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

"A good idea that needs a lot of work if its gonna make it for the Wii"

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is one of the first RPG's to use the motion sensor of the Wii Remote to swing a sword. This highly inovative way of fighting has caused this RPG to become hard and not enjoyable.

Graphics- 4/10 The graphics in this game are horrible, the graphic of the terrain and surrounding areas could easily be mistaken for Gamecube graphics. The general lack of trees and other items make the game seem bland and uncreative. The saving grace of this game is the complexity of the character models. The models are well thought out to fit the character's attitude and style.

Music/Sound- 3/10 The sound in this game is horrible. The music is so common and repeating that you tend to completely block it out or just turn the volume off. The worst part is the sound of characters walking. Each step that the characters take has a sound. THe only good sound is the voice over of the characters.

Game play - 1/10 The game play in this game is inexcusably grotesque. Firstly this game is way too short. A game that makes you follow a linear pattern should have at least made the quests a lot longer. Each quest can take about 30-45 minutes to complete, then you go back to town, talk to a few people, buy some upgrades and then go to the next quest. Secondly the game controls are next to unplayable. An RPG in first person should ALWAYS use the nunchuck. The D-pad isn't bad for missions do to the their linear style, but in town it can become quite annoying. Lastly the battle system needs MASSIVE improvement. To swing your sword you simply swing the Wii Remote in the direction you want it to go in. Sounds easy right? Wrong. You must hold the remote facing upward all the time to get the direction of slice (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) that you wanted. This would not be a huge deal if the game didn't try to incorporate some strategy using the directional slices. An example of this is reflecting projectiles back at the attacker. First you must hit the projectile at the exact moment or you will miss. In some cases you have two projectiles coming at you from to sides of the screen and your shield isn't big enough to block both of them. You must use a horizontal slash to reflect them. The only problem is that when you make a horizontal motion with the remote, a vertical slash appears on the screen and you die.

Overall- 2/10 A broken set of controls, bad character development and horrible music prevent anyone from having real fun. With A LOT of work this game could actually become a decent game for the Wii.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/08

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