Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

"Fun, innovative game that is not a typical RPG, but more like a lightgun game."

DQ Swords is a different kind of game which makes it a bit hard to judge or rank. It is not a traditional RPG although there are many RPG elements involved with the game (leving up, upgrading and choosing equipment, talking to characters, mini-games etc). I will break down the review into parts, but for me gameplay is always the most importat aspect by far.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics were just fine and I can't see how improving them would have enhanced the game at all. A few graphical errors in the game and the fact that those errors can affect combat slightly is the only reason I took a point off here. For the most part everything looks good and the game flows smothly in the graphics department.

Sound: 8/10

Good music and effects that includes many of the traditional DQ sounds which is enjoyable. Nothing super special here in my opinion, but the music/sounds don't detract from gameplay either. Again the sounds remind me a ton of lightgun/rail games.

Gameplay: 8/10

Ok the meat of the game. The gameplay is a blast for me, but has some major flaws in the controls from my experience. If the controls were spot on and your slashes always worked like you wanted the game would be much more fun. While there is a learning curve and eventually you start to make small movements which helps prevent random thrusts as much etc, the game still continues to not understand what slashes you are trying to make and since you often need to be quite precise in your attacks, this seriously detracts from the gameplay.

When your slashes DO work right though the game is a blast. You control your attacks by slashing with your wi remote in the direction you want the attack to go. You can choose the focal point with the A button (where the middle of your slash is) and in that way theoretically determine exactly where on the screen your slash will show up. When it works it's awesome, but sometimes it will do a horizontal slash instead of a diagnal or even worse a thrust instead of a slash at all.

The RPG aspects of the game involve upgrading equipment, finding items, playing mini games to win rewards and talking to many players along the way through the game. Gameplay is fast paced and enjoyable although the game isn't that long the initial time through. You can continue playing after you win and like a light gun game you can replay past areas repeatedly to try and improve your score/ranking.

Replay value: 7/10

While DQ swords is a fun game, and there is alot to do after finishing it still, the game does not have as much replay value to me as many other RPGs or even rail/lightgun games. The unfortunate thing about this game and the reason I gave it only an 8 is that most of the challenge at least that I had was from the controls not working well enough. The frustration of your slashes not coming out right is very annoying and unlike a fast paced intense light gun game such as Elemental Gearbolt, DQ Swords really does not have areas that make you die to go back and play themagain. In fact by the time you finish the game the first time and go back through areas to get the ingrediants you need to upgrade your equipment (by getting higher ranks) you will probably be tired of them already. I can see playing the game every so often just to experience the type of combat again, but probably only for a short while and not through the entire game again.

Overall: 8/10

Overall I enjoyed this game and think it is worth adding to my collection of Wii games along with Elebits, Zelda etc. The gameplay is different enough to make the experience fairly unique and make the game be worth owning just so you can go back and slash things with your Wii remote again every so often. The combat interface is fun and faced paced and the controls while flawed slightly work well enough to at least make you feel like you have decent control over the battle and are not just slashing randomly. The shield blocking works perfectly for instance and it's really only when you need to exactly time slashes to hit arrows/spells etc back at enemies (more then one at a time usually) that the controls really fail you in this game.

I recommend at least renting the game to see if you enjoy it. If you like lightgun ty pe games and want to play one with a new interface and a bit of a RPG feel to it (more so even then Elemental Gearbolt if you played that) then I suggest you just buy this game outright.

I was personally waiting for a very long time to play this game and it didn't let me down. It was shorter then I would have liked, but the time I spent p laying it was quite enjoyable.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/08

Game Release: Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (US, 02/19/08)