I know I'm a few months early, but let's talk Halloween for a moment. Everyone knows when you go door to door, in a frantic begging crusade for strangers' candy, that you say "Trick or treat!" and then hold out your pillowcase (if you know how to do it right) for that impending sugary deposit into your "I really want tooth decay!" bank. Playing Naruto Ninja Council 3 is much like trick-or-treating, except instead of being on the receiving end of a handful of tasty treats, you find yourself in possession of a 700 page textbook on Chinese history. NC3 takes the fast paced, over-the-top antics of Naruto and slows it down in a clumsy, uninspired hybrid of fighting, platforming, fetching and pest extermination. No amount of visual and audio spice can save this game from the same fate as the textbook: a complete rejection from all but the most hardcore of the hardcore.

Just in case there are any of you who aren't acquainted with the series, Naruto is a spunky, hyperactive ninja-in-training who travels around some form of ancient Japan with a revolving door of allies, kicking evil's butt whenever necessary. If that's not enough for you then Google's waiting to give you a novel's worth of back story, or you could pick up a DVD or a Manga or even just turn on the TV, as he likes to pop on there in the evenings on the Cartoon Network. Or, you could just play a Naruto game and be completely confused - it's up to you!

Okay, back to what really matters: what is Ninja Council 3? What a wonderful question! NC3 puts you in the shoes (or sandals) of twenty-seven different characters from the anime as they tackle over sixty arena-based missions. Missions, ranked from D to S, are chosen from a bingo-style square; finish a mission grade set or create a bingo (connect one end to the other…wait, did I just explain bingo?! If you don't know what bingo is, well…) and you'll unlock new missions. Once you select a mission, you are given a requirement to meet to finish it, such as defeating a foe using a certain move, knocking them down to a certain life point or just kicking the snot out of them. These missions are decent enough, but they are generally over before you know it, maybe a few minutes tops - or, in the case of the 'land this move' missions, maybe fifteen seconds. This means that the majority of game time comes in the form of 'Kill A Whole Bunch Of These' and 'Collect A Whole Bunch Of Those' missions. I don't recall the Naruto series being about ninja exterminators or junk collectors, but someone in the development team seems to think it was.

Oh, and a purpose for all this action? Don't even bother to ask! For all I know, they all just were in need of a new exercise routine, as there is no story to speak of at all in this game. Now, while it's not like any other Naruto game has spun a very deep or rewarding story, they have at least provided purpose and context, something that NC3 doesn't care to indulge in. Without a story, there is really no aching desire to push through missions or earn new ranks, severely hampering the game's ability to hold your attention span past a mission or two.

This state of affairs only grows worse once inside a mission, as the game plays like a multi-level Moon Jump simulator with people to punch. Whichever character you choose to be - it doesn't matter, as they all play exactly the same outside of jutsus - can jump, jump high and jump even higher around levels that only seem to change background, searching for something or someone to pummel. The game says it allows you to jump off walls, like a ninja is normally seen to do, but the move is actually 'stick to a wall then fall forward.' Once you find someone to beat, you get to pound on the Y button to execute your one combo - over and over again. To add some sense of variety, you can knock enemies in the air (though don't think about juggling them, as that facility doesn't exist) with an 'Up Attack,' throw enemies two feet away from you with a throw or use a ranged weapon like Castlevania. Jutsus are activated using the touch screen, with each character able to have up to four. As not everyone has four of their own attacks, you can mix-and-match anyone's jutsus to create the perfect jutsu package, providing fans with a huge amount of fan service there alone!

You can just throw the fan service and secondary moves out the window though, as the entire game boils down to this: use your one combo until your chakra is high enough, unleash a jutsu, then repeat it until you win, switch off or die of boredom at some point along the way. This is made even worse when you need to kill a bunch of enemies that are the same type, as instead of actually asking you to engage each individually, the game only wants you to unleash a screen-clearing jutsu a few times. But even just hitting your combos isn't as easy as it sounds; when you use your Y attack, you don't move, and nor can you move and use it at the same time, though the enemies you attack move back with each hit, often putting them out of your attack range. Talking about attack range, don't even bother attacking an enemy on an incline, as your attacks will just go over their head.

Finally, the game asks you to have two thumbs to play properly, as it has mapped attack, run and jump to the Y, B and A buttons, respectively. This means that unless you have the aforementioned extra thumb, you can only hit any given two at one time. I found myself running and jumping, stopping, then jumping and attacking, stopping, then going back to the first scheme. This poor decision is very frustrating, not only because it slows down the game but because there is no reason it couldn't have been avoided.

With a game this lackluster, it's a shame to see such a solid presentation wasted on it. Though the character models have a little too much NC2 in them, they are still detailed and fluidly animated. Environments have crisp objects set around them - I especially enjoyed the Ichiraku Ramen Shop - though the backgrounds have received no love. Some even have random Naruto characters running around, which is a nice treat for fans. Jutsus are executed using a mix of in-game graphics and anime still panels, capturing their essences quite well. A full English dub is present, for better or worse, with each character having multiple lines that ring out loud and clear. Musically, the game slips a little compared to the graphics, but the bountiful track listing full of battle-ready tunes fits in perfectly with the game.

Mission mode can be finished in a matter of hours, and though you are given a rating based on your proficiency, there really is no reason to play through a second time, unless you are struggling with insomnia. If you can rope anyone else into purchasing this game (sorry, no single card multiplayer), up to four of you can play simultaneously in a variety of different modes - the game's only attempt at lasting appeal. But they all involve the same stunted gameplay, so do this at your own risk.

Though it appears on the surface to take a cue from Namco Bandai's slick and dynamic Ultimate Ninja series, Naruto: Ninja Council 3 plays like a ninja slug who can switch between roller skates and a pogo stick on the fly. Any sense of ambience that the presentation brings to the screen is immediately destroyed by the game's indifferent turn towards the source material it is supposed to be proudly displaying; when the most enticing facet of your game is a foil promo card then you know you have a problem. Do yourself a favor and just save your money for Naruto's RPG debut, Path of the Ninja, coming to DS this fall.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).