If you are a Naruto fan or if you are looking for something that will last a couple days, this game is for you.
The plot of the story is that Naruto and Sasuke try to prove that they are worth themselves by going through a rigorous challenge. They battle random ninja and the bosses will be characters that are familiar to those Naruto fans including Haku, the mysterious follower of Zabuza, Ino, one of Naruto's classmates who has a thing for Sasuke and Rock Lee, one of Sasuke/Naruto's opponent's in the Chunin Exam. The problem with the plot is that there is no character development, and no cutscenes. The only simplance of a plot really is the lines of the boss, and the briefing of Kakashi at the beginning of the level.
The controls are rather simple to learn, however something that irritatates me is the weapon changing. You see there are three weapons Senbon (a weapon that can attack both high and low opponents at the same time), Shurikens (Basic throwing stars), and Kunai (A knife-like weapon that can deflect Shuriken). The problem is that when you exchange a weapon, the weapon you exchanged for you keep until you get another weapon, and there is no option to switch in the meantime. This adds challenge to the game, but it is also quite frusterating because there are several situations where I had wished that I had Shuriken when I had Senbon. You can also attack using powerful moves called Jutsu. You hold the B button to build up power, or chakra which is nessisary for you to do these moves. You can either succeed or fail the moves. Naruto's jutsu really depends on rather you succeed or fail because if you fail, the techniques are usually useless. If you pull it off however, you unleash an extremely powerful attack. Sasuke's justu's don't matter as much. Both times you pull off the attack, but if you fail it, it is weaker.
There are several levels in the game, and they are extremely colorful and detailed. You can easily tell who is who and who the bosses are. For each level you have to fight two bosses. Such as in the first level, you fight Konohamaru/Ebisu, and then you go through another version of the level and you fight Ino. The boss battles are rather important and Kakashi gives you information before each boss fight that you should always listen to carefully. The music is rather annoying and boring. I really didn't buy the game for it's music and it didn't help my enjoyment of the game.
The game is fun, but besides for unlocking Kakashi and perhaps some secret functions there is very little reason to replay this game. If you are a fan of side-scrollers, which this game is, or a fan of Naruto then go for it. If you want a challenge that you can spend a couple days on, then it could be a smart purchase. Otherwise, you probably will just want to rent it to see if you can get a bit of enjoyment out of this game.