t’s not fair to judge a game by the first few minutes, which is really too bad for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. It opens strong with fast and ruthless combat, and instantly amazed me with a clever solution to touch-based combo action. As I played the rest of the game, however, I felt like a deprived junkie; that initial high is all the game provides, and it is intended to carry you through several more hours of practically unchanging combat.

Of all the things Dragon Sword attempts, the controls are the real triumph. Team Ninja has devised a deceptively elegant solution for fast-paced battles on the DS. Holding the system vertically like a book, you move and attack entirely with the touch screen. Combos are just a matter of repeatedly slashing the stylus over the enemy you want to hit. It sounds simple, but it works well. Some circumstances require more precision than the game can accommodate – especially with aerial attacks – but even that isn’t too bad. A few retries will get you through almost any roadblock.

As much as I enjoyed the control scheme, I wasn’t such a fan of the opportunities the game gave me to use it. The pacing is uninspired; you’re mainly fighting palette swaps of the same few enemies, and you stop getting new abilities way too soon (except magic, which is more for puzzle-solving than combat). The structure isn’t bad, but it is very familiar – travel to various zones in a specific order (the ice and fire levels are accounted for, of course), fight the bosses, and keep going. The boss designs are impressive, though the battles themselves aren’t tough until the very end. This game definitely never reaches the heights of difficulty seen on the Xbox entry in the series.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a commendable attempt at making a straight-up action game on the DS. I like the combat and the mechanics, and even though the battles get repetitive, it’s frantic and fun enough to occasionally make you forget that fact.