Ninja Gaiden drops on by the DS and livens up the party with the innovative and fun Dragon Sword.
Anyone who games a lot knows that Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden series for the Xbox (soon for the 360 as well) was seen as a game for the hardcore of the hardcore group of gamers. This series was unforgiving in its difficulty and didn't baby the players. While such a thing may alienate the more casual player it does pose as a great challenge for gamers who have seen and played all types of games and where a challenge to their gaming skill comes only rarely. I was concerned that transferring that difficulty level from the console to the handheld would prove to be a problem, but Team Ninja seem to have found a balance in Dragon Sword's overall execution. While Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword is not sadistically difficult it's also not a pushover. There's enough of a challenge in the gameplay that it shows the spirit of what the Ninja Gaiden series has always been: a challenging and fun action series.
Dragon Sword also made great use of the DS touch screen and stylus system by pretty much using it as the end-all and be-all of moving and fighting throughout the game. The rest of the buttons, shoulder bumpers and D-pad have been relegated to act as a way to block incoming attacks. This makes the game quite intuitive as making slashing motions over an enemy on the touch screen would cause Ryu Hayabusa to lock on that opponent and make his attacks. Combo attacks and chains could be achieved by making the correct patterns with the stylus over an opponent. For hack and slash players the combat system will be easy to use even fancy attacks are not made, but for those willing to learn the special techniques the stylus-touchscreen mechanic could be quite rewarding.
The graphics on this game is some of the best I've seen on an DS game released so far. While not on the same level as the Xbox's Ninja Gaiden Black or the upcoming 360-exclusive Ninja Gaiden 2 this DS title pushes the limits of what the handheld's innerworkings can accomplish. Dragon Sword using 3D animation for the player and the enemies on the screen while using pre-rendered 2D animation for the background. Similar to past Resident Evil titles this marriage of 3D characters with 2D environments makes for quite a beautiful looking game. The comic book style animation for the cutscenes also makes the game play out like a manga. This illusion is further enhanced by the fact that the game is played with the DS opened like a book.
Overall, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword was quite the successful foray for the traditionally hardcore Ninja Gaiden series which always came out on the newest and powerful console system. Team Ninja was able to bring the action-oriented gameplay of the original console titles, but also bring an innovative and intuitive gameplay through near-exclusive use of the DS stylus and touchscreen. Here's to hoping Team Ninja will continue to make more Ninja Gaiden and original IP titles for the DS to complement the titles they've been releasing on the 360.