REVIEW: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (Spoiler Free)
By Jacob Bond
June 5th, 2009

Buy this game. Review: done.

Okay, that probably wasn't the most compelling argument. Really though, there's absolutely no reason a fan of action games looking for a solid DS title shouldn't pick this up, especially since it can be found for around twenty bucks right now.

The story picks up six months after the events of "Ninja Gaiden", as Ryu has helped rebuild the village after the Dark Dragon Blade incident. While training the young woman Momiji she is kidnapped by the Black Spider Ninja Clan. Ryu's attempts to bring Momiji home leads him on a quest to collect the Dark Dragonstones. The story is pretty straightforward and not exactly complex, but that's okay. The story isn't what you will play this for.

The gameplay is what draws the player in. I've never seen anything quite like it. Ryu is completely controlled by the stylus, from his movements, jumps, and attacks. In fact the only actions associated with the buttons on the DS are the menu screen and blocking. Normally I would expect near 100% stylus control action to not work. After all I would think it would be easy for the DS to become confused on what exactly you want the character to do. At rare times that does indeed happen. But for the most part it all works extremely well for one simple fact: this is the DS equivalent of button mashing. That sounds odd but it's true: enemies show up on the screen and more often than not I found myself sliding the stylus back and forth quickly, favoring speed as opposed to predetermining my attacks. Occasionally I would throw in something for variety but the truth is this game works extremely well with random movements with the stylus on screen. There is incentive to avoid repeating attacks, though. Having a variety of attacks instead of the same type over and over again will cause the game to reward you with bonuses, such as health or on rare occasions and even extra Ninpo moves. For those extremely tough fights the Ninpo move (a special attack that can be used once) is extremely helpful while also playing a part in solving puzzles.

The puzzles aren't very difficult and at least in the beginning there isn't too much challenge from the enemies. The addictive nature of the attack system will keep players interested, however, as they progress further into the game where things become more challenging. It was quite a surprise to see Team Ninja use this method of control for an action game but it works extremely well.

The game is also visually beautiful. Using 2D images for the background not only gives the visuals extreme detail but it also frees up the DS to create more stunning character models and animation. It was a clever move on Team Ninja's part.

The music and sound effects are also very well done, fitting the mood of the scene and overall game perfectly. One complaint is the lack of voice acting, though. It's weird when talking to people in the village as a text box pops up with a long answer the character gives a simple grunt or similar noise in response. It's understandable that fitting large chunks of voice overs probably wasn't feasible but considering the length of the game and the reuse of many enemies surely something could have been done.

That brings up the real issue of the game: length. Taking my time I finished the game in about five hours. Although there are twelve chapters to work through they increasingly felt shorter and shorter as the game progressed, and even making side trips to find bonuses doesn't extend the play time very much. The game is also fairly easy. With the exception of a few bosses dying was rare for me. On the bosses that did manage to pull out the win it was a simple matter of figuring out their pattern and develop a strategy, one of the few times in the game I couldn't simply "stylus mash" the enemy to death. Fans of the series might be disappointed by the lack of difficulty, but beating the game unlocks a harder mode that will likely be more to their tastes.

The DS has an impressive library of quality games as it is, but this is a must own for action fans. With the price now at a reasonable $20 it will be worth the investment, despite the shortness of the game, and even if it's something never to be played again it is still well worth the experience.

SCORE: 9 / 10