Gameloft has come packin this year at E3. They showed approximately 100,000 games to us; so it was a lot to take in. One of my most anticipated games was Dungeon Hunter 2, and I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t disappoint.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first Dungeon Hunter on the iPhone and iPad, so needless to say I couldn’t wait to hop into the Gameloft and bus and spend some time getting my grubby little hands on the the sequel. The first thing I need to say is that the sequel is only coming to iPhone for the time being; this kind of made me sad. It will be coming to the iPad eventually, but they would not confirm a date. Hopefully it will follow shortly after the iPhone release, which right now is slated for this summer.
If you have ever played the first Dungeon Hunter, or any dungeon crawling RPG, then you should be familiar with what this game consists of. In case you are not, then allow me to break it down. This is a hack and slash game, where you go through various dungeons and kill enemies. As you progress you pick up loot, which consists of weapons and armor for your dude. Loot is really the backbone of any dungeon crawler RPG, and Gameloft promises to deliver much better in the loot department. That is not to say the first one was lacking in loot, but it felt a little overabundant to me, and therefore it didn’t feel as valuable as it could have.
As in most hack and slashers, there are multiple character classes. In this case, there are 3. They are the Warrior, Rogue and Mage. The Warrior is the tough guy who can take a beating and do a lot of damage, but he is slow and doesn’t have an many powers. The Rogue is the speedy guy who does a lot of damage really fast and likes to sneak around. Lastly, the mage is the magic caster, and he likes to do his damage through magic spells from a distance. Much like the Rogue, he weak to taking damage. As you can see there is a give and take, and choosing a character is going to be based on what play style you prefer.
Each of the classes has their own special abilities and spells, so there is more depth then just smashing the attack button. It’s all about knowing when to use your more powerful attacks, and when to keep it simple and just use the attack button. The powerful attacks can only be used on a limited basis so you don’t want to prematurely blow your load and use all your special attacks, only to find yourself with a boss standing in front of you around the next corner.
The graphics have been significantly improved compared to the original game. This goes for all the character models as well as all the lighting, backgrounds and all other textures. Overall, it looks and feels a lot smoother, which is great, because the visuals were a hotly contested issue on the first game. Some people loved the visuals, while other found them deplorable. I don’t see any way there could be a debate about the sequel, because it looks good, and there is no way anyone could say otherwise. (If you do, come find me, and I’ll straighten you out.)
They have also expanded upon the destructible environments from the original. In the first one there were crates that could be smashed open that contained loot, but now it has been taken to another level, with doors and plenty of other items that need to be smashed in order for you to advance.
I was super excited to play Dungeon Hunter 2, and after actually playing it, I really can’t wait to play the final build when it comes out soon.
