I hadn't held out much hope for Square Enix's first Wii release, Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, developed by 8ing and Genius Sonority. At worst, I feared that it would include all of the elements necessary for a full-on Wii disappointment: gimmick control scheme, simplified everything and the awkward shoehorning of one of my most beloved franchises. My retail copy showed today, and after some three or four hours, I'm actually very impressed.

The Wii remote gesture-based combat actually succeeds on a level higher than I had allowed myself to hope for. If you imagine the field of combat as carved up into two major levels—foreground and background—and then further carve those fields up into a three-by-three grid, you have an idea of what to expect. By using horizontal, vertical and diagonal slashes, attacks can strike as many as five (as I've seen thus far) enemies at once. The game complicates combat by prompting the use of the shield via use of the B button when enemies attack, requiring a focus not only on enemy position, but action.

But the hack-and-slash gameplay is made a little more precise by the use of a lock-on mechanism, which works in spite of the Wii remote's remarkably inaccurate accelerometers. Erratic waving of the Wii remote won't get you far—strikes will be a little above or below the target and will often just graze an enemy as opposed to slicing through the entire group. By pointing at the screen and giving a wee click on your target of choice, you can be sure that you will most certainly strike that enemy, and with a little finesse, you can guide the attack in such a way that maximizing damage is actually pretty easy.

Combat is fun. It's limited, and at the end of the day might be brushed off by many as much too basic to please the hardcore RPG audience, but screw it, I have a blast with it. Conquering Briquet, who marks Swords' first appearance of Dragon Quest's classic golem monster archetype, was immensely satisfying because it required quick jumps between rapid defense and quick counter-attacks. It's a bit on the easy side, but despite the lack of Dragon Quest's hallmark brutality I found myself feeling somewhat exhilarated by the battles.

It's a gorgeous game, too; a very polished spin on the engine and visual style debuted in Dragon Quest VIII. Exploration is extremely limited—the game's first-person view sticks to a straight and linear path in the field, and the few instances of 360 degree freedom occur in the visually appealing but barely populated towns. But again—screw it. The game's focus is very much on waggle-based combat, and if you approach Dragon Quest Swords with the right frame of mind, there's a lot of fun to be had. Don't let the negative reviews get you down; it's worth a look, at the very least.