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Like the monsters, the actual dungeons in Dungeon Runners all have their own unique look and appeal. Most of a gamer’s time is spent exploring these dungeons, so it would have been folly of the developers to not build their underground caverns without the necessary degree of variety to keep their players entertained. As you explore deeper into various dungeons, you’ll find that the scenery will change around you – going from an architecturally engineered structure, to a flowing lava pool, and back again. It may not make sense to a spelunker, but the developers at NCsoft weren’t overly concerned with that portion of the gameplay. They simply wanted gamers to enjoy their time spent in the dungeons mutilating the denizens of the underworld. 

Speaking of the citizens of the nether realms, Killing monsters in Dungeon Runners will be fast and furious, and loot drops will occur at any equally repetitive rate. Initially you won’t get much besides the occasional warp scroll or healing potion, but eventually you’ll be picking up armors and weapons of all kinds. This is where the need for a bank comes in, as your inventory is terribly small when you start picking up full suits of armor. Eventually, if you don’t pay for the membership, you’ll be bypassing anything you see that isn’t “member only” – the members only items have a much higher inherent value and can still be traded to the merchants.

Is that guy wielding a wrench!?

The Sights and Sounds

The graphics, sound, and music in Dungeon Runners are what you might expect from a game of this caliber. By no means is Dungeon Runners pushing any of the upcoming AAA titles for the title of “Best Graphics”, but it certainly has enough inherent pretty to keep someone interested. The textures are crisp and the game can easily be played in the higher resolutions if your monitor and graphics card support them. This is a game that’s meant to be played on your old laptop while you’re on your business trip, not something you’ll spend weeks of time staring at.

The sound and music are of equal measure to the graphics, with the audio as crisp and clear as what you’d expect from a current title. The voiceovers, however, are superbly done, and I often turn my sound up a little higher in town just to hear what the merchants and quest-givers have to tell me. The music is also decent enough to merit a listen; you might be surprised with the quality that’s inherent in the product.

Did It Successfully Run the Dungeon?

While all of those elements indicated in the previous sections may be evidence of a superb product, there are some limitations that currently make Dungeon Runners fall short of the gold-plated finish line. Foremost among these concerns is the lack of depth. In NCsoft’s own description of Dungeon Runners, they state that the game includes a deeper experience for those gamers that are interested in the deep-dungeon-delving:

I always wanted a Hazy Cardboard Warhammer of the Exercising Hog!

“Greater dungeons, however, will provide a deep, rich, questing experience for those who want to go on longer runs or multi-part quests.”

From my experience with Dungeon Runners, this is not the case. The dungeons may indeed by longer and the quests may come in multiple parts, but there is nothing deep or rich about the experience. End-game dungeons are similar to beginning game dungeons, except the enemies are bigger and nastier and you may have to pay more attention to your health bar as you proceed on your running.

And indeed, this is what makes Dungeon Runners a very good, fun game. You don’t have to put hours of thought into your decisions and strategizing about your character is almost pointless. However, most gamers may bore of the same sort of dungeon runs over and over and over again. Initially, a gamer may want a simple 10-15 minute spurt of gaming, but eventually he may have a couple hours to burn. He probably wouldn’t choose Dungeon Runners to be his game of choice at that time.

Aside from the lack of depth, Dungeon Runners was a surprisingly fun and frivolous game, jam-packed with monsters and treasure. When you decide to download the game, you’ll find yourself drawn into the simple click-and-kill gameplay, and you may even enjoy it enough to warrant a membership purchase. At $5 a month, you are spending a meager $60 a year; the equivalent of one AAA title for a console. With my “Hazy Cardboard Warhammer of the Exercising Hog” waiting for me to buy that membership, I may as well go through with it.

Addictive, simple gameplay Humorous dialogue and descriptions Free-to-play / $5 membership	Lack of depth Lots of “member only” items  and features Only one character per account

Difficulty: Very Low Server Stability: Very High Graphics: Value:

Learning Curve: 1/2 hour Gameplay: Sound: Tilt:

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