If the DS is one thing it is diverse, there are plenty of titles out there which while not appealing to everyone certainly do their best to be different. One of these such titles is Draglade, a anime inspired rhythm based fighter where it’s not just about how fast you move but also how well you stick to the beat.

Draglades story mode allows you to play the game as one of four characters, the hero of fire, water, earth or lightning and each of them have their own story to play through. Once you select your character it is then your mission to become a Major Grapper, which is basically the best rhythm fighter there is. Grappers have a G-Con which is a device worn on the wrist, what it does is absorb matter from the air around it and in turn creates a glade, the glade is basically a weapon that mimics your characters traits, therefore it you selected the fire character your weapon will be fire based.

The glade will be summoned by your character at the beginning of a fight, once you get through the battle, and hopefully win, you will then begin to rise through the ranks which is obviously essential if you want to become the Major Grapper that you have set out to be.

Throughout your travels you will meet up with generic NPC’s which talk to you via text generated on the screen, much of the game plays the same way. You will also encounter the odd monster along the way, some of them provide a greater challenge than others, although it’s nothing that you won’t have seen before.

Combat itself is a rather simple affair, with the attack and jump moves being assigned to the face buttons and the ability to switch bullets being assigned to the touch screen. Bullets come in all different forms, some deal attack damage, some help to cure your wounds and others provide you with power up abilities.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph Draglade is a rhythm based fighter, to activate the rhythm and build up a impressive combo all you need to do is build up the Rhythm Gauge at the bottom of the screen, once this is done simply press the L button and you will then activate the beat combo, simply keep in time to the beat during the fight and your combo will allow you to deal more damage as well as just being generally rather impressive.

As well as the single player game, Draglade also provides the option to play local wireless co-op against a friend, this allows you to battle and swap any of the bullets and beats that you have created/collected during the single player game. The game also provides you with the option to play via Wi-Fi, here you can play against anyone in the world and gain a world rank, the online section doesn’t provide a lot of options however it is great fun taking on others online and adds to the experience of the game.

Graphically the game is basic at best, the characters are based on an anime style and the backgrounds are fairly bland, however it isn’t ugly and just really does what it needs to and no more. The sound is also nothing groundbreaking, however the lack of voice acting doesn’t really hurt the game that much, it’s really just like every other RPG style game you will have encountered on the DS in this respect.

Draglade is certainly not the worst game in it’s class, the fighting style is pretty strong when combined with the Rhythm Based combo system and the presentation while basic is certainly not bad. If you are looking for a good fighter to play on your DS then you won’t be disappointed with this, just don’t expect much from the story that’s all.