Notorious for mouthful-of-words titles, Dragon Quest is back for your enjoyment in its ninth incarnation: Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. As you would expect, the game looks very pretty, with delectable artwork done by Akira Toriyama of Dragonball Z fame.  In fact, the game bears a strong resemblance to Dragon Quest 8, which appeared on the PlayStation 2.  Developer Level 5's visual work on the DS is impressive. Take a look at the trailer for Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoiQrn3EMKo

I do find some parts of the trailer to be a bit inaccurate. Take, for instance, the player characters killing monsters in one-hit. That is only possible in Dragon Quest games after level grinding for large periods of time. Then again, that's part of the fun with these games.

Character appearance customization is new to this installment of the series, as is the large emphasis on multiplayer gameplay, which is an intriguing prospect. For me, character customization adds a bit of excitement to a game -- it makes a difference if my hero wears a bandanna or not. And four player co-op Dragon Quest could be a huge amount of fun.

The DS has proven to be a very viable platform for turn-based RPGs, simply because they are games you can play anywhere at anytime. They are often easier to play in small bursts over a long period of time than vice versa (like with Final Fantasy 13, let's say). The kind of time you would put into a game like Dragon Quest IX definitely drives that point home. Overall, Dragon Quest 9 may well be a game to keep in your system to play, especially once the summer is in full effect.

Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies will take you on epic quests in undiscovered lands on July 11, 2010, on the Nintendo DS.