Dungeon Crawl
Dungeon Maker has the core right, but there's still room for improvement.
Published: June 25, 2007
This is probably the game's biggest fault. Yes, building dungeons can be an absolute blast, especially when you really start to make the thing twisted, but heading topside to sell off your stuff, grab a bite to eat and then lather, rinse, repeat the whole process the next day starts to become a grind. The game has a way of falling into ruts right after you're given a new, interesting quest and your new building materials have appeared, and it's an evil, sick cycle of being totally pumped, then repeating the whole building/fighting process ad nauseum until you can't take it anymore, than more cool stuff showing up.
Part of the pain might just be that the combat in the game is fairly underwhelming. Even though you have access to everything from spears to spells, most battles can be solved by simply wading in and then rhythmically pressing the attack button so you attack the second the first move ends instead of relying on combos since those often leave you open to attack. Granted, it's slightly more involved that other dungeon crawlers, but those lulls between new weapons or equipment will make the tedium nigh-unbearable.
It doesn't help that the game isn't terribly pretty, and despite the fact that you'll unlock new materials and the odd room here and there as you venture down, the detail in the game is sort of lacking. Blame the isometric camera, blame the stiff, sometimes jerky or wonky animations. Whatever the reason, despite there being some nice detail in the monsters (and then lots and lots o' palette swaps for more of them deeper down), your character doesn't really reflect any growth. The attack animations are different depending on weapon, of course, but usually that just means the swings take longer. There's very little in the way of PSP-flexing visuals here (maybe the burst of particles when you create a big room, but that's stretchin' it).
The audio is the same. Part of the tedium that comes with the game probably rests on the fact that there really aren't that many songs in the game, and what's there is generic guitar riffs and slightly moody almost ambient tracks. With no voice acting and just the odd roar, squeal and thump during combat, this isn't a game you're going to want to slap headphones on for every time you bust it out.
But even despite all the moments of bored trudging, you will bust it out often. There's something oddly compelling about the game that kicks off that "okay, just 10 minutes" feeling. The game restores from sleep mode beautifully, so it's possible to jump in and give it a few minutes while taking the bus or train to work, or even just on the can. Something about Dungeon Maker is addictive, and you'll find yourself playing it when there's really no reason to. Even after slogging through the game, a quick fact check session sucked a good 45 minutes out of the day before I even knew it.
And therein lies my dilemma. Despite knowing that the game was often a waste of time, I couldn't help wasting it far more than I should have. Does that make it a good bad game, or just a good game that was poorly executed? Even after pouring a full day's worth of play time into it, did I really have anything to show for it? So here I am, stuck trying to figure out what to give the game, score-wise. In the end, whatever it is that kept me coming back had to be accounted for, but unless you're a die-hard dungeon crawler fan, I would warn you to stay away. Me, I think I just need to see if I put down enough marble in all my hallways on that floor...
