Image from silconera.com

Remember all of those Wii RPGs that we previewed awhile ago? I've decided to put my money where my mouth is (yes, this lowly blogger has to go out and actually buy stuff, just like you folk) and try out Dragon Quest Swords.

As a middle-tier effort on Wii, there really isn't a lot of reviews to go on, and the reviews that do exist are mixed. Ranging from the 80/100 to the 55/100 range.

Common complaints are:

Stiff controls (for movement).
Limited amount of stuff to do.
Bad Voice Acting
Sword Controls Don't Work Well ...OR....
Controls work TOO well, my arm got tired!

Common Plaudits are:

Looks Nice
Strong Representation of the Dragon Quest Universe
Is Fun

Anyone notice the schizophrenia in the complaint section? What's actually a valid criticism? What is this game about really?

Here is my take, based on about 4 hours of play (roughly 40% of the game):

Dragon Quest Swords falls into that gaping maw of Wii games that are considerably better than the critical analysis, yet are scored poorly due to them not being what the reviewers prefer as a matter of taste.

DQ Swords is controlled entirely by the Wii Remote, which as a Wii owner is always the control scheme I prefer. In this sense it leverages the advantages of the system's stipped down design.

The movement is awkward, yes, in that it is in first person yet you control your character via digital directional pad. Yet in a game like this, with no shooting or strafing required, I fail to see why this matters to anyone.

But you want to know about the sword fighting. To sum that up: it works very well. Using a clever combination of IR and motion tech, you really do get a nice and fairly "realistic feeling" swordplay experience. Diagonal, vertical and side to side slashes register well, though stabbing forward takes a little practice. Raising your shield is as simple as hitting the B button and moving it as a cursor to block shots.

One reviewer claimed that his arm was sore. SERIOUSLY... that reviewer needs to LIFT SOME WEIGHTS. DQ Swords doesn't require bit simple wrist flicks. Anyone who gets sore after playing this game for an hour at a time should be examined by a doctor, as the level of exertion is quite low. I suspect that reviewer, to meet deadline, played the game for 10 hours straight to finish it. Maybe then you'd be sore... but who amongst us normal humans will play it for ten hours straight?

I also disagreed with the reviewer consensus about the voice overs. They are, in fact, surprisingly good. The plot is not going to win awards, but it is competent, as is most of the dialogue, with the exception of a few odd translation bugs.

So if the sword play works well, it has great voice acting, and it looks pretty (in spots)... what is the deal here? Why isn't this game just shooting up the charts?

I would chalk it up to "genre expectation disease." The American core gamer seems to have a problem abandoning certain premises- you say "Dragon Quest" and they think 40 hour monolithic adventure, and you give them a 10 hour on rails sword flingin' game. Regardless of whether or not said game has merit, they get pissy.

Does the game have merit, though? Yes! I'm having a great time with it! It's a cool take on the bloated RPG genre, and hopefully either Square Enix or another developer will take the lessons learned from the highly functional sword play and apply it to another product that might "slot in" better with people's expectations.

To the rest of you, look out for Dragon Quest Swords in the discount bin: it'll be an excellent pickup when it hits there.