When I was a child, Dungeons and
Dragons was about the most popular (non-video game) way for several
pre-pubescent friends to spend the late hours of a summer sleepover in the
unused camper of the David house. We loved the idea of noble warriors entering
cryptic dungeons and doling out some two-handed broadsword justice to whatever
nasty critter happened your way. In fact, we were so enamored with the whole
D&D thing, we would draw dungeons and place monsters in it, then attempt to
recreate the experience out back with wooden swords and shields made with the
help of our fathers (sadly children can’t do this anymore without fear of the
police being called). So when I got the preview of Dungeon Master last month,
I was looking to help realize some unfulfilled quest of freeing my fellow
warriors who were turned to stone because Mom said I had to come inside for
dinner. Well, the preview portion is over and it’s now its time to play in the
big leagues of a full retail copy of the game.
In Dungeon Master: Hunting Ground,
you play as a new architect/warrior who has come to town to make a name for
himself. Buying the large cave outside of town, you are going to save the town
by attracting the monsters to your dungeon rather then the town. Laboring
intently, you must design a dungeon that is complicated enough to attract
monsters so that they will want to stash their loot inside, as well as making
it quite nice looking with marble floors, fountains and custom made walls.
Apparently, this year’s monster is all about being chic. So you build the
dungeon a bit at a time, attract monsters, then you go and clean out the
dungeon in your "once a day trip" to the dungeon, collect any and all
artifacts and money, return to the town, get some rest in the local inn, buy
supplies, maybe get a quest or two and repeat. As the game continues on, your
dungeon becomes more and more elaborate, and after time, some really
interesting monsters begin showing up. And ultimately, you are trying to
attract the biggest monster of them all, the Wandering Demon, a powerful
monster who has made it his business to lay siege to the land.
"I told her to turn off the gas stove!"
Yes, I know I am oversimplifying
things; you do make good by talking to the townsfolk who will sometimes give
you items to help out in exchange for doing little things for them. As a
matter of fact, you start the game pretty much being considered not much more
then horse feed as the last few dungeon makers either died or took off after
realizing they couldn’t hack it (apparently in this world, the profession of
dungeon maker is a somewhat common profession). Either way, you bring in the
right treasure and it can get you moving in the right direction; however, the
game doesn’t follow as cohesive a track as it should. Yeah sure, you enter the
dungeon once a day, kill everything and bring your treasures back to town, but
then you can easily find things spiraling out of control as your dungeon
becomes too big to clean out daily. Or you enter the dungeon one day and find
way more creatures than you were prepared for. Or you go several days in a row
and there is hardly anything in the dungeon to help turn a profit. Or, you can
claw your way through several days of pain and misery saving up enough money
to buy a fancy item to place in your dungeon after being told that a
particular monster is attracted to it, and then nothing.
So in a way you could say the
game’s pacing is off a bit. I had to start over completely after playing
around 14 hours as I could see things beginning to be too far out of control
for my character to contain it. And while I honestly believe the idea behind
the game is sound, the implementation is not. Now that being said, the second
half of what drives Dungeon Maker, is the action in fighting as a foil to the
dungeon creating. Very wisely, the action is not a turn-based RPG, but rather
a real-time action style game with you controlling the action from a
third-person perspective. In fact, your character uses both melee weapons and
magical attacks while doing your daily dungeon cleansing. It also helps (as
your dungeon gets really big with multiple floors) that there are teleport
points called warp points that bounce you around the dungeon more quickly.
Fighting the creatures is essentially deciding whether you want to use a quick
weaker attack or a stronger slower attack and all combos in between. If
anything, the action side of the RPG can get a bit boring and repetitive, and
in fact you will see the same monsters for quite a while before anything
really cool comes around.
"All these rooms and no bathroom to be
found."
For a PSP title, I liked how
Dungeon Master looked; the character designs of the people in town obviously
are influenced by anime with their cutesy faces and sometimes gothic clothing.
There is even a set of girl twins that make you feel a bit off with the way
they are drawn. Yes the graphics have their place, and sometimes they don’t
come across as sharp as other games of this genre but it is a noble effort as
far as the graphics go. Some decent lighting effects are pulled out of the air
and like I said the character designs do an ample job. More importantly
though, is the building of the dungeons – a fairly uncomplicated experience as
it is more magic based than carpentry based. If you have the cash, then you
can expect new hallways and vestibules in your future, which incidentally look
all right. I was surprised at some of the items you could put in your dungeon
as it began looking more like a castle in some parts. Hey, whatever the
monsters want, they get, right? There is a simple little ditty that keeps
things light and airy when in town so as to contrast the dark, dangerous
dungeon. I couldn’t help but think the game would have benefited from some
voice acting. As it is, you read everyone’s dialogue.
Lastly, even though I do not know
anyone else who has this title yet, you can swap up dungeons with other
players via ad-hoc and get a good idea of how someone else may address the
problem of monster infestation.
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Gameplay: 7.7
It isn’t terribly difficult
building a dungeon, but it can get out of hand if you don’t design
accordingly. Fighting those same monsters makes for a point-counterpoint
experience, but even the action sequences can get a little boring.
Graphics: 7.0
Ample graphics, nice character
design, but the monsters could have been made more menacing looking in my
opinion.
Sound: 6.0
There is no voice acting and I
think this game would have benefited from it.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It can be a challenge gutting it out and trying to maintain a dungeon
you can regularly wipe out. Like I said I had to restart because I was just
doing everything wrong (it felt like it), and waiting as long as you do to see
some really kick butt monsters can be trying.
Concept: 8.0
I think this is a fabulous idea,
but the end result feels so uneven.
Overall: 7.0
My hat’s off to the folks at XSEED
for coming up with a pretty nifty idea. But there is the kind of frustration
felt in this game that will really turn off some players. If you can beat this
30-or-so-hours game, then you have the kind of determination and chutzpah
that very few do.
