Dungeonland
Review
Welcome to the Dungeon
by Ingvi Snædal
reviewed on PC
Hero classes
On the hero side of things, the game looks simpler. Don’t be fooled by that, though, because you will all need to work together perfectly to weather whatever storm the DM cooks up for you. In the game hub, you get to choose between the game’s three classes: Warrior, Rogue, and Mage. Each class has subclasses which determine, amongst other things, the character’s look and attacks. The warrior class features the Vanguard, Lancer, and Defender subclasses, each with a different weapon and abilities. The Rogue class features the Assassin, Gunner, and Archer subclasses, and the Mage features the Fire, Ice, and Electric subclasses, each dealing a different type of damage and each comes with a unique looking wand.
As this game focuses heavily on team tactics, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that each class has a very distinct role to play. The Warrior’s job is to attract attention and draw the enemies’ attacks to himself. The Rogue’s job is to take the enemies out from afar, or to sneak up behind them and drop them by stabbing them in the back, killing them instantly. The Mage’s job is to support the other two with healing spells and raining devastating fire, ice, or electricity down on the advancing monsters. That is not to say that you can’t go into the game with three warriors or three mages, but you will almost certainly perish all the quicker without the support of the other classes.
Cards
When you first launch the game, you will only have access to a basic set of cards as the DM and one subclass of each class as a hero. More cards, subclasses, weapons, and outfits can be bought for gold and as you play through the game it tends to pile up pretty quickly. As a hero, all the gold you pick up in the map is shared so you don’t have to race against your teammates to see who’s the first to open that big chest of gold. This eliminates that pesky habit some players have of sneaking off in the middle of a fight to get to the chest while everyone else is preoccupied with keeping the team alive. The items you can buy with the gold don’t make you overpowered, but they do give you more options and allow you to customise the class further to fit your playstyle. The Warrior, for example, can use the cash to unlock the Defender subclass, thus replacing the two-handed mace with a sword and a shield, allowing him to use the “Shield Push” special ability instead of the “Ground Slam” that came with the mace. Both are equally powerful abilities so the riches don’t necessarily make you more powerful, they simply open up new ways for you to enjoy the game.
As an old AD&D player myself, the thought of playing with my friends against a DM was infinitely appealing. Dungeonland is a fun game and its sense of humour will leave anyone weeping tears of joy. Every game has a flaw, however, but the ones I found playing this one are easily ignorable. First off, with the videogame industry trying desperately to alter its male-biased image, I find it a bit disconcerting that none of the classes features a female character. In recent years, adventure games have tended to feature women in the roles of rogues as their features fit the image of a slender, sneaky assassin better than, say, a big hulking warrior. I would have liked the option to select the gender of my character regardless of stereotypes, however, and this game’s all-male character roster is a disappointing step backwards. My second criticism is that the game plays so much better with a controller when playing the heroes, but mouse and keyboard when playing the DM. The first time I tried the game, playing with my PS3 controller felt utterly natural. The second time, however, I tried using my mouse and keyboard, and it just didn’t feel the same.
Pure candy
Despite these minor criticisms, the game is brilliant. Having played it both with friends and alone, it is obvious that this game is -supposed- to be played with friends. When playing alone, it feels a bit repetitive, but when you add two friends screaming commands in your ear and a third one laughing manically as he plots your demise, this game is pure candy. If you enjoy playing this kind of game with friends, you will love Dungeonland. If you are a friendless loner, however, you might want to give it a miss.
8.5
fun score
Pros
Loads of humour, imaginative monsters and spells, superb co-op gameplay.
Cons
Repetitive when played alone, no female characters, controls better with a gamepad.
