Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword - first look

And, of course, Ryu has ninja magic - as any self-respecting ninja would. Tapping the Sanskrit icon in the top left corner of the screen brings it up full-size on the main screen; you have to trace it, of course, to cast the spell - and then you can guide the spell (in this case, a fireball) with your stylus. Besides harming enemies, the fireball was also used to solve a simple puzzle of lighting a lamp.

The short demo climaxed with a battle versus a large monster - some sort of demon with huge claws, that kept grabbing Ryu in its mouth. The head, according to Itagaki, was the weak spot. It kept shooting out lasers from its mouth as well, though, making the fight tough - but like most action games, there was a pattern to it, and it was soon defeated by Ryu's speedy sword slashes. After that, the demo concluded with a hand-drawn cutscene that hinted at the presence of Alma, one of the most important characters from the Xbox/PS3 game - a powerful demon.

Overall, what we've seen of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is, so far, extremely impressive. As with the original game for Xbox and PS3, the graphic quality is among the best on the system and the gameplay looks speedy and responsive. However, since we did not get a chance to play it ourselves we cannot be sure how it really feels; obviously, the game's developer knows exactly how to play. We're eager, though, to get our hands on it, as it looks extremely promising.