Despite leading the world in the creation of cutting edge technology, the national curriculum of Japan boasts a lot more than producing the finest mathematicians and scientists the world has to offer. The schools of the tiny far eastern island also appear to encourage extensive education into martial arts. Not only does this cause a rise in the entertainment involved in playground scuffles, but it also leads us to believe that the average Japanese youth will undertake several ass-kicking quests throughout their school life.

This is a stereotype that is upheld by Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles, the latest combo-hitting, back flipping, surrealist beat 'em up from Namco Bandai. You play Naruto, a blonde haired American (not all stereotypes are adhered to in this title) training with the rest of the Genin to become a fully-fledged Chuck Norris-style badass. However, despite being young, this cocky (and eventually rather irritating) teenager is called upon to fulfill a number of missions that the Hokage (a Mr Miyagi style wise leader) and his men are struggling to find the time for in between getting drunk and fooling young Americans into decorating their house. So, it's up to you to guide Naruto around this 3D environment, crippling various bad guys along the way. In a way, Namco and Bandai have combined two traditional gaming styles, because while you have to navigate your way around various Japanese landscapes, there's a limited arena during combat - and running away is not only for girls, but also not an option here!

The first taste you get of the game is the opening scene, and the audio designers for this title have undisputedly hit the nail on the head. The music is a mixture of soft panpipes for cut scenes, with a little speed and base added to achieve the audio that is synonymous with the Manga genre. Of course, real Manga fans may recognize Naruto Uzumaki, who has been a long running character for several seasons (the DVDs of his escapades are available now). The game offers all the characters that a fan of the series would expect to see, as well as the high quality artwork that has led Manga to become an entire art industry in itself. The characters and the settings look great - everything you would hope for when you have one of the leading Manga artistic teams around. However, the animation is sloppy to say the least; even in the cut scenes, characters seem to stutter into position before talking by flapping the mouths on their expressionless faces.

But for all the slight indignation I have for some graphical aspects of this game, I can only express my surprise at the level of gameplay involved. Naruto has a lot of signature moves and the combos that he can pull off are impressive. Most notably, he can perform a move called Sexy Jutsu, where enemies are dazzled by a scantily clad ghostly siren that, like any woman, suckers your enemies in before swiftly destroying them!

Even if you happen to get bored of Naruto, over the course of the twenty-five missions you also meet with a number of allies, who in themselves can perform some mind blowing - and often humorous - special moves upon the wide variety of enemies you face. So many games of this nature in the past have fallen into the trap of sending endless reams of anonymous ninjas to fight off (I call it the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Foot Soldier Method," Byron et al 2007), but Uzuamaki Chronicles uses a whole plethora of enemies that range from lumbering Neanderthals to genetically advanced baboons. And if these enemies prove too boring for you, there are four other characters you can use to beat them relentlessly. Switching between characters is seamless and can be performed mid combat, which means that the deselected character continues to fight as a CPU player. The highlight is Choji Akimichi, a tubby, crisp-guzzling youngster whose 'Human Boulder' move is guaranteed to leave your enemies crushed and leave you feeling a little bad at the combination of humor and childhood obesity.

It doesn't stop there however, as on top of a number of special moves and combos there are also weapons available to club, slice or spontaneously combust your opponents. Defeating enemies earns chips that you can use to customise your characters' fighting style, allowing you to defeat more enemies faster. Advance to certain stages of the story and you can also unlock some extremely average mini-games, which are an added bonus, but also something of a token gesture to adhere to the modern expectation of offering more than just playing through a storyline.

The controls are pretty standard for this kind of game; three attack buttons and jump, which can be combined with attack, are all you need to send enemies flying across the stony Japanese mountains. However, that's if you can get to them. Unfortunately, like many three-dimensional beat 'em ups, this game falls into the age-old trap of making it very difficult to turn around when a targeted opponent gives you the runaround - I spent many frustrating minutes kicking and punching walls and trees. The button configuration is simple enough (and the options menu allows you to alter it) while the training option from the main menu covers everything you need to know to have each character performing their increasingly ludicrous special moves. Be warned however; the game offers the same training at the beginning of the story mode, and if you accept, you can't exit without quitting to the main menu again.

Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles is a title with a few ups and downs, but the best way to describe it is as a 'cute' beat 'em up. Unfortunately, it lacks anything groundbreaking in its gameplay and aesthetic qualities. It's also just too short; twenty-five missions sounds like a lot, but over-obsessed gamers like myself can expect to be sitting back watching the end credits within a full day of playing. If you're a fan of the Naturo cartoon series then you will get everything you want from this title, but as an impartial gamer this won't still be in your disc tray in a week's time.

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).