CheatCC writes: "With a name like Dungeon Explorer, you can probably surmise that the story will be just as generic. The game does feature multiple races at the character selection screen, but in the end, all pathways eventually follow the same major plot. Basically, the sorcerer of the kingdom, Deldren, implores the king to find some mighty warriors who will be able to seal up some monster infested dungeons. With a storyline this original, one can't help but feel excited, right? Well, if the sarcasm fooled you, then I believe you've already made your decision on picking up the game, but Hudson had quite a long time to release a sequel to a two decade old game. I'm pretty sure they could've come up with something with a little less of an "eighties" Saturday morning cartoon feel. Nevertheless, once you get beyond the introduction, you will have a chance to fashion your very own dungeon crawler. Excited yet? "
Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts is Hudson Software's new release, which has strong similarities to a Diablo type game. Dungeon Explorer is set in ancient times when evil monsters terrorized the lands by coming up through dungeons. The inhabitants of the land banded together to fight off the demons, but after all the demons had disappeared they had to fight with something more powerful than demons. Hatred, greed and anger threatened to break the people apart. While everyone was fighting each other, the monsters below were feeding off this hatred and began multiplying so that one day they could come back and threaten the people once more…
If you've ever played Diablo before you'll know the concept of this game. You begin by creating a character, everything from his name to the color of the outfit and of course attributes. Once your character has been created you go on to begin your first quest, creating a seal between the dungeon and the above ground.
CheatCC writes: "RPGs are certainly one of the most venerable video game genres ever. And with something so old, you've really got to work hard toward ensuring it doesn't die. Thankfully, RPGs have had some pretty excellent taking-care-of from various different franchises who are excellent at developing the genre to give players what they really want. Other titles in the genre, however, kind of seem to be stuck in the past. "
Graphics are decent, but the sound is obnoxious... No significant voice acting, either, which could've livened things up a bit. Co-op games are great, but Dungeon Explorer failed to excite GamePro.