Naruto taps into his chakra ... or had beans for lunch.

When it comes to anime-based videogame franchises, the two heaviest hitters on the market today have to be Dragon Ball Z and Naruto. But while Goku and his friends seem to be in a slump as of late, the Nine-Tailed Fox is still pushing forward, stronger than ever. Case in point: Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, the sequel to last year's popular Wii fighting game. Packed with new features, new fighters and a host of gameplay tweaks over the original game, is this sequel enough to entice Wii owners to go another round with Naruto and the rest of the Hidden Leaf Village? To quote Naruto himself, "Believe it!"

One main reason that Naruto has grabbed hold of so many fans is that the series places an ensemble of interesting and unique characters in genuinely entertaining situations, while packing the story with so much action it nearly bursts at the seams. Clash of Ninja Revolution brought that formula to the Wii, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. For the sequel, developer Eighting has listened to fans' criticisms and polished things up considerably.

Second State Sasuke and the Ultimate Nine-Tailed Naruto, two new Clash fighters

A common thread between all the Naruto games, regardless of the developer, publisher or system, is that they don't seem to have been designed for the average gamer. Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 is not different. If you're looking for a deep fighter, you'll probably find the game on the shallow side. But odds are, if you're playing Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, you're more interested in seeing Naruto and his crew dish out fast-paced ninja action than in memorizing hundreds of button sequences for combo chains. And this game is big in fan service.

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 adds seven new characters to the roster of available fighters, bringing the total number of playable characters to 35. It also features a storyline unique to the game, as opposed to trying to shoehorn in an existing Naruto story arc. As a result, the game has more freedom to put together a plot for its Story mode that won't necessarily be picked apart by hardcore Naruto purists.

All the ninja training in the world can't stand up to a well-placed knee.

Revolution 2 also ups the ante in visuals with brand-new, more detailed character models and the addition of 16:9 widescreen support. While no one will mistake the Wii's 480p resolution cap for true high-definition graphics, the new models and the widescreen option together make Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 much better-looking than the last game, and also one of the better-looking Wii games on the whole.

Of course, having the best-looking game in existence doesn't mean squat if it's no fun to actually play, but Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 is just that. Gameplay is quick and easy, geared more towards button-mashing than strategy. The controls haven't changed too much from the last Revolution game, and you can still pick and choose between using the Classic controller, a GameCube controller or the default Nunchuk/Wii remote option. Revolution 2 mixes up the gameplay by adding new hand signal motion controls to recharge a character's life or chakra during battle. It's a step up from previous games, if not a revolutionary leap for the franchise.

"In the world of Naruto, even dogs can walk on water."

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 gives fans plenty to play with. Aside from the Story mode and the prerequisite Versus and Time Attack modes, the game includes a Survival mode, Tag Team mode, and new Multimatch games. Multimatch pits players against each other in two-on-two or three-on-one combat. The only major drawback is that the game has absolutely no support for online play. I can understand its exclusion from the last game, but since then we've seen games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl throw in online battling action. Why couldn't Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 have added any sort of Wi-Fi Connection support? I'd even put up with the irritation of remembering Nintendo's long-winded, game-specific friend codes for the opportunity to duke it out online. As it stands, the Xbox 360 is still the only console with a Naruto game capable of online fighting.

Fans of the first Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution game will be hard-pressed to find a reason not to pick up this sequel, though, which has more of everything they have come to expect from the self-proclaimed future Hokage.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.