Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Review

[Professor Layton]

Set six months after the events of Ninja Gaiden for Microsoft Xbox, Ryu Hayabusa has rebuilt the Hayabusa Village. However, while in the wilderness one day, Momiji, a resident of Hayabusa Village, is abducted by the Black Spider Ninja Clan and Ryu has decided to find her. On his quest to find Momiji, Ryu uncovers the mysteries of the Dark Dragonstones and the secret behind the Dragon Sword.


1. Platform: Nintendo DS
2. Publisher: Tecmo
3. Developer: Team Ninja
4. ESRB Rating: T for Teen
5. Release Date(US): March 25th, 2008

Unlike many DS games, Dragon Sword is played in “book form” in order to make the screens taller so that there will be a little more “vertical” gameplay. On the left screen, there is a map so you can easily navigate each area, and the right screen is where all the action takes place. To move Ryu, you simply slide the stylus in whichever direction you want Ryu to go. The camera typically keeps Ryu in the center of the screen. The farther from him you point the stylus, the faster he’ll run.

During your quest, you’ll frequently encounter swarms of enemies. In order to defeat enemies, all you do is slide the stylus over an enemy. If the enemy is out of your target range, Ryu will run up to the enemy first. Besides slashing enemies, you can throw shruikens. All you have to do to use these are tap the stylus on the enemy you wish to attack. In addition to this, you can throw shruikens while in midair. If you constantly tap the stylus on the enemy, Ryu will keep firing enemies until he falls to the ground.

Besides attacking, you can also command Ryu to jump upwards. To do this, all you have to do is slide the stylus upwards. Sliding the stylus directly above Ryu will make him jump straight up, while sliding the stylus elsewhere on the screen will cause him to leap in that direction. Also, a second upward stroke while Ryu is in midair will result in a double jump.

In addition to the techniques mentioned above, Ryu can also roll and block enemies. To roll and evade an enemy attack, all you have to do slide the stylus while pressing any direction on the Control Pad or any of the face buttons on the Nintendo DS. By pressing any direction on the Control Pad or any of the face buttons on the Nintendo DS, Ryu will block an enemies attack.

What a beauty!

Besides the basic techniques, Ryu can perform more complex moves such as the Izuna Drop, Ninpo, and the Ultimate Technique. The Izuna Drop is a devastating attack that is performed by sliding the stylus downwards to stun your foe, upwards to send the enemy into the air, then upwards again to make Ryu leap, grab his opponent, and piledrive him into the ground.

Ninpo is probably one of the easiest advanced techniques to perform. All you do is select which magical spell you’d like to cast by going under the selection screen and clicking the icon in the upper-left corner. After clicking this button, you’ll be asked to trace the icon on the screen. The faster you trace this icon, the longer your spell will last. After doing this, you’ll get to cast your spell and unleash your fury on the enemies around you.

Finally, the Ultimate Technique requires you to slide the stylus back and forth over Ryu as quickly as possible. This will cause Ryu to gather energy, then unleash a powerful spin attack. Ryu is vulnerable while gathering energy, but this attack can obliterate enemies if you can manage to pull it off.

Though the controls take a little getting used to, there a few a problems with them. For starters, rapidly sliding the stylus on the screen gets really repetitive and boring. Seeing how you use the stylus a lot more than the buttons, you think the developers would’ve made it so the stylus movements wouldn’t become too repetitive and boring.

What happened to the awesome three-dimensional graphics?!

In addition to this, running and jumping can also cause problems. Seeing how the game takes place in a three-dimensional world with two dimensional graphics, jumping and running becomes a problem. While in the air, you don’t know exactly where you’re going to land. When you’re running, it sometimes feels a little bizarre. The only things moving are the enemies and Ryu. It’s almost as though you’re stuck in a two-dimensional world and all you can do is run to different areas. By tapping the stylus near the back of an area, Ryu gets smaller and when you tap the stylus at the front of an area, Ryu is larger.

Graphically speaking, Dragon Sword is really impressive despite the hideous two-dimensional graphics. Bosses and enemies look amazing but the levels, unfortunately, don’t look as amazing. The two-dimensional graphics really hurt the game and the end result is a rather bizarre experience. I personally would’ve liked to see the entire game in three-dimensional but I guess that won’t be happening.

Other than the hideous two-dimensional graphics and wacky controls, Dragon Sword offers a very enjoyable experience. The sound isn’t anything special but it does get the job done. The audio suits the levels nicely and the sound effects are also pretty well done.   

The level design in Dragon Sword is really something special but unfortunately, it got ruined by the two-dimensional graphics. Each level introduced new things such as blowing into the microphone or hitting flashing panels to progress. If it weren’t for the poor graphics and wacky controls, Dragon Sword would definitely be one of my favorite games on all time.

What’s happening!

Though the main adventure only takes around seven hours to complete, players can try to get high Karma scores and then they can access Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and upload their highscore. When online, you can see how you stack up against the rest of the world. If this doesn’t appeal to you, maybe you could try out the harder difficulty. By the way, it’s berserk. If you though the first mode was hard, you haven’t seen nothing yet.

In Conclusion...
   
Overall, Dragon Sword is certainly a nice addition to the Nintendo DS library, despite its flaws. The two-dimensional graphics really hurt the game and the wacky controls get repetitive and boring after a period of time. Though the game is short, you can always go back for more due to the games awesome replay value. However, if you didn’t enjoy The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, you’re probably not going to enjoy Dragon Sword.

Scores

1.Presentation: 8.5/10
   Easy to navigate menus and awesome level design!
2.Graphics: 8.5/10
   Unbelievable three-dimensional graphics but poor two-dimensional graphics.
3.Sound: 8/10
   Pretty decent audio and sound effects;nothing mind-blowing.       
4.Gameplay: 8/10
   The controls are a little bizarre but if you can adjust to them, you’ll love the game.
5.Replay Value: 7/10   
   Dragon Sword takes about seven hours to complete.  You can play the adventure again on a different difficulty once you finish the game once.    

Overall Score: 8/10