I played Ninja Gaiden a few years back (not the NES version). I still play it. A lot!

It’s quite simple to understand why someone could be addicted to a game like that. Great graphics, excellent sound, stylistic action and ninja combat, fluid controls and an extremely deep combat system all scream at you to keep playing. Add to that various mutators, such as the Master Ninja Tournaments and you’ve got your killer-app. Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox had it all. At the risk of losing gamer-credibility, I’d go as far as saying that Halo was the overrated game on the Xbox - Ninja Gaiden truly showed the world what the box was capable of and how a game should be made. Ninja Gaiden Black came along and added new enemies, a few twists and the legendary Master Ninja tournaments.

But then news came along that Ninja Gaiden was being developed for the Nintendo DS and I went “Oh fuck! Here goes the coolest looking game back to shitty graphics and kiddy gameplay”.

Oh how wrong I was.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (NGDS) is almost like having the Xbox version on the go. The game looks unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the DS or any handheld device, and can seriously leave all the competition behind. Sure, God of War: Chains of Olympus looks great on the PSP - but then again, the DS is still a “weaker” system! Team Ninja have once again proven that they can pull off the impossible.

NGDS is set about 6 months after the Xbox version and has Ryu Hayabusa hacking, slashing and Izuna-Dropping his way around to locate the 8 Dark Dragon Stones, to save the world from annihilation. The game looks amazing and it’s hard to believe that you’re playing it on the DS. The game is completely controlled by the stylus, including movement and combat, with all other buttons (except Start & Select) used for blocking attacks. This makes up for unique gameplay, making the game less of a button-masher and more of a stylus-slasher!

Graphically, it’s pretty evident by now that the game is the shite! The pre-rendered backgrounds allow for detailed and fluid character animation and effects. So right from Ryu’s scarf, to sword swishes and effects, to enemy actions and essence absorption - everything looks great and exactly what one would expect of a game that set such high standards of quality.

The game has a good soundtrack, featuring the return of a number of tracks specific to certain areas in the Xbox version. So if you’ve played that, you’ll find a lot of familiar environments and sounds, making it easier to put a few things back in context. The microphone comes into use as well, to either “wake up” people or to discover secrets.

Combat, being the key element to a Ninja Gaiden game, is top-notch and faithful to it’s predecessor. Ryu has a lot of his signature moves intact, such as the Flying Swallow, the Izuna Drop and Ultimate Techniques. Attacks are performed by sliding the stylus over enemies in a slashing action, while you can throw Shuriken or shoot arrows at enemies by tapping at them from a distance. The Izuna Drop appears to be the only combo attack in the game, requiring a down-stroke followed by 2 up-strokes. Finally, the Ultimate Techniques can be performed by rapidly sliding the stylus across the screen till Ryu starts building up essence -after which one only needs to keep the stylus on the screen. It’s a 2 stage process, with the final stage being red essence-indicating the maximum power built up. Once you have enough power, taking the stylus off the screen unleashes a swarm of blades from all across, which is fairly sufficient for clearing most enemies on-display. Repeat as necessary. Ninpo magic also stays, with the player having to invoke Ninpo power, and then draw the corresponding symbol, in order to release the attack.

It’s good use of the touch-screen features and makes for good game-play without being subjected to the torture of small buttons and remembering the button combos. The second screen is used to display a mini-map, and generally give you all the help a map can give.

The one thing that did surprise me a little, is that this game can actually be quite easy, compared to it’s previous versions. Boss fights are seldom tough and can mostly be completed by a few slashes, a few Ultimate Techniques and Ninpo. I’m not as good as my brother at the game, but I had 2 perfect boss fights. So that’s how easy it can be. But while this may piss of the hardcore loyalist types, I see it as a good way to make the game more accessible to all types of gamers (Except the homoerotic type like Vijay who jerk off to JRPGs)

Overall, I found NGDS to be one of the best games available on the DS. It clearly proves that Team Ninja are a bunch of gods and Tomonobu Itagaki is Zeus. The game offers about 6-8 hours of action packed, stylistic ninja-style ass kicking and if you own a DS, you have got to own Dragon Sword.

As Sachin Tendulkar said in his Visa commercial - “Go get it!”

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• Arachnid Says:
  April 6th, 2008 at 11:28 am

  Author’s afterthough : Ninja Gaiden DS will FUCK UP your touch screen. It’s furious, fast and unforgiving. Ladies and germs - prepare to get your screens FUCKED UP! (but it’s all good baby, hang in there!)