The Naruto series is fast becoming the new go-to source for franchise spam in the video game industry. There have already been four Clash of Ninja games over the past three years, one new game on the PS3, two on the Xbox 360, and a whopping five on the PS2 -- not to mention six games between the two handhelds. That’s a whole lot of Naruto.

Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 (CNR2) is a simple fighting game for the Wii, with a style similar to the Super Smash Bros. series. Players seeking a vast move set, in-depth combo system, or otherwise complex fighting system will find little to be excited about in the game’s weak/strong/special attack setup, but fans of the series will feel right at home, because CNR2 is nearly the same game as last year’s offering, with a few small tweaks and improvements.

If you are unfamiliar with the Naruto manga/anime, here’s a quick rundown: it is about an adolescent ninja suffering from a mild case of ADHD who aspires to become the leader of his village by proving himself to be the strongest warrior. He isn’t exactly taken seriously by the villagers, but makes friends and develops skills and character over the course of the series. CNR2 features a roster of 35 characters from the Naruto universe, seven of whom are newcomers to this series, and four of whom are exclusive to the North American version of the game.

This installment adds new stages to battle on, as well, bringing the Clash of Ninja series up to speed with the multi-tiered arena concept that so many other fighting franchises have employed for years. It’s also the first in the series to feature a tag-team battle system, a la Tekken Tag Tournament or Marvel vs. Capcom.

There are many ways to play CNR2, as the game offers five different control schemes: Wiimote only, Wiimote and Nunchuk button mode, Wiimote and Nunchuk movement mode, Classic controller, and GameCube controller. In movement mode, the game makes heavy use of Wiimote gesture and pointer controls, although the implementation is not always optimal. During matches, weak attacks are mapped to Wiimote flicks, while stronger strikes are performed with the A button. Not only does this create a strange disconnect between attack types, but it limits the precision with which weak blows can be delivered at all.