Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
When Square Enix announced that it would be creating a ground-up Dragon Quest game for Wii, fans of the series no doubt got their hopes up for a new-gen installment in the series that would simultaneously bring the beloved Japanese RPG to Nintendo's new home console and bring Nintendo's new-age controls to the stagnant RPG genre. However, what Square Enix had in mind was not quite the same thing. The obnoxiously named Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is an untraditional Dragon Quest game that ditches the franchises' depth for a lighter, more arcade-style experience. Based on the Japanese plug-n-play game, the RPG features simplified gameplay and takes place in first-person, telling the story of Blade, a hero-wannabe on a quest to save the world.

What's Hot
You might as well forget the fact that this is a Dragon Quest game, as it plays nothing like past games in the series. While some might find this to be a disappointment, others will likely enjoy the simpler gameplay design here. The heart of Dragon Quest Swords is its Wii-mote-based battle system. The game takes place in first-person and using the Wii-mote, you must slash at on-screen enemies to attack. Likewise, you also use the Wii remote to block incoming attacks. Right out of the gate, Swords has a more physically-involving combat system than just about any other RPG on the market, thanks to the Wii-mote controls.

In regards to both graphics and sound, Swords is hardly mind-blowing. However, it does feature a nice art-direction, complete with colorful character models and diverse locales to explore. Technically speaking, there's nothing impressive here, but it's easy to enjoy the art style itself. Musically, things are even better. The soundtrack in Swords is pleasant, boasting a mix of epic tracks with ambient ones.


Dragon Quest Swords
What's Not
Like a lot of other Wii software, there's a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to Dragon Quest Swords' simple game design. Newcomers to the RPG genre – or gaming in general – will probably appreciate the simplicity of Square's debut Wii game. However, core gamers will likely find the RPG is shallow in comparison to other games in the genre (or the series itself, even).

Take the control scheme, for instance. The game is played with just the Wii-mote, and as a result, the control suffers. Navigating the game's world is a clunky task, thanks to the fact that you must use the D-pad to manipulate your way through a 3D world in first-person. We're perplexed as to why Square didn't just allow you to plug in and use a nunchuck for control if that's what you wanted. Furthermore, the game design is marred further by the simplistic theme. Using the Wii-mote to slash slimes and baddies is novel at first – we'll give you that, Square – but the novelty wears off pretty fast, and then you're left with unsatisfying, repetitive combat. And because you can't directly control your party members (it's all automatic), you're stuck playing as the same character with the same moves for the entire game.

Outside of combat, this obsession with simplicity burns Dragon Quest Swords again and again. Exploring a sprawling world is usually part of the trademark Dragon Quest experience, but Swords doesn't know that. You point and click on a map to choose which region you will go to next, and then you walk through that stage-like area. The lack of exploration results in an overly linear experience. Then again, the D-pad controls are so uncomfortable and annoying, it's probably a good thing you don't have to explore more than you do.


Dragon Quest Swords
Final Word
For fans of the Dragon Quest franchise, Dragon Quest Swords just doesn't cut it. It's not a real Dragon Quest game. Instead, Square Enix employs an arcade-esque formula that removes most of the depth in the franchise and replaces it with design that's catered towards casual gamers and non-gamers more than it is hardcore RPG-loving Square fans. By no means is Dragon Quest Swords a bad game. Rather, it is just too repetitive, simple and shallow to warrant the attention of most gamers.