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.
alt="Guy Wielding Wrench" title="Guy Wielding Wrench"
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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:
alt="Descriptions 1" title="Descriptions 1"
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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.
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- 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
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Very High |
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Curve:
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(3.5 / 5 Hammers)
style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">Ten Ton
Recommendation:
fun, make sure you give Dungeon Runners a shot! After all, the game is
free to play and download!
with me? Or would you like to simply
express your opinion? Make sure you href="mailto:[email protected]">email me and
let me know what you
think!
Ten Ton Hammer is your
unofficial source for Dungeon Runners
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/110/all">news
and features!
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