The Ninja Gaiden series comes to the DS in a novel way. Instead of a being precise button masher like its Xbox brethren, the DS debut is a pen scribbler. See, almost all controls are performed by dragging the stylus across the screen. You hold the pen down where you want your ninja to run. You slash vertically and horizontally to attack enemies. You tap enemies on the screen to use long-range attacks such as bows and shurikens. You also trace Japanese characters on the screen to unleash your magic attacks. In fact, the only button presses used are for blocking. Pressing any button will block, and pressing a button while dragging the stylus will dodge.

So does the gamble pay off? For the most parts it does. The stylus controls are surprisingly intuitive. After playing this game, it is clear that these types of controls are what the DS is made for. That does not prevent a few frustrating moments. A few times, I found that the stylus movements did not register in game. This was most egregious when trying to run off-screen to the next area. I found myself tapping the area around the screen's edge until my character finally ran there. My other complaint with the controls is that most of the time simply scribbling furiously is more effective than thoughtfully planning moves.

The majority of the game is melee combat. Many enemies come at you at once and you can chain combos together rather quickly. You move in a pre-rendered 3-D environment similar to Resident Evil. There are minimal puzzle elements that mainly involve timing or using the right magic attack to unlock the next area. The boss fights are the only times the game is in true 3-D. At these times, you can truly move around in a complete circle.

This is my main problem with the game. You hold the DS in book form to play. In melee combat, this is fine because you have a specific space to move in and the enemies are staggered more vertically than horizontally. Trying to move around in the boss fights is hard because all your 3-D movement is squeezed on the narrow side of the screen. I wish the developers had allowed you to switch your hold during the boss fights. That would make them easier to bear.