At today's Nintendo World show in Nagoya, Square Enix finally pulled the lid off of Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (or DQSTMQATTOM, as we like to call it), the highly anticipated Dragon Quest spinoff for Wii that was originally supposed to be available at launch before getting delayed into 2007.
Much like the standalone Kenshin Dragon Quest game that was sold in Japan a few years back (a standalone game system using a sword that would plug in to a TV set), DQS is essentially an on-rails first-person slasher. You move forward by pressing the A or B buttons and you interact with objects by shaking the pointer at them (for example, pointing at a bush and shaking the Wiimote might result in an item popping out). No turning or strafing -- if you come to a fork in the road, arrows pop up showing you the available paths you can take, which you then choose by pointing and pressing A. It's a bit disappointing that DQS doesn't allow for more freedom of movement, but the beautiful graphics and charming atmosphere definitely help to lessen the pain.
As you travel along your linear path, enemies jump out to attack and the screen switches into battle mode. Here, you have several options; you can slash the sword in any direction by simply swinging the Wiimote; you can do a slower, more powerful forward thrust attack by lunging the Wiimote toward the screen; you can cast projectile spells by pressing the B button (useful for attacking enemies in the background or hiding behind objects); and you can defend against attacks by pressing A to hold up your shield. Shield movement isn't restrained to just one spot, either; if an enemy attacks near your feet, for example, you need to move the shield low in order to block it. There's also a special attack you can perform when your attack gauge fills up. If you press 1 when the gauge is full, a special meter appears on the right side of the screen that represents the strength of your upcoming attack. At this point, you're supposed to waggle the Wiimote in the air in a circular motion as fast as possible to try and build up the meter before unleashing a devastating series of supercharged blows on your unsuspecting foes.
At the end of each stage, you take on a boss (in the demo version, anyway), and once you defeat them, the stage is completed and you receive a ranking and points. (We ranked A and B, respectively, in the two available stages at the event.)
DQS is due for release in Spring 2007 in Japan, with a US release hopefully to follow shortly thereafter. It may not be a full-on RPG like the other DQ games, but the short bit we played was definitely more enjoyable than we expected, given the obvious shortcomings in its design (linear movement, stage-based progression, etc.). We're excited to spend more time with it, and will be back with more coverage as soon as possible.
Wer weiß,was für neue Genres auf dem Wii entdeckt werden...IOch freue mich auf alle Wii Spiele,denn Spiele die vorher beschiessen waren,können auf dem Wii zu neuem Glanz kommen^^
