Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate

A month ago Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate was released on the Nintendo DS. Continuing the tradition of Crystal Chronical games on Nintendo systems it retains the same charm previous ones had while removing some of the more tedious aspects.

For those who have played the GameCube Final Fantasy this is a prequel and thankfully they don't have the Miasma and a stupid lantern someone has to carry around. Fooling around with some of the multiplayer the games works nicely with dungoen crawling involving fast paced combat, simple puzzles, and even platforming. You can also go straight into quests by getting them from the king in town, no need to dredge back and forth from town to dungeon. Unfortunately you cannot play through WiFi, so get your friends ready to get together.

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword

Ninja Gaiden is back, but this time for the Nintendo DS. Once again the players can take the role of Ryu Hayabusa or the new role Momiji and fight legions of demons, ninjas, and dragons. While it may not look like the Ninja Gaiden everyone is used to seeing, it works well on the DS.

Combat is controlled mainly with the stylus in that the direction you swing while touching is where your character slashes and can be used to create some very nice combos if you carefully aim. While easier than previous games, you can unlock a harder difficulty by beating it once and that mode is more inline with previous games.

The game is in stores now so pick up a copy if you're interested.