Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Town of Mirrors Preview February 6,2008 - With one of the longest names in the history of gaming, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors looks to be the first Dragon Quest game to appear on a Nintendo console for a few generations. Swords is actually the third of these Dragon Quest spin-offs to appear recently, with the first two games appearing on the DS for each of the past two fall seasons. While those two games took on the action-adventure and monster-collecting RPG genres, Swords is part of a new movement of first-person games on the Wii to take advantage of Wii’s motion and pointing controls. Japanese gamers have had plenty of time to sink their teeth into the game, it’s time for North America to get ready for Dragon Quest Swords once it hits North American shelves later this month.

While Dragon Quest Swords is a spin off from the main series, it still retains the look and basics that Dragon Quest VIII featured, but with an interesting use of the Wii Remote to take advantage of what the Wii can offer. The graphics engine is certainly the same as what DQ VIII offered, which means you’ve got the bright, colorful graphics that still look nice a few years later. Square Enix took the challenge of making a game for the Wii and did a good job, with a focus on being able to play the game with just the Wii Remote because of the simplified controls and gameplay.

With the exception of towns, Swords is very much a linear game, as it’s done completely on rails as you navigate through various types of scenery by choosing your location when heading out of towns. To move forward, backwards, or even down which part of the fork in the road you wish to take, it’s as simple as using the d-pad to move. Yes, that does mean that exploration is will be kept to a minimum here. As you move along the path, enemies will jump in front of you to initiate a battle, so you must swing your sword, otherwise known as a Wii Remote, in vertical, horizontal, or diagonally motions along with performing a precise stab to take down the enemies you meet. If you can’t pull off a barrage of attacks in place of a defense, you can hold the B button to bring up your shield and aim it to block incoming attacks. The 1 and 2 buttons can be used for menus, when you need to use potions, spells, and special attacks in battle.

Outside of just the new battle system and controls, Swords allows you to choose a companion to assist you on your journey, though not to be more than just an occasional helper in battle. With the visuals being very much an extension of Dragon Quest VIII’s engine, expect a similar style in the voice acting, meaning English voice actors to keep that medieval atmosphere flowing. As for additions to the game besides a localization and a quick shoe shine for the game as whole, Square Enix is adding four new bosses that will be hidden around the world for you to defeat along with a mysterious new Payback mode that could add a bit of replay value to the game once you finish the main story mode.

While Dragon Quest Swords may not be the full sequel that Dragon Quest fans may have hoped to see, it should be an entertaining game in its own rights for Wii owners to enjoy. Until February 26th rolls around, one idea that you can use to entertain yourselves is finding out if there are any games with longer titles. If you do, then drop by the Gamer 2.0 forums and extend the title with your own additions for some laughs and a good time.

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