Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Too short"

There are so many games that sound like a perfect fit for the Nintendo DS hardware. Ninja Gaiden is not one of these. An entirely touch screen screen controlled version of an incredibly gory and graphically powerful game doesn't exactly sound like it would work that well on Nintendo's handheld. However, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword manages to bring the adventures of Ryu Hayabusa over to the DS with all the grace and skill of, well, a ninja.

In terms of graphics, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a game that pushes the DS to its limits. The 3D models of characters are very detailed and smoothly animated and the manga-style cutscenes are well drawn and interesting to watch. Even when there are a lot of enemies on the screen at once there seems to be no noticeable slowdown in the game. The soundtrack is also of a very high quality with audio that sounds almost too good for the DS speakers.

When it comes to controls, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is actually very similar to The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, only this time you hold the DS on the side (a la Brain Training). You tap and drag the stylus to make Ryu move around and slash with your stylus to slash with your sword. Controlling Ryu feels very smooth and satisfying - which is what you'd expect when controlling a ninja, really. There are a large range of techniques to pull off with the Dragon Sword all of which are pulled off by a series of stylus swipes across the touch screen. Rounding out Ryu's repertoire of moves is a handy block attack which uses the L or R buttons, the ability to throw shurikens or shoot arrows by tapping enemies and Ninpo magic which can launch anything from flaming orbs to stylus controlled lightning strikes at your enemies. The touch screen is put to good use, but because most the moves are triggered in a similar way, if you try to attack an enemy you might accidentally jump over them or start charging up your powerful Ultimate Technique. It's a minor gripe, but in the higher difficulty levels it can mean the difference between life and death. Overall, the controls in Dragon Sword work very well during combat, but in platforming sequences they can be very awkward. Thankfully these touch –controlled platforming sessions are kept to a minimum, and it's shortly back to slicing up enemies with your stylus.

The main problem with Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is that it feels too shallow. The game only takes about five hours to finish but by the end of those five hours I was already getting sick of it. Yes, Ryu does have a large array of moves but they don't prevent the combat from becoming very repetitive. And while the enemies all look good, there could have been a much wider variety of them as well as the levels. The game's attempts at making you keep playing – online leaderboards and various unlockables won't keep you going long after the credits. It is fun to check how you rank compared to others, but good luck getting to the top of the leaderboards unless you can somehow get a karma score of 9999999 points. The unlockables consist of nothing but character profiles and cutscenes and are unlocked by blowing or shouting in the DS microphone at various points in the game. Yes, even a game like Ninja Gaiden isn't immune to the "DS syndrome" of putting on tacked on controls. It does have multiple difficulty levels, though, so hardcore gamers up to the challenge might keep playing just for the bragging rights. Some people have argued that the game is relatively tame by Ninja Gaiden standards. Personally, I can't beat the second level on Head Ninja difficulty. Dragon Sword is easy to jump into and finish on the easiest difficulty but there is plenty of depth for the hardcore.

And in the end, that's what Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword does best – appeal to the hardcore crowd who are tired of pet sims and minigame compilations. While it may not have the intense difficulty or excessive gore of its Xbox/PS3 counterparts it more than makes up for it in innovative controls. In fact, despite its short length, it's hard not to recommend Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword to anyone as it is otherwise an incredibly well made game.