Legendary badass Ryu Hayabusa may cheat death on a daily basis, but he can’t evade GameCyte’s scorn in this first portable outing.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. While Ninja Gaiden’s 2004 Xbox debut captivated critics and enthusiasts alike with speedy swordplay, daunting difficulty and beautiful graphics, since then gamers have had to endure one retread after another as Tecmo beat their poor ninja Black and blue in search of green. Today, series fans screaming for blood may finally get their due — we hear Ninja Gaiden II, releasing today for the Xbox 360, has plenty — but there are no doubt gamers who, whether priming themselves for the sequel or simply underage, will pick up Ninja Gaiden DS instead. We’d recommend against that.
As a lifelong portable gamer, I must concede: Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a technological masterpiece. From the pinpoint-precise control scheme that enables gamers to slice n’ dice simply by brushing on-screen enemies with the DS stylus, to the impressive pseudo-3D level design that convincingly recreates nearly all of Gaiden’s most memorable environs, this Sword is polished to a mirror sheen.
But one thing became painfully clear as I dove through seven hours of mindless, repetitive melees — none of that means a damn if the game isn’t fun.
There are a number of reasons why players might enjoy a game. It might have an engaging story; memorable characters; intriguing gameplay; interesting places to explore; things to accomplish; lessons to learn; and unique ways of interacting with the game world. The problem is, Ninja Gaiden DS has none of these — especially if you’ve ever played any of the aforementioned console predecessors. Despite what any other reviewer might tell you, Dragon Sword is yet another retread of the 2004 original, and one that pales in comparison.
Taking place six months after master ninja Ryu Hayabusa defeated the Vigoor Emperor and destroyed the Dark Dragon Blade, Dragon Sword introduces Momiji, sister of the fallen priestess Kureha and now a buxom female ninja training under Ryu in order to protect the ninja village whose utter annihilation in Ninja Gaiden has apparently been undone. Gaping plot hole aside, Momiji soon gets carted off by an evil dragon, and captured by the Black Spider Clan, letting the plot degenerate further into a damsel-in-distress adventure. Also, taking a page from a certain tale of souls and swords, eternally retold, we learn that the Dark Dragon Blade wasn’t really destroyed by Ryu’s blade, but actually divided into eight pieces now called the Dark Dragonstones. And after we are told point-blank that “if all eight dark dragonstones were to be collected in a single place, the world would once again be enveloped in a chaos of death and destruction,” Ryu is inexplicably tasked to — you guessed it — collect the stones. Injury, meet insult.
Of course, those acquainted with Ninja Gaiden will know that story isn’t one of Team Ninja’s strong suits — where they excel is in creating a beautiful, engaging experience. And at first, Dragon Sword seems to fit the bill. Presentation in particular is stunning, with backdrops, character animation, sound and even the foes you face either directly lifted or painstakingly recreated for the 3-inch DS touchscreen. But there’s the rub. These reused assets pervade practically the entire game, to the point where even most boss fights will be eminently familiar to fans of the original. Only this time, you’ll have far fewer ways to take those bosses down.
One of Ninja Gaiden’s more compelling features was its collection of diverse (and incredibly destructive) upgradeable weaponry. In addition to the Dragon Sword, Ryu could wield nunchaku, a war hammer, a flail, even a gigantic bladed weapon called the Dabilahro, upgrading each to unlock combos worthy of a 3D fighter and flashy new moves suitable for decapitating legions of foes. Here, only the titular Dragon Sword remains, and so there’s neither strategy nor element of preference involved in upgrading it — you merely do so whenever the opportunity arises — and no flashy moves to be had as a result. We didn’t honestly expect decapitation on Nintendo’s kid-tested, mother-approved handheld, but we were hoping upgrades meant more than just a slight boost in damage dealt and an extension on the number of times you can insert a horizontal slash into a combo.
There’s any number of other disappointments in Ninja Gaiden DS — the piecemeal dialogue, the tacked-on touchscreen puzzles (in order to open a door, one work of genius requires you to extinguish blue flames with Wind magic, then relight them with Fire magic), the Devil May Cry-style magic barriers that keep you mindlessly slashing until every last enemy is dead — but ultimately, Dragon Sword’s one unforgivable sin is its nonexistent difficulty level.
By the time I obtained both a scroll that allowed me to perform continuous midair flying attacks and another that made my sword reflect enemy projectiles with every slash, I found there was no longer a reason to do anything other than wildly trace the stylus across anything and everything on screen.
You think I exaggerate? Perhaps I’m just an incredibly skilled gamer? I’d like to think so, but let’s try a little experiment — I call it “blind ninja.” In Chapter 6, I played through every battle and defeated the boss all with my eyes closed. Rank? Master Ninja. Chapter 7, excepting the long-range boss? Master Ninja. Chapter 8, same caveat? Master ****ing Ninja. In fact, I found that every standard enemy in the game (and several bosses) succumbed to a simple succession of horizontal slashes, scribbled rapid-fire across the very center of the touchscreen, followed by the occasional random aerial slash and a charged Ultimate Technique or three to mop up anything Ryu Hayabusa, Meat Grinder Extraordinaire had missed.
Combined with a plethora of save points — located approximately every ten steps — that restore health to max; powerful Ninpo techniques that not only carve huge chunks out of bosses but can be abused as invulnerability shields; and the fact that Ryu automatically blocks certain attacks, combat is practically pointless in Dragon Sword. Where Ninja Gaiden eviscerated gamers but caused them to better themselves for the experience, here there’s nary a stone on which to hone your edge. And while some reviewers point at the harder, unlockable difficulty modes, playing through an entire game in order to unlock palatability is simply unacceptable.
What happened to the Itagaki who made Ninja Gaiden Black players wear a pink ribbon for choosing the demeaning Ninja Dog difficulty level? What happened to the tough-as-nails gameplay that inspired two generations of gamers to go out and buy new controllers? Kamikakushi, that’s where. I’m just hoping against hope Ninja Gaiden’s true sequel hasn’t met a similar fate.
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