Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 throws you into one of Naruto lore's most titanic battles right from the start. Without any preamble you find yourself clashing with the 20-story-tall Nine-Tailed Demon Fox as he ravages Naruto's home village. Except it isn't Naruto's home village, because he hasn't been born yet. Because this is, at last, the series' cataclysmic battle from the past that's been teased for years, but never fully shown before. It's a great first impression, and it sets the pace for the best Ultimate Ninja Storm to date.

...And you're flung straight into it. First as Naruto's father, who must face off against the masked mastermind controlling the gigantic beast, and then as the Third Hokage in a breathtaking, intense battle that's fought leaping from rooftop to rooftop, circling around this monstrously large terror, coordinating with fellow ninja to hold the creature at bay. This series has pushed its visual spectacle to new heights with every installment, but it’s in moments like this that UNS3 proves to be the most epic and most fanservice-packed.

When you’ve finally managed to take down the Demon Fox, there’s no chance to catch your breath – because you’re then flung right back to Naruto's dad, still in the middle of his own fight. UNS3 bounces around like this dynamically. You can be halfway through a major clash, then the focus will shift to another battlefield or point in time and have you fight a second, simultaneous fight before circling you back around to your starting point. It's a brilliant break from tradition that constantly keeps your attention focused and your energy up. It could've gone wrong and been distracting, but since each instance is interwoven with the storyline and serves a plot-advancing purpose, I never felt like I was bounced around for no reason.

For the most part, this is the same Ninja Storm combat as before – just a bit faster. Ultimate Ninja Storm 3's feels as if the controls have gotten tighter and more responsive, which was appreciated as I ran, dodged, and teleported my way around each 3D battleground trying to gain a positional advantage over my opponent. Some mechanics introduced in earlier installments have been tweaked, too, like the fact that you can now enter your character's "Awakened" state without waiting until their health bar has been depleted to the edge of death.
Things are a bit easier, too. UNS3's difficulty settings seem muted, as few fights will offer a true challenge to anyone who's bested any of the earlier games. The most elite players will have to seek out high-level opponents online, because the AI won't keep up with you.

At some points during the story, UNS3 offers some confusing decisions about which of two paths you want to follow. They're presented as a choice between the "Legend" path or the "Hero" path, but aren't both of those good things? I suppose being a "Legend" is more epic than just being a plain old "Hero," but it's odd phrasing – and it's made even more perplexing because you earn either Legend Points or Hero Points for picking one over the other, and the distinction between those is never adequately explained.

Experimenting with picking different story paths does open up unique cutscenes and fights not previously seen on the cartoon, though, so the confusion is worth enduring. In the opening clash against the Nine-Tailed Fox, for instance, you get to witness Choza Akimichi grow to Godzilla-like proportions and bodyslam the 20-story beast. So it's worth experimenting with, at least.

Other than that, as with the earlier Ultimate Ninja Storm games, this one sticks pretty close to retelling the cartoon's plots point for point. Those decision moments are your opportunity to deviate a bit, which keeps things from being a total retread. You’re ultimately funneled back to the core timeline after having witnessed the extra, side content, so the decisions are never too earth-shattering – you can’t end up picking a path where Naruto dies or anything like that. Some fans will no doubt take issue with the story's ending in this installment, as it's non-canonical and probably not a reflection of what will be seen in the show. Alternate story paths diverging from the events of older episodes are fun "what if?" scenarios worth taking a look at. But when UNS3 starts projecting out past the scope of currently aired TV episodes and currently published manga to invent its own vision of Naruto's future, the waters get a little choppy.

One area that disappointed was the limited exploration in story mode – we're teased with free-roaming areas every once in awhile, but they never amount to much and you're quickly shuffling back into watching the next sequence of cutscenes. Also: do we really need all Fuu the Insect Girl as a playable character? We have over 80 now – it's probably safe to stop scraping the bottom of that barrel.

Even if the difficulty skews toward the easy side, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 speeds up combat with more responsive controls, and the visual spectacle of it all is more stunning than ever. Just as importantly, maintaining critical emotional connections to the story, even amidst all the chaos and explosions, overrides my concerns about non-canon story choices and lets us have fun with "what if" scenarios. Ultimate Ninja Storm's reputation as Naruto's most consistently enjoyable game series is safe.