After a rather underwhelming E3, nothing really topped that FFXIII announcement, it's time for gamers to return to their backlog, and the summer is the perfect time for that!
The first game in my list was the latest entry in the Ninja Gaiden series, Dragon Sword, for the Nintendo DS. The DS hardly seemed like the ideal platform for the top-notch graphics and high-paced action of the Ninja Gaiden series, but somehow Tecmo made it work. The touch controls work perfectly, combat is very satisfying and just plain fun, the graphics are really nice and the bosses are huge.
It's hardly without its faults, though. The game is very short, it took me a little less than six hours to finish, and while I will always take a short yet good game over a game that has tons of filler, not to mention there are several reasons to replay the game, I can't help but feel that they could have easily added at least a couple more hours of quality gameplay.
Then there's the issue of the game's surprisingly low difficulty. I'm using the word "surprisingly", because all recent Ninja Gaiden games are notoriously difficult. So much so that they're almost a benchmark on how difficult a contemporary mainstream game can be. I guess that Tecmo had to make the game appealing to the DS demographic, but when you can kill most bosses in your first try, something doesn't feel right. In fact, I'd say that some bosses felt easier than some other random encounters with normal enemies in the game. The "Head Ninja" (wut?) difficulty that is unlocked once you finish the game makes it feel more like a traditional Ninja Gaiden game, but not everyone will stomach a second playthrough.
Lastly, the story is incredibly, undeniably, bad, so much that it's bound to make you groan several times (it involves a demon conspiracy, 'nuff said), but that's practically a given with Ninja Gaiden games these days, so it hardly comes as a surprise.
TL;DR version:
Apparently Dragon Sword didn't sell all that well, which is rather amusing, given that people complain about the lack of traditional games on the DS, and when they are finally given a game adhering to their rules, they don't buy it. Still, it's a quality purchase for DS owners.
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