Gamelist / Dungeon Hunter

Dungeon Hunter is just one more reason that Gameloft is at the top of the heap when it comes to fantasy adventure games for the iPhone. The game is amazing. Even if you are not a fan of Diablo, Dungeon Siege, or the multitude of other hack and slash adventure games of their genre, Dungeon Hunter gives you just enough of what you do like to be happy it's in your pocket.

The story of Dungeon Hunter isn't anything ground breaking, but it is enough to keep your attention between bouts of destruction visited upon your enemies. You are a fallen king, killed by the dead bride you resurrected because you couldn't deal with her loss. The evil that consumed her upon being brought back across the veil that separates life and death caused her to take over and, of course, wreak havoc upon your kingdom. You, too, have been brought back to life (properly, however...), and given a chance to destroy your twisted love and save your kingdom. You and your five feisty elemental fairy companions, that is.

Surrounding and building toward the interludes that indicate the game's progression are endless amounts of enemies: from poisonous slimes, to undead, to things that earn their names by eating people and destroying villages. The action is top-down and the setting is moody, whether it be in a dungeon, a forest path, or a forbidding fortress. Graphics in Dungeon Hunter are every bit as good as those found in Diablo, with impressive detailing and lightning blasts that are bright enough to make you blink. Audio isn't bad either, and provides a nice ambiance to the game -- but if you don't want to hear it, play controls are available to blast your own soundtrack of destruction from your iTunes playlists. Unfortunately, this kills the effects as well as the music track, but that hardly matters in the end.

Where Dungeon Hunter really shines above other iPhone adventure RPGs is through the incredible amount of available customizations for your character. You can choose to be a Warrior (tank, no magic), a rogue (dexterity based, light armour), or a mage (lots of blast magic and a force shield), have four major attributes you can upgrade with each level, and a multitude of unlockable skills you can feed points into. You also have a frighteningly large array of gear to choose from, gathered by the liberal loot-drops of enemies, chests, and hacked open barrels. Your gear can be assigned to 10 different slots, and comes in several flavours, many of which will provide you with attribute enhancements. You even get comparisons between what you're currently viewing and what is already equipped.

All of the options provided on the backend make for a somewhat cramped space, but it is relatively easy to navigate -- just not the best for those with poor eyesight. Don't worry about too much overcrowding in your inventory though, as you can always transmute everything to gold on the fly, should you so choose. You also only need to carry a few potions about for emergency, as you quickly recover both health and mana automatically after a battle.

Where Dungeon Hunter runs into a few problems is in the control scheme. It's fairly straightforward, with either a virtual joystick or point and touch navigation, and some action buttons on the bottom right. The action buttons are a bit small, however, especially the swipe-to-switch spells/skills button. You may often find yourself unintentionally using the wrong spell or skill. However, the somewhat larger attack and fairy magic buttons will pull your butt out of the fire in a pinch.

Pacing is very well handled in Dungeon Hunter. It's a fairly easy game, and you can happily play it for quite a while, if you like, or just when you have a bit of spare time and want to engage in some virtual destruction on a quest or two. Just make sure that you either don't care if you have to stop suddenly, or you have enough time to finish the quest you are on, as you may find yourself starting from the beginning of the level again. Better autosave functionality would make a huge difference in Dungeon Hunter.

Gameloft's Dungeon Hunter is a fantastic game, all 'round. It suffers a bit in the controls and a slightly cramped menu, and better autosave would be an immense improvement; but the visual quality, story, and raw amount of customizations -- not to mention the hacky and slashy fun of the game -- make it a solid 4.5 out of 5. Your wallet will be happy to part with the $4.99 (version 1.6.1).