Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for Wii Reviews by Gamers

I like what Square Enix is going for in this title, and it's certainly a great example of a game experience you can only get from the Wii. However, the game does come with a few flaws that relegate it to good, not great.

The hook for this delightfully old school RPG is the real-time, motion controlled battles. You use the Wii remote to set a target point on the screen and then use a variety of slashing motions to take down the bad guys. While this is moderately well-executed and succeeds on some fronts, like many Wii games, it leaves much to be desired.

For example, I like the fact that direction of swing has a strategic element. For example, if your target has a shield and you swing starting from his shield side, he'll most likely block the shot. On the other hand, if you strike from above you might bypass his shield entirely. What I don't like is that the sensitivity is entirely too picky, which will leave you flailing your arms wildly without effect in many cases.

As for the story, Square was shooting for a very basic, entry-level RPG. Don't expect this to be on par with any of the heavy-hitting RPGs, but that's not meant as a negative. The story is 100% what you'd expect from a Dragon Quest title and the characters are charming.

The graphics, on the other hand, are downright poor- even for the Wii. If the world were a sandbox environment I would understand, but since exploration outside of town takes place on rails, I really expected more. And speaking of exploration, be prepared to do it all with the D-pad, no nunchuck.

Back to the positive, I really loved the decision to sprinkle in some sound effects from the original Dragon Quest. I grinned when I heard the old familiar "clip-clop" of my character climbing stairs.

Overall I recommend this game to anyone looking for some nostalgia with an innovative mechanic mixed in. If you approach the game expecting a few hours of light, classic RPG fun, you'll get exactly what you're looking for.

Ok let's get the bad out of the way.
It is short,
you cant just go roaming about like you want.
missions are on rails
you can only have one other person in your party at a time.
you can't equip others with different items.

what they got right was the fighting mechanics.
Its very much like dragon warrior fighting, but instead of just getting a poor hit or a miss at random, the strike performance is up to you and depends on how accurately you slash the wii remote.
This part is great fun and addictive.

Hopefully they will come out with a more in depth game using the same fighting mechanics.