Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword Team Ninja proves that Ryu Hayabusa needn't only kick ass in high-def. Hands-on report and two-plus minutes of direct-feed.
August 13, 2007 - Ask gamers about the Ninja Gaiden series today and they might point you to its Xbox-based comeback, or perhaps true newbies will cite the recently released Sigma for PlayStation 3, but if you really trace the franchise back to its 1988 roots, you will find that it was born in the arcades and made popular on NES. Naturally, Ninja Gaiden, which stars the agile hero Ryu Hayabusa, has evolved over the years, and yet the same focus on intense fighting action has remained. So have many other *****, including the atmospheric presentations -- the NES Gaiden was one of the first to include story cinematics of any kind -- and genuine difficulty; even today, the hardcore crowd is adamant that the Gaiden titles are tougher to master and complete than almost all competitors. All of these truths make for some compelling videogames, if you can get past some of the crippling camera issues in some of the latest console builds, but how do you translate a series known for cutting-edge graphics and spectacular button combos to a handheld that lacks the horsepower of any home system and uses a stylus to boot? As it turns out, you do it very, very well, if you're Tomonobu Itagaki and Team Ninja.
After nearly two decades away, Ryu Hayabusa is back on a Nintendo platform in
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for DS, a game scheduled very tentatively to hit store shelves this November. We recently had the chance to try out a very brief (about three minutes in length) demo that spotlighted some of the gameplay and visual styles that Team Ninja is going for and we came away very impressed. Indeed, if more developers approached DS development like Team Ninja has, the state of third party releases would be very much improved.
Dragon Sword makes sense from the beginning. Itagaki and team have very clearly thought about how best to utilize the strengths of Nintendo's handheld without sacrificing presentation, functionality or comfort, the latter of which is noticeable as soon as you pick up the DS to play. That's because Gaiden is not gripped traditionally; instead, you hold the DS "book style" so that both screens are seen vertically in a style similar to the Brain Age games. (We've been huge proponents of "book style" DS games for many months and couldn't possibly be happier that a non-casual effort has utilized the layout.) Furthermore, you don't press any buttons to execute attack moves in Dragon Sword -- you use the stylus to slash Hayabusa's sword, throw shurikens, jump, and even deal out combos. Indeed, you'll only need to press a button -- any button you want, actually -- (or any direction on the D-Pad) to go into a defensive position that, coupled with stylus movement, will make Ryu dodge oncoming attacks.
It you're thinking this all sounds gimmicky or that it seems forced, think again. Once you actually get your hands on the setup and easily dispatch your first group of ninja enemies, you will be convinced that Team Ninja has hit upon something very intuitive and fun. To move Ryu through the environments, which are comprised of very detailed pre-rendered backgrounds in order to maintain visual flair and fluidity, you simply drag the character with the stylus wherever you want him to run. (All the action unfolds on the right screen, as the left is used so far only for maps, a waste of real estate as far as we're concerned, since the levels we've seen up until now hardly require guidance.) Ryu responds quickly to stylus input, sprinting to on-screen areas you point toward. Also, if you quickly stroke upward with the stylus, he will always jump into the air -- you never get a sense that the controls aren't responsive; rather, they feel very dead-on and well thought out.
If you want to swipe an enemy with the Dragon Sword, you merely slide your stylus over them and Ryu will attack (supposing he's near them). To throw shurikens at foes, you easily tap them over and over with the stylus -- the stars will fly. You can stroke upward, at which point Ryu will jump into the air, and while hanging you can speedily tap enemies, causing Hayabusa to chuck shurikens their way from his mid-air vantage point. You can begin to see the potential of combos, we hope, but it goes further. If you slide up and then down with the stylus, Ryu will leap airborne and then come down hard with his sword, taking out any enemies nearby. The Izuna Drop is performed by sliding down, up and up, at which time Hayabusa will knock an assassin upward, leap after them, and then spiral-slam them back to the ground. If all that isn't enough, you can tap the Ninpo icon located at the top-left corner to trigger the Ninpo, which will wreck everybody on-screen. (Once you tap the icon, a sanskrit letter will appear on-screen and you will have to trace it with the stylus. With that done, the special move will begin.) One such move emits a powerful fireball that can be guided around the screen with the stylus, obliterating any ninjas in Hayabusa's path. Of course, any of these moves by themselves are important to the experience, but you will quickly begin stringing together combos for more effective attacks. For instance, jumping into the air and throwing shurikens at opponents and then coming down on them with an Izuna Drop before segueing into a Ninpo. Everything can be performed so effortlessly and quickly that you will forget within seconds that you are using neither analog sticks nor buttons to progress.
The very short (too brief, in our opinion) demo of Dragon Sword concludes with a boss fight. After journeying through a portion of the Hayabusa Village, Ryu does battle with a red dragon boss character, which flies from the sky and lands in an arena to meet him. The winged, fanged creature flaps and charged forward menacingly, but its attacks are easily dodged and countered with the aforementioned moves and combos at Ryu's disposal. All in all, it takes about 30 seconds to demolish the beast, especially if you use the Izuna Drop after chucking shurikens in its direction.
What the demo proves beyond any doubt is that Gaiden for DS is terrific. We've been outspoken about our issues with some of the console titles, but with a fixed camera and pre-rendered backgrounds to boot, the drawbacks are gone and players are left with a very manageable, very fun to play and very pretty DS title. We love the "book style" presentation and the stylus-reworked control scheme. The only area left for Dragon Sword to live up to is the difficulty level that the series has become known for; the demo is completed easily, and thus we're eager to try out stages and fight enemies with more complexity and challenge -- both of which are sure to be on the way. Check out our direct-feed walkthrough, which showcases more than two minutes of gameplay, in our media section.