayer mode that lends itself well to the GameCube.
Taking advantage of the system's four player capabilities, gamers can now have matches that are not only one-on-one, but also two-on-two, two-on-one, three-on-one or even an Every Ninja for Himself free for all. What amazed me most about Clash of Ninja 2 was how well the game handled the four player matches. Sure there have been other melee style games, Super Smash Bros and Shrek Super Slam, just to name a couple. But the Smash Bros games weren't in a 3D arena like this one, and Super Slam was nowhere near as solid as this title. Put simply, the game just doesn't seem to have any problems with everyone doing flashy, anime-style moves at the same time.
These three or four fighter matches also show up rather frequently in the game's single player story mode. What impressed me most about these matches was the fact that, just because I got knocked out of a match, the fighting still continued until either the time ran out or one of the teams lost all of their members. This is a lot better, at least in my mind, than forcing you to lose just because the character you were controlling didn't survive the fight. It made the events seem much more like a team effort that way.
Besides these two modes, Clash of Ninja 2 also features old standards like Survival, Training and Time Attack Modes. Each of these are pretty self explanatory. Survival sees how many enemies you can plow through in one health bar, while Training is a great way to get used to the different characters' various attacks, while Time Attack sees how quickly you can defeat 10 opponents.
