Information

NGDS box

Reviewed On: DS

Available On: DS

Players: 1

Rating: N/A

Genre: Action


Developer: Team Ninja

Distributor: Ubisoft


Release: 28 June 2008


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In Short...

"There is simply no other DS game like Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword! A must play for DS owners and action fans alike!"




























































Let’s start from the beginning. Ninja Gaiden (hereafter known as NG) is a series of videogames that consists mainly of an arcade game and a trilogy of NES titles. However, NG has appeared, either as remakes, ports or sequels, on a whole range of other consoles including the SNES, Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear, Mega Drive, and various gaming computers such as the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and even PC. The series has experienced a recent revival thanks to the Xbox game, which was remade as Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox) and Ninja Gaiden Sigma (PS3). This is the game that Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword continues on from in terms of narrative and game/art style.

The story basically goes that in the age where dragons and humans co-existed, there was a Dark Dragon who caused chaos and destruction. In order to defeat him, a sword was carved from one of the good dragon’s fangs, and that sword- the Dragon Sword- was used to slay the Dark Dragon. Later on, the Dark Dragon Sword- a sword that possessed evil powers- was forged from the bones of the deceased Dark Dragon. In the Xbox NG game, Ryu Hayabusa, a direct descendant of the humans who defeated the Dark Dragon, used the Dragon Sword to shatter the Dark Dragon Sword. The DS game takes place six months after those events. Hayabusa village, which was destroyed in the first game, has been rebuilt, and Ryu still carries the Dragon Sword with him. But when Hayabusa village is attacked by the Black Spider Clan and Momiji (Ryu’s beautiful young apprentice) is kidnapped, Ryu must use the legendary weapon to rescue Momiji and defeat the Black Spider Clan. But this quest will not be easy, because the Black Spider Clan appear to be working together with the evil Fiends, and may have discovered an ancient power even greater than the Dark Dragon Sword.

As far as gameplay goes, the Xbox NG game belonged to the same genre of games as Devil May Cry and God of War (3rd person action/fighting) and is still considered by many to be one of the best games of that particular genre. Now, it’s quite common for developers to take the easy way out and switch to a simpler genre when porting a popular console franchise to the DS, but Team Ninja have bucked the odds by making NG: Dragon Sword a 3rd person 3D action game, just like it’s console brethren. Now let’s consider that for a moment- this is the first game of it’s genre to ever appear on the Nintendo DS, and it is also the first game of its genre, on any console, to use touch screen controls. Those are some impressive firsts, and it’s not unusual for developers to completely screw things up when shooting for those kinds of milestones. After all, bringing a new genre to a console is always tough, and trying to create a whole new control method for said genre is even tougher. Fortunately, Team Ninja have obviously poured a lot of love and hard work into this game because the end results are extremely impressive.



Take note that Ryu is fighting ALL the time.

At first, it may seem a bit daunting to adjust to stylus controlled fighting. Swiping the stylus horizontally is a sword slash. Swiping vertically is a jump, or if done mid-combo, launches the enemy into the air. Tapping the screen fires a ranged weapon. Touching and holding a location on the screen is to move (anyone who played Zelda: Phantom Hourglass will pick this up immediately). Scribbling the screen charges up the Ultimate Technique. To activate special Ninpo attacks, you must tap a cursor in the corner of the screen before loosely tracing a Sanskrit character. And to top it all off, any of the DS’s buttons is used to block, and moving while blocking results in a roll. Oh, and the DS is held side-on like in Brain Training. It seems pretty adventurous (or insane, depending on your view) and it can be awkward when you first start playing, but stick with it and soon you’ll find that the controls have been really well thought out and are surprisingly intuitive. Occasionally you’ll find that old problem where certain stylus movements are misinterpreted for others, but it happens far too rarely to affect the game and isn’t nearly as bad as in games such as Wario: Master of Disguise.

It turns out that controlling the game with the touch screen and stylus as opposed to buttons does not hinder the speed or precision of the gameplay, and considering the DS’s button layout, this control scheme actually allows for the kind of analogue precision that would simply not be possible on the D-Pad. Eventually, you’ll find that a lot of the strategies, tactics and combos you used in other games of this genre are possible in NG: Dragon Sword. Then again, if you don’t want to be skilful and tactical, the game even allows for ‘button-mashing’ (where you madly swipe the stylus in the general vicinity of the enemy), so both gameplay bases are covered.

Fortunately, Dragon Sword provides as much incentive to fight fancy as any other game of this genre. The better you fight and the longer your combos are (measured by number of hits), the more Essence (currency used to buy upgrades such as more health, new attacks and new Ninpo spells) and Karma (high score) you obtain, and of course, if you take a hit your combo counter resets, necessitating the block/evade function. But even if you’re not shooting for high scores, you will still need to fight well because the enemies are pretty tough. They have set attack patterns, the ability to block, and some of them have certain attacks that need to be evaded rather than blocked. This means that if you go charging in blindly swinging a sword, you’ll eventually get blocked or countered. Another thing to notice is that ground combos only have a limited number of hits (3 at first, but it increases as you upgrade the Dragon Sword) followed by a pause before another combo is possible. This means that if you just charge into a pack of enemies mashing (swiping?) the slash command non-stop, you’ll leave yourself wide open for attacks between every sword combo; therefore, you’ll need to vary up your combos and make full use of jumping attacks, ranged weapons, and defensive manoeuvres to avoid getting pummelled. Oh, and thanks to the Ultimate Technique, it’s not possible to, say, destroy hundreds of enemies by continuously scribbling the screen, so no Meteos-style cheating here!

