Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre (XBLA)

When I hear the word NEXON I immediately think of mmorpgs. Not only do mmorpg based games pop into mind, but images of anime style characters and fantasy realms also come to thought. In all honesty I've never really followed PC games such as the Dungeon Fighter series too closely, but as an artist and anime fanatic I couldn't help but notice the ads that were placed on the gaming sites I frequent. I've always secretly longed to have a decent gaming PC so I could enjoy such games as the ones NEXON has produced. Even though my desire to game on a PC remains I'm truly glad that NEXON decided to bring one of their free-to-play rpgs to the Xbox 360 console. It allowed me, along with many other non-PC gamers to enjoy the delightful gameplay that the developer has been producing for years.

Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre follows a visually intriguing tale about a sickness that has befallen the citizens of "Hendon Myre", "Elvengard", and the many creatures that populate the outskirts of the areas. Through an anime stylized comic book panel presentation the game begins by following a priest who is being stalked by a band of creatures. It becomes apparent that this priest has not only lost a female companion, but that he is desperate to get out of the situation alive so he can warn his people about the dire predicament. After a brief encounter with the deadly denizens the tale of the priest moves on to another portion of the story where the "Order of Priests" are sending out more investigators in order to seek out info about what is going on. They've heard tale of a mysterious illness called "Phantasmalgia", and intend on further investigating the matter. Meanwhile in the woods of Elvengard three unlikely heroes come face to face with a goblin threat of their own. After dispatching the cursed beasts they rescue the maiden in distress, and find out about "Phantasmalgia". This is where the intro stops, and the game truly begins.

After sitting through the intense dialogue, and anime based comic book intro you (the gamer) will be prompted to choose a class of hero/heroine who's role you wish to take on. The classes differ from the PC version of the game in that there are only three classes to choose from this time around. The classes included a female fighter who uses melee style attacks, a male swordsman called a slayer who uses swords as his main source weaponry, and a tall/lanky male gunner who uses projectile based weapons to dispatch his foes. While there's plenty of customization when it comes to accessories, armor, and weapons very little changes in respect to character appearance. You'll find as you play that there are many different ways to enhance your character's attributes, and abilities through the items you choose to equip.

The core of Dungeon Fighter LIVE mainly revolves around interactions with the various town merchants, and dealers that you encounter through a 2D point & click display. By talking to the appropriate person/s you will gain access to quests/errands that are requested of you. Most of the merchants/tradesmen you encounter also have shops from which you can purchase items and even perform other tasks such as repairs. Once you have accepted a quest/errand from a merchant/tradesman you can venture out of town via routes that are marked by arrows that you can activate with a point & click cursor. Once you choose to embark on a quest/errand you will be taken to a menu that displays all of the available dungeon locations.

The dungeons in Dungeon Fighter LIVE are oddly reminiscent of 2D side-scrolling games like SEGA's "Golden Axe" series. Each "dungeon" is divided into several enclosed sections with rune gates that will open after you, or your party defeats all of the creatures within that given area. Each dungeon in the game has both a straightforward route, and side routes that lead further away from the boss creature that you must defeat in order to advance. In a way the dungeon areas are laid out similar to those you'd find in a "Legend of Zelda" game. In true "LoZ" fashion the game presents the player with an overhead map allowing the player to see where they've been within each dungeon. After making your way to the boss, and defeating it you will be given a final rank (F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS) according to how well you performed during the task at hand, and how long it took you to complete it. As far as dungeons go there are three difficulty variations of each dungeon including "Normal", "Expert", and "Master". Each difficulty variation is unlocked by completing the tasks/errands that the merchant/s associated with the dungeon sent you out to complete.

Combat in Dungeon Fighter LIVE is made up of combo based attacks, and spells/skills that can be learned through various characters within the game. Each character class has their own unique combat setup. If you chose to go along with the fighter class as I did then you'll have to get up close, and personal with all of the creatures in the game. The same goes for the slayer with the only difference being the weapons that he can carry. When it comes to the gunner class though distance is key if you wish to survive for the long haul. As far as the combo system goes it entails the use of button mashing combos, power moves, and dodge techniques. The game does a great job of explaining it all, so I'll leave it at that.

The one thing that makes this game truly shine is not the combat system, the character interactions, or even the art style. It all boils down to the in-depth customization system that allows you to equip your chosen character/hero with rank appropriate gear, and the many crafting systems that enhance the already involved gameplay. When it comes to setting your character up you'll have a variety of options including multiple armor/accessory setup, and quick item (health/HP, Magic/MP ...) usage options. All of the items within the game can be obtained through merchants, dungeons/defeated foes, and chests/containers. After obtaining any item you can assign it to the appropriate feature via a very complex menu system. While I could explain the basics of it I think it's best that you learn these things through the game.

Next up are the visuals, and sound quality of Dungeon Fighter LIVE. From the intro forward you can tell that some of the game offered more impressive visuals than other parts. While the initial menu screen, and intro shows of some rather impressive anime style art the game itself is somewhat lacking in that department. When you finally step into your first dungeon, after choosing the character class you want to roll with you will notice that things don't appear as next-gen as some titles out there. It seems the developer did a great job with background details, but the characters themselves are displayed in a simpler fashion. If you were hoping for characters who change along with their equipped weapons/accessories then you are out of luck. With that being said all is not bad with the game. The audio is truly impressive, and gives the game that fantasy vibe that it should have.

Last, but definitely not least are the controls. When it comes to delivering a noteworthy combat/combo system Dungeon Fighter LIVE seems to fall a good bit short. As I did my playthrough of the first half of the game I couldn't help but notice how stiff the character's movements were. Every creature including the playable characters seemed to move awkwardly about the dungeon's playing field. This made making it through a dungeon alive (even on "Master" difficulty) not that hard of a task. If you have enough health items you're pretty much guaranteed to succeed. When it came down to combat the combos were easy to pull off as were the more powerful attacks. The quick access menus definitely aided in making the experience more tolerable though. As far as the customization menus, and character interactions go they were alright. Once I learned how to navigate the complex menu system well I had no problem dealing with all that the game had to offer. While the menu system was a little too complicated for my tastes the easily accessible menu setup was still done properly.

In closing I can honestly say that Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre is a game that I'll be playing for a long time to come. While I had some issues concerning the overly complicated menu system, and the combat in general I still found the experience that the game offered to exceed those disappointments. I'm a huge fan of rpgs, and side-scrolling dungeon crawlers, and as such I found this game to be quite delightful. With that being said I'd like to say that I was somewhat disappointed when I heard that the PC version had so much more to offer than the console version of the game did. The developer cut the available classes down to only three, and the overall game navigation/plot movement seemed to be simplified. Sometimes I do wonder why developers who choose the XBLA platform to present their game don't show it all the love that they show their PC games. When it's all said, and done though Dungeon Fighter LIVE: Fall of Hendon Myre is still very much worth the 800 msp asking price. Alongside the core game you also gain a local, and online co-op multiplayer. Who can complain about that?