Naruto may be short, but at least it is solid.
You can tell this is a GBA port. The graphics are pretty barebones. In fact, I have Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories in my DS as well and the graphics in that blow this out of the water! The game tries to recreate several of the iconic moments in the show (not battle related) but can't thanks to the lack of things they can do with such lame sprites. The music also suffers from being a gba port. It's ok and all, but the audio quality is sub par. The random voice acting can be a bit jarring. Why they would have an actor come in for one or two lines is cofusing.
The gameplay is as simple as an rpg can be. You have three equipment slots for weapons, armor, and clothes. You've got a few stats that gradually increase as you level up. You have no control over how you level up or what skills get increased. Its all set based on the character. This means that Naruto has high chakra and stamina, but low defense. Sakura has really high ninjitsu, but no attack. Sasuke, of course, excels at everything. One of the cool things is that each character will level up differently in terms of how much experience they need. Naruto levels up super fast, while Sauske is slower. This is balanced by how much thier stats are increased.
You basically walk around maps, looking for treasure, story events, and fighting random battles. You have a basic attack, jutsu (basically magic attacks), defend, flee, and move. Depending on where you'll move, you'll do more damage with melee attacks, but being up close means you'll take more damage as well. Some jutsu requires one of a few stylus mini-games to build up chakra and do extra damage. It is mostly just rubbing the screen or drawing circles. Works fine though. Veteran RPGers won't be satisfied, but those of us who prefer straightfoward games will be ok with it. It's a great RPG for those who don't play many.
The game only clocks in at ten or eleven hours long, depending on how much you level up. Ths is ridiculously short for an rpg, where short is often upwards of twenty hours. Still, fans of the show will have a blast with this, as it is a mostly faithful recreation of the show's awesome first half. There are no real problems with the gameplay itself. Its just all been done before. If you've got the spare cash and a love for Naruto, go ahead and grab it.