➤ Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, review 🎮

Gameloft continues to churn out for PlayStation 3 porting of titles originally conceived for other systems, specifically iPhone and iPod Touch. Dungeon Hunter: AllianceIn fact, it is not the first title of the French software house to move from the App Store to the Sony console, a clear sign that its products are very popular with the Japanese console audience. Among other things, this specific version of the game, available on PlayStation Network at a cost of 12,99 euros (or 9,74 euros, it seems, if you have a premium subscription), is not a simple adaptation of the almost homonymous title released almost two years ago for mobile phones, as it also boasts some exclusive and unpublished news. Like the ability to play up to four at the same time in fun multiplayer games, Trophies and Move support. But let's proceed in order.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a classic dungeon-crawling in which the primary purpose of the player is to guide a character chosen from one of the three classes available, namely Warrior, Thief and Wizard, within locations full of traps and enemies. . Each type of hero has its own specific characteristics and abilities: the thief can be exploited for his stealth skills, the warrior for his brute strength and skill in the use of weapons, while the magician, of course, to cast spells of every type. All according to fantasy tradition, in short. As per tradition, the gameplay is also: exploring the many dungeons or scenarios present in the adventure, the user is engaged in various quests and fights against hundreds of monsters in the most typical hack and slash style and then collect objects from the killed enemies. But also in the search for chests where to recover weapons and money to be invested then for the upgrades of the case in the shop.

Four is better

The variety of material that can be acquired both after clashes and during explorations is really high: armor, spells, potions, rings and other types of loot will delight all fans of the genre who love to tinker in the inventory among dozens of items and statistics . However, progressing from level to level (at the end of which you usually have to face a final boss) the user then improves the skills of their virtual alter ego, increasing various attributes such as those inherent in attack, defense and capabilities. The enhancement of the character also translates into the acquisition of new offensive maneuvers and powers that work "passively", that is, that improve the characteristics of the fighter without having to recall them.

In short, nothing new under the sun. Although to be honest, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance it also has some particularly tough moments to deal with compared to the average of other products of the genre, to the point that it is necessary to resort to a good dose of cunning and the skill of the gamer to overcome certain obstacles. For example, it becomes necessary to plan a strategy to take down a boss, rather than just fiddling with buttons or casting spells, perhaps with the help of one or two human companions. The Gameloft title in this sense offers an ad hoc option for PlayStation 3 for multiplayer up to four players locally, which on balance turns out to be good and without excessive problems (and God forbid). The cooperative mode can also be extended to online gaming, so as to allow it to be used even by those who have no friends with whom to have fun in the living room. At the time of writing this review, unfortunately there are problems on the game's servers in this case, but it seems that the French software house is working to fix things quickly.

PlayStation 3 Trophies

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance rewards the player with nineteen Trophies in total. These are divided respectively into seventeen of Bronze and two of Silver. All are obtained by progressing in the main adventure by satisfying certain conditions: earning a certain amount of gold, killing a specific number of enemies, reaching level 25 with your character or completing the game at Legend level, just to name a few.

The Move as a controller

The product has also implemented support for the Move controller. But the latter is not comfortable to use and has a rather awkward control scheme. Another sore point is to be found, unfortunately, in a certain general repetitiveness of the situations that the gamer faces, and of enemies and locations, which in the long run risks boring a little. In the latter two cases, the former lack variety, while the latter suffer from a certain backtracking with a lot of monster respawning in different quests.

We conclude by taking a quick look at the technical sector of the product and the plot of the game. From the graphic point of view Dungeon Hunter: Alliance it looks like a PlayStation 2 game with a slightly higher level of detail, at least as regards the image cleanliness and the strength of the same due to the high definition. Considering the type of game and the "platform", so to speak, from which it comes, the title presents environments rich in objects and details, cute character models and discreet lighting effects managed without particular uncertainties by a 3D engine. While the audio is typical of the genre, that is, with good samples for background noises and music without infamy and without praise. As for the story behind the adventure, as tradition dictates for 90% of action RPGs, it is just a pretext to explain the situations that the protagonist faces in his war path.
The character selected at the beginning awakens in the catacombs of the kingdom of Gothicus, brought to life by a fairy. The latter summoned him from the realm of shadows to help rid the region of the mercenaries and demonic creatures that have long haunted it. But there is a detail that upsets the resurrected hero: the Queen at the head of the enemies is actually the woman who was once his bride. We leave the rest of the story to discover the gamers who will buy the Gameloft title.

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The equation "perfect port, perfect game" this time at Gameloft is not fully successful. Dungeon Hunter: Alliance it is, in fact, too similar to the original for the iPhone and given the time that has elapsed in the meantime, regardless of the specific additions for the PlayStation 3, it will probably not exert on the gamers of the Sony platform the same feeling that two years ago it exercised on the owners of mobile phones. However, being an old-fashioned dungeon-crawling however well done, with solid gameplay and excellent longevity, despite everything it will not fail to make fans of the genre happy.