Source: http://winnipegsun.com/Entertainment/OtherEntertainment/2008/04/20/5335506-sun.html
A DS Gaiden missile
| By STEVE TILLEY, SUN MEDIA |
|
What kind of madness would possess the developers of the fast-paced, bloody and visually intense Ninja Gaiden series to try to adapt the game for the Nintendo DS, the handheld home to Mario, Pokemon and the rest of their happy, blobby ilk? What's next, Yoshi starring as a velociraptor in a sequel to Turok?
Crazier still, it actually works.
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword follows master ninja Ryu Hayabusa through another peril-fraught adventure, this one involving a clan of evil ninjas and some stones left behind by an ancient race of dragons. It's all very dramatic and fantastical and a bit weird, just like every other game in the series.
Gamers who know Ryu from his intensely challenging escapades on the Xbox, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 might be surprised at how well Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword captures the look and feel of those games on the Nintendo DS, which isn't exactly known for its graphical horsepower or wealth of action titles.
Dragon Sword is played with the Nintendo DS turned on its side like a book, one of the few games outside the sedate Brain Age series that does this. The creators have done a great job of adapting the gameplay and environments to a vertical field of view without ever making it seem like things are being artificially wedged into an up-down perspective.
The DS stylus controls virtually every aspect of the action except blocking. Dragging a line through an enemy will make Ryu attack, while tapping the screen has him throw a shuriken or shoot an arrow. More complex attacks are pulled off through a combination of stylus swipes in different directions, but there are (mercifully) few newer combos to memorize than in the other Ninja Gaiden games.
The game even occasionally takes advantage of the DS's microphone, having you speak loudly to wake up a sleeping ally or flush out an angry swallow that, once killed, drops a collectible wooden tablet. Hey, the game has demons and dragons and spider ninja fiends, a vicious bird isn't going to damage the suspension of disbelief at this point.
Dragon Sword gets nicked here and there by the limitations of the DS itself. The action can get so fast and frenzied you might find yourself swiping like mad at the screen without really aiming at the enemies, like the Nintendo DS version of button mashing. And while the movement controls work fine in combat, they're infuriatingly unsuited for the simple task of dodging traps in hallways, making some simple shooting spikes more deadly than a roomful of hardened enemies.
The game is also fairly short, and most reasonably seasoned action game fans will blow through it in six to eight hours. But that's eight hours spent with an amazingly faithful recreation of the Ninja Gaiden experience on the most unlikely of gaming devices. Start sharpening those fangs, Yoshi. You're up next.
BOTTOM LINE:
Though it sounds odd on paper, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword takes the fast-paced, high-flying action of the series and makes it work on the Nintendo DS. Stellar, if a little short.
STEVE TILLEY'S CHEAT SHEET
ULTIMATE CARNAGE: To clear out a room with respawning enemies, charge up an ultimate technique attack, release it and then immediately begin charging the next one. Rinse and repeat. It's surprisingly effective.
BOSS BASHING: Like most men, some of the game's bosses have an easily exploited weak spot: right between their legs. Get between their feet and use ultimate technique attacks and lots of slashes.
HARD TO SWALLOW: When you hear a bird chirping, yell (or just blow) into the microphone to flush it out, then start slashing and flinging shuriken randomly until you hit it and it drops a collectible wooden tablet.
---
NINJA GAIDEN: DRAGON SWORD
Nintendo DS
Team Ninja/Tecmo
Rating: Teen
Sun Rating: 4 out of 5
