Register Now!

61 Frames Per Second

Watcha Playing: Ninja Gaiden - Dragon Sword

Posted by Amber Ahlborn



This is my first play of a Ninja Gaiden game. Back in the NES days I was aware of the series but at the time I pretty much only played hop-and-bop platformers. I did buy the original title on the Virtual Console, but VC games are at the bottom of my backlog pile. So, Dragon Sword is my series introduction and it's a pretty darn good one.

Highly Visible Ninja Ryu slices and dices his way through nicely aggressive swarms of foes and fiends. This is a DS game where, oddly enough, you hold the system sideways to play, like it was a book. No worries for my fellow lefties, you can set the game to either hand. Why the developers decided to go with this layout I do not know. It works but I can't see what advantage it has over the traditional DS position. Dragon Sword also makes almost exclusive use of the stylus for control. It works just fine, though I find myself doing the stylus equivalent of button mashing (screen scribbling?) more than trying out different techniques.

Currently I'm pretty early in. The game's design really fits the portable game philosophy of pick up and play and I've been playing it in short bursts. It hasn't been terribly difficult yet though I was killed once by this guy-



Screen shots don't do the game justice, it's a real looker on the DS. I know there are some who disparage the use of prerendered backgrounds, but I couldn't disagree more. Interaction with the environment simply isn't part of the game-play so why not use a very lovely matte painting to set the stage for the action? The 3-D models are also quite detailed, something I appreciate since characters can get quite close to the camera during combat. Ninja Gaiden – Dragon Sword is keeping my DS close at hand for a quick ninja fix. I'll recommend it to anyone who loves action games.



Ninja Gaiden 2 Review part 1

Ninja Gaiden 2 Review part 2


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

No Comments

About Amber Ahlborn

Artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

in

Archives

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


Send tips to


Tags

VIDEO GAMES


partners