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Panther Software has a very mixed bag here. The game shines in some areas while others are found lacking.
Regardless, Panther Software and Xicat Interactive have made a relatively decent game that has some accomplishments.
The game’s biggest fault would have to be the gameplay. There wasn’t enough thought or effort put into the game it seems. The game begins with you choosing the members of your team. The characters look pretty similar although they all have different attributes. The typical RPG character classes can be found here. You can be a magic user (Caster), distant weapons fighter (Analyzer), close weapons combat fighter (Fencer), average fighting character (Broader) and a melee fighter (Striker). Your can do various things to your characters which rival the very best of what role playing game games have to offer. Depending on their type, you can equip them with different things to make them stronger and better. During the game you will encounter many fighters which are often mergers of the characters you have. After a while you realize you won’t really care about these characters though since the story doesn’t pull you in enough to do so.
Everything is going great so far, but once you get to the fighting you wonder what happened at Panther Software. You don’t have much control over the fighting since they start without your command. You have somewhat control over them, but not nearly as much as you would like to do. Besides, the characters do a good job at fending for themselves without you, which may make your input actually negatively affect them. The control scheme resembles earlier games in the genre and may frustrate you after a while. Your character turns very oddly and moving in diagonals isn’t one of the game’s stenghths. The control scheme is simple since you get can through most of the game by moving the joystick and pressing two or three buttons.
What saves this game? The graphics. I have to have to hand it to Panther Software this is one of the better looking games of the genre. The environments are with great textures and have a “wow” feeling to them at times. The character designs while basic are smooth and look pretty good, as do the enemies. All are nicely animated, or at least as well as the control system would let them be. The spells look very good since they are really bright and powerful, the same could be said for the game’s explosions. The graphics also make battles seem better because all the fancy effects are great to look at.
The same attention that was give to the graphics was given to the sound portions of the game as well. The sound accompanies the on-screen action with very precisely. You’ll hear every explosion, grunt, and just about everything else. The music is standard stuff and doesn’t really add more “wow-factor” to the battles since they don’t change when you enter a battle. Regardless, it all sounds great.
This game is a mixed bag. On one side, it is presented very well. The graphics and sound are super. On the other hand, this genre relies way too much on fun battles and solid control which Metal Dungeon doesn’t handle too well. While not worth the $50 price tag, it is worth a rental, at the least. If it ever reaches Platinum Status, for $20-$30 it would be a great buy. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jul 3, 2003
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