"I am not sure what got more damaged: Ryu or my DS."

With what little I played of it, Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox was an excellent game. Not only was it challenging, fluid, intense, and exciting, it was also responsive. By responsive, I mean that if you die, you can't blame the controls. Instead, you have to blame your lack of skills. Unfortunately, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the DS lacks a few of the above adjectives describing the Xbox game. Even more unfortunately, responsive happens to be one of those adjectives. NGDS took a different approach to action games, but I prefer my action games to be controlled by buttons and not by a stylus.

A Kidnapped Kunoichi.
Six months have passed since the events of Ninja Gaiden. Ryu and the people of his village have been tidying things up and continuing their training in order to not let something so tragic happen again. After a training session between Ryu and a kunoichi named Momiji, the two decide to head back to the village. However, Momiji decides to stay behind and pick some flowers. As it turns out, Momiji gets kidnapped by the Black Spider Clan! Ryu is on the scene and will not allow another tragedy to befall the village.

It should go without saying that the story would have little originality. You control Ryu and have to save Momiji while collecting Dragon Stones. The conversations that occur seem to have come from an anime that was made in the 1980s. The characters, aside from Ryu, are far from likable. This pertains to both heroes and villains.

Quick Japanese.
Luckily for gamers, the conversations are not fully voiced. Instead of hearing the statements verbatim, you will hear a word or two regarding the event going on. Someone is talking to Ryu? You will hear, "Ryu-sama!" Someone is in pain? You will hear them scream or moan. I like this approach because it saves gamers from awful voice acting. Not to mention, it gives a sense of Japanese realism. Besides the voices, you will hear great music. Modern day instrumentals mixed together with oriental flare create a soundtrack for all to enjoy.

Ryu + His Muscles = A Hot Ninja!
One thing is for sure; this game looks great. While the DS's graphic capabilities are not as advanced as the PSP's, the graphics in NGDS look excellent. The 3D polygons, while often times small, move with fluidity. During a cut scene, you are treated to anime still shots of the events taking place. The environments that Ryu explores are the greatest part of the graphics (aside from Ryu being a total stud). Not only do they look realistic, they are vast.

Silly Stylus Slashing.
Earlier, I griped about the story being uninspiring. However, who plays a game like NGDS for the story? I, for one, am all about the game play! If I am able to control Ryu as he cuts through hordes of monsters and enemy ninja, then a plot becomes irrelevant.

Too bad the game play has too many flaws to make it enjoyable. In NGDS, you hold your DS like you would a book. About 90% of the time, you will be using the stylus to play. By holding the stylus over an area, Ryu will run to it. By sliding it up, Ryu will jump. You can also perform a double jump. If you hold any button, Ryu will guard. You can do a guard-roll by guarding and tapping with the stylus.

Now that you can move, it is time to attack your enemies. By quickly sliding the stylus across a foe, Ryu will attack. Continue to slice, and he will continue to attack. You can perform combos, as well as maneuvers that you obtain from scrolls. Ryu can also cast magic by tracing symbols on the touch screen. The magic attacks can then be moved around with the stylus. Ryu is also able to perform an ultimate attack by furiously sliding the stylus back and forth. Finally, Ryu has some projectile weapons available which are used by tapping an enemy.

With all of these attacks at his disposal and with the ability to buy new spells and skills from the merchant, you would think that NGDS was an innovative game. Unfortunately, it is quite the opposite. Enemies have a tendency to swarm you en masse, and this will lead you to furiously slash around with the stylus. While you can manage to defeat your foes, you will notice that there was no accomplishment. You know, that excited feeling you get when you overcome a tough obstacle. Instead of NGDS being a button masher, it is a stylus slider.

In fact, it was the control scheme that usually caused me to die. The stylus can be so unresponsive that you will lack the time to be able to dodge out of the way of an attack. Boss battles are either super easy or super difficult. However, the difficult bosses are only difficult because you are frantically sliding that damn stylus and things are not going as planned.

As a result of this game play, not only did Ryu get beat up, but my touch-screen did, too. Frantically slashing with that stylus is not recommended for any game, but when you are crowded by enemies or trying to avoid a giant fireball, what person is not going to act on impulse? Needless to say, the action needs some work.

Back to the Village.
NGDS is divided into chapters. When you reach the end of a level and kill the boss, you will be back in the ninja village and the new chapter begins. Here you can talk with the locals and buy things from the shop. Money can be a problem, but by finding the right areas, you can easily rack up the dough. There are also hidden birds found throughout the game. You are unable to see them, but you can hear them. If you tap the right area or blow into the microphone, you will be able to make them reveal themselves. If you manage to defeat these critters, you will gain wooden tablets that show character profiles and movies.

Thankfully Short.
NGDS is a short game, running about eight hours. After you finish the game once, you can try the game again on another difficulty level. For me, once through was enough. I was unhappy with this purchase and recommend that you rent the game instead of buying it. Ryu Hayabusa is an awesome character who has a solid place in video game history. However, his debut on the Nintendo DS was unimpressive. Sure, the game looks and sounds great, but the way it plays will make hard-core action fans annoyed. Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword should only be played by those who do not mind unresponsive controls.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/09/08

Game Release: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (US, 03/25/08)