The most ingenious element of the fighting engine is easily the way it handles 360 degree fighting, an age-old problem in this genre. The very nature of the touch screen provides one of the best solutions to this problem, because you can literally touch the person you want to attack. Instead of aiming for the enemy with a control stick or using a lock-on button, you can simply see the enemy and attack as soon as your hand is able to reach him or her. This makes 360 degree fighting a pure joy, and it wasn’t long before I was wailing on multiple enemies with fancy ninja combos. As a small side-note, I also noticed that if you’re trying to attack an enemy who is already dead, Ryu will lock on to and attack the next closest enemy. This is quite useful and helps keep the action going smoothly, even if the combat has gotten so fast that you haven’t realised that the enemy you’re trying to kill is doing a death animation!

While the fighting in this game is really impressive, there are a few other problems with the gameplay. While console games of this genre contain things to break up the fighting, such as movement puzzles, hidden areas, and other kinds of puzzles, NG: Dragon Sword doesn’t have that luxury. This game is all about fighting, and the occasional puzzles are too easy to really count as ‘puzzles’. Don’t get me wrong, the fighting is very good, but that is all you get. This means the game can occasionally get repetitive, but this is usually rectified by new enemies and new combinations of enemies to keep you on your toes. Also, if you’re actively aiming for high scores and big combos, the action will always remain interesting, since that takes more concentration and skill. There is also a boss at the end of each stage, and they all have significantly different attack patterns which is an added plus.



The pre-rendered environments look superb.



But it’s not just the controls and combat that is impressive in NG: Dragon Sword, because the graphics are outstanding. The action moves at a super smooth, super fast 60 fps, without any lag or slowdown. On top of this, the 3D models are extremely good by DS standards (though some of the character textures are poor, especially on bosses), and the pre-rendered backgrounds look fantastic. Remember when the earlier third person games came out (ie. Resident Evil, Devil May Cry) and the graphics were essentially a bunch of polygonal characters floating over a realistic looking photo, and you were fooled into thinking it was the best 3D you’d ever seen? Well, those pre-rendered environments make a comeback in this game, ready to fool your eyes all over again. The sheer detail and sharpness of the environments is so good that you’ll be checking the console to see if it still says ‘Nintendo DS’ down the side. Along with impressive 3D graphics, the story is revealed through anime/manga cutscenes that work like a graphic novel. The art in these cutscenes is brilliant, full of colour and life, and does a great job of conveying all the important information such as the character’s moods and emotions (thanks to some great facial expressions).

The sound is overall very good, consisting of some great music that sets the mood really well, and some sound effects that range from excellent to average. The battle sounds are great, with Ryu’s various grunts and the various sword impact noises adding to the brutality of battle. However, some of the sound effects sound really cheap and low-quality, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The characters also have some voice clips which are very good but too rare to make a real impact on the game.

While the single player adventure may be rather short (and pretty darn easy in parts), that doesn’t mean the game is. There are higher difficulties to unlock and play through for those who want to really test their skills, and just like in Geometry Wars you can download Wi-Fi leaderboards and aim for those elusive high scores. As well as the online leaderboards, the game will rank your performance in each stage, and if you want to achieve a Master Ninja rank on every stage you’ll have to put in a lot of extra time and work! There are also hidden secrets to unlock, so the game does have some replay value if you really need to keep playing it after the main adventure comes to a close.

Overall, NG: Dragon Sword is a very impressive piece of software for the DS. Being the first of it’s genre for the console, you might assume that there would be some early problems to iron out, but through this game Team Ninja have shown amazing skill and knowledge when it comes to programming for the DS. The game contains an extremely high level of polish, along with a solid fighting engine and control system that will keep action fans enthralled for quite some time. Believe the hype- Dragon Sword is one of the DS’s most exciting action releases of 2008!

(Despite having no solid release date for Australia, you can buy Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword right now at this link: Play Asia)


By Mr_M



The Verdict

 Graphics: A- Amazing environments, rock solid frame rate and some cool special effects. Great 3D models let down by below-average textures.

Sound: A- Music is really good, sound effects are generally good but sometimes not.

Gameplay: A+ Fast and furious action gameplay with a great combo system, intuitive controls, and varied enemies. Unlockable Hard mode provides added challenge and replay value, along with hidden bonuses and Wi-Fi leaderboards.


Overall: A-

There is simply no other DS game like Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword! A must-play for DS owners and action fans alike!























































































































































































































































































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