f you only play one anime ninja open world action fighting game with RPG overtones this year, play Rise of a Ninja. It’s just that good. Kidding aside, it has to be said that this game tries its hand at a number of game mechanics – a formula that can often be disastrous, as no one thing ends up being any good. Throw in the fact that this is one of those anime properties that people almost expect to be sub-par in the gameplay category, and it’d be easy to write this off for any but the most hardcore fans. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Rise of a Ninja bucks all of these expectations and emerges as a quality game in its own right, worth a look even for those born without the anime fetish gene.

Ubisoft Montreal has done a remarkable job of examining this franchise and pulling out ideas that will capitalize on its strengths. A shortened but disjointed version of the first several dozen episodes of the show is represented, so no foreknowledge is entirely necessary. As the fledgling but ambitious young ninja Naruto, you’ll wander freely through his home of Leaf Village and its environs, leaping between rooftops, running up building walls, and sprinting down forested paths. The action is fast and fun, and new movement styles like double jumps and wall climbing unlock throughout the game, opening up paths and secrets you couldn’t previously access. Like an RPG, you’ll encounter random encounters and major boss fights, but the traditional menu-driven combat is replaced by a simple one-versus-one fighting system. There are too few enemy types, and the combat gets easily exploitable after a while, but the battles never fall so far to be outright boring.

Rise of a Ninja also boasts dozens of collectibles, a clever approach to ninja magic “jutsus,” a wide range of side missions, and a robust online or offline multiplayer system. Last but not least, the game looks phenomenal. Vivid colors blanket the backgrounds and characters alike, and the detail work, from waving grass to rippling waterfalls, is remarkable. While the plot and humor at play here rarely reaches for anything beyond immature power fantasy, the gameplay package is far more than you (or I) would have expected.