3 Feb, 2011
Title Dungeon Hunter 2
Platform iPhone via App Store
Developer Gameloft
Price £3.99
Released 9th December 2010
The RPG genre is notoriously difficult to pin down to one particular type of game. One moment you’re wandering the length and breadth of a nuclear wasteland in search of Mirelurks and Nuka Cola caps, then before you know it your perky backside is hanging out of a near non-existant skirt while you twirl an over-sized sword around to a soul- destroyingly catchy J-Pop soundtrack. Just me then.
Then, of course there are the games that appeal to the Level 70 Mage within us all; the ever- enduring Dungeons and Dragons-esque hack-and-slash RPG. Following in the footsteps of acclaimed, multi award-winning titles like Diablo and Baldur’s Gate, the sequel to Gameloft’s 2009 smash hit Dungeon Hunter is one such game.
Typical of Gameloft, character models and environments alike are sharp, detailed and beautifully vibrant.
From the word go, Dungeon Hunter 2 is refreshingly accessible. More often than not, the player is overwhelmed at the starting blocks with a veritable avalanche of customisation and setup. Not the case in DH2; enter your name, pick your class and away you go. The opening scene sees your character trapped, rotting away in the cavernous depths of a swampy prison teeming with giant, mace-wielding ogres. Not a great start, but before long companion Rene comes to the king’s aid and, with the assistance of magic pixie Celeste, brings him back from the brink of certain death. The stage that follows serves as a handy tutorial for newbies to the genre, while old-school role-playing veterans will find everything in Dungeon Hunter 2 instantly familiar.
The three character classes on offer – Warrior, Rogue and Mage – are nicely varied. Warriors favour brute strength and a high defence, while Mages are embued with powers of sorcery and healing that more than make up for their weaker constitution. Dungeon Hunter 2 offers two distinct control schemes; an iPhone standard virtual analogue stick set-up, or a less-fluid point-and-click touch screen affair. The latter often just isn’t responsive enough to handle the level of action going on within the game thanks to some orientation issues, but it’s nice to have the option all the same.
Levelling up gives you the opportunity to customise your character's skills, spells and attributes.
For all intents and purposes, this is standard role-playing fare. Dungeons, treasure chests, potions, ogres, goblins, swords and sorcery make DH2 an all-round fairly typical RPG experience, especially for fans of its aforementioned bedfellows, Diablo and Baldur’s Gate. Having said all that, co-operative gameplay via Gameloft Live and Game Center does shake things up a bit, allowing you to team up with up to three other players over the net and kick some serious dungeon-dweller ass, carrying stats and equipment back and forth between co-op and solo play.
Dungeon Hunter 2 is another technical triumph for Gameloft. The sound effects and ambient music are inoffensive at best, not particularly adding to or detracting from the overall feel of the game. Graphically, however, the game is outstanding. Old-school RPGs often overdo the browns and greys and wind up looking like an especially sepia-heavy episode of Lark Rise to Candleford. Not DH2; it’s a visual delight – bright, bold, dripping with detail and absolutely gorgeous to look at.
Annoyingly, should the app need to close – to take a phone call for instance – the game doesn’t pause, instead returning you to the beginning of the stage. This, along with the inability to manually save within a dungeon, means playing DH2 in short bursts is nigh-on impossible. In spite of these niggling issues, Dungeon Hunter 2 is a solid role-playing game and a remarkable achievement for the mobile platform. Those that don’t enjoy their RPGs particularly stat-heavy can give this one a miss, but for any fan of the hack-and-slash genre, Dungeon Hunter 2 is well worth your time.
Dungeon Hunter 2 is also available in HD for the iPad.
No comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks