Darth Maul apparently opened a tattoo parlor in Japan.
Yes, that is indeed the cathedral from the first game. Stop shaking, it'll be okay.
A Teen rating means that enemies just vanish in pretty purple mist instead of being decapitated.
Maybe you should've went a little easier on the headwear and a little more on the actual clothes.
There's dragons aplenty in the game, though none of them sounds like Sean Connery.
Lay off the drugs, honey, or you'll look like me by the time you're 40.
Get it - the sword has the power of dragons. Duh.
.
Isn't he just an adorable little killing machine? Welcome to the world of portable sword and shuriken shenanigans. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS tries to bring all the fun and excitement of its Xbox 1.0 (and PS3) counterpart to the little handheld. There are some quirks that keep this from being a perfect companion to the original, but Dragon Sword is truly worthy of the Ninja Gaiden name, if for nothing else than its nonstop, all-out action.
We don't need to mash buttons. Let me introduce you to stylus-mashing! Dragon Sword is played in a fashion that combines the book-style positioning of the DS from the Brain Age titles with the stylus-heavy control of Phantom Hourglass. Unlike Link's most recent outing, however, you need to actually slash your stylus across the screen in order to hurt the baddies. Trust me on this one - invest in one of those packs of screen protectors before you play this game. You'll thank me by the third chapter.
In addition to the simplistic slashing, the stylus is also used to make you jump (simply slide up near Ryu), throw shuriken (and later shoot arrows) simply by tapping enemies, and perform Ninpo magic spells. This last element provides a fun diversion that serves to break up the sometimes hectic fights by bringing a Japanese symbol onto the screen which the player must trace in order to activate the magic. Most spells can then be controlled by tapping or dragging with the stylus, giving you ultimate power over your, uh... ultimate powers. God, if only dating was this simple.
Say it ain't so!
The action is intense and moves quite fast, but you'll notice something quite surprising early on: it's EASY. That's right. A Ninja Gaiden game, easy. Tough to imagine those two fitting together, but it's the truth. Even the bosses are toned down: most can be defeated on the first go round, and with essentially the same basic strategy. One or two may require a second effort (or a quick turning off of the DS to retry without having a defeat on your record), but overall the guardians of the Dark Dragonstones are nothing more than fodder for your stylus.
Now remember that this is a handheld, and is rated Teen (whereas it's predecessor was a hard M - thank you, Rachel's outfits!), so don't go expecting a gruelingly long challenge like the 40-50 hour ordeal you endured in the console game. This one clocks in at somewhere between five and six hours for the Normal campaign. For a DS cartridge, though, that's still pretty good, and it's broken up very nicely. The chapters run anywhere from about 15 to 30 minutes of gameplay, and save points abound, allowing you adequate opportunities to play while on the go or on a lunch break. Did I mention those screen protectors also work against ketchup and mayo?
Once you're through with Normal mode, you unlock a more difficult setting, but again, this fails to live up to the overwhelming challenge of the console versions. As far as I could tell the only real "difficult" difference in the harder mode is the addition of more enemies in each area. They still take about the same number of hits to kill, and pretty much the same maneuvers work throughout the game, except this time you have to spend an extra minute or two wiping the blood stains you made on the first pass with a few more bodies. Difficulty letdowns aside, the action in Dragon Sword is truly enjoyable, and the framerate and graphics that the game is able to pull off on the DS are simply amazing. Just try to detach yourself from the console game as much as possible before playing.
No half-naked Rachel covered in goo? I guess I'll settle for a hot, blue Manga chick. The story in Dragon Sword is one of its stronger elements, though like the rest of the game, it's not without flaws. Obviously the graphical and processing power of the DS are nowhere near the consoles, so don't go looking for any full-CGI cutscenes to assist in the storytelling this time. Instead, the developers chose to go with a very beautiful, artistic Manga style that is able to capture the Ninja Gaiden realm very well. The characters are well represented, and the transitions from comic to gameplay flow seamlessly. If you're playing Dragon Sword in public, don't worry about missing any key plot points when you have the volume turned down - all of the comic cutscenes are textual, with the occasional "OH!" or "Hahaha" thrown in by actual actors just for good measure. The music is well-done, however, so do try to remember your headphones.
The backstory provided throughout the adventure adds a couple of new elements to the overall mythology of the console games, and it has been hinted that some of what occurs in this game will bridge the gap to Ninja Gaiden II, due this summer for the 360. Although the story is compelling, the locales chosen to further that story are simply retreads of the more memorable ones from the original. You'll run through Hyabusa village to start your quest, visit the otherworldly realm of portals and fiends to travel between stages, and even revisit the cathedral (sans Alma, thank god!) and pyramid, among others.
There are several bonuses to unlock throughout the game in the form of collectible wood amulets. After completing the game, you'll be able to use these to check out character bios and revisit cutscenes from the game, just in case you didn't get a good enough look at the half-naked blue fiend chick (there's no pause function to be bought for any amount of amulets, though!), or, you know, missed any important narrative elements. Riiight. The amulets add a bit of replay value, similar to the golden scarabs in the original, but only hardcore completionists will want to go back through several times to find every one.
Ooh, a blue Wi-Fi dot. That means it has some other cool features, right? Yes indeed, Dragon Sword is Nintendo Wi-Fi compatible. What goodies could that possibly have? Versus matches? Co-op play, with one person taking on female lead Momiji? Live nude cams? Nope. Just rankings. That's right: a simple "Would you like to upload your score?" ranking system. Now you can see who actually bothered to go through the game to accumulate the highest Karma score and therefore is at the top of the list, and also see where your pathetic numbers fall in the grand scheme of DS owners who actually bothered to upload their scores. It's not much of an add-on, and really doesn't provide much incentive for trying harder - especially when, the day after the game was released, I noticed people had already maxed out. Oh well.
Is it June yet? Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a very good title to add to your DS collection. If you love your handheld but are sick of the same retreads and brain training, you'll totally get your action fix here. From an overall quality perspective it still leaves something to be desired, however, and unfortunately it's just not possible for all of that to be delivered on a handheld. In the end, Dragon Sword is best described as a great little appetizer to wet your mouth before the arrival of NG II this summer.
...
Darthziggy
I for one am very glad that this game is not as hard as the Xbox versions. I really like shinobi (aka ninjas) in general and Ryu in particular. I've played parts of all of the Ninja Gaiden games that have come out except Ninja Gaiden II and really liked them except for one reason: they are way too freeking hard for me. I especially have a hard time with the wall jumping and platforming in the console games. Thank goodness, there isn't much of that in the DS version. What wall jumping there is is mercifully easy compared to the other games. I also don't have an issue with a game being "short". I like shorter games because I stand a better chance of seeing the actual end of the story before I get so stuck on a level or boss that I give up on the game entirely and don't see how the story ends.
I love the stylus controls and book format too. The visuals are among the best on the DS. I think the game deserves a 9 rating myself.
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