Game Card
Dungeons & Dragons Tactics (PSP)
- Publisher:
- Atari
- Developer:
- Kuju Entertainment
- US Release:
- 14.08.2007
- EU Release:
- n/a
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Action Adventure
- Reality Factor:
- Fantasy
- Perspective:
- Third-Person
- Extra:
- Other World
- Blood Level:
- Medium Blood
- Age:
- Ancient Times
Review
We play Dungeons & Dragons Tactics...
Dungeons & Dragons has a massive following all over the world, since is has appeared in many forms over the years. From pen and paper, to card games to a PC adventure. Now the game takes a new form on Sony’s PSP.
Can such an in-depth game such as Dungeons & Dragons be faithfully reproduced in a game? Well, this review will tell you.
First off you need to understand that D&D is already complex. The game consists of a range of damage modifiers, armour classes and base attack multipliers. (See, what I mean). So things will take some getting used to, and for that there are four tutorials that give you everything that you need to play the game. I might add that unless you’re a hard-die D&D fan study these closely.
But it doesn’t take too long for even the newest member to understand the skills and rules that need to be used to be affective in the game.
The story of the game is the normal Dungeons & Dragons affair of prophesied destruction of the world by witches. Which goes hand in hand with a quest to destroy an ancient artifact called the ‘athearorn’.
The game does give you a lot of freedom in the beginning to customise your character choosing from what alignment to have good, evil, lawful, the list goes on. You can also choose what warrior type you wish to have from a range including two new types created for the game.
Choosing you character’s alignment is extremely important, unlike some games in this genre. With a few bad choices and your good, lawful Fighter has changed determinedly evil. The only problem is once you’re on the path to darkness it is close to impossible to tear yourself off of it.
The design of the game takes the approach that gives you a large map in which once you have completed a task in one of the towns, villages or cities that appear on the map you may move onto the next. But after you have completed each mission in that place you are free to move back to that location anytime.
The combat is handled in a chessboard like fashion. You have two phases in the location maps, the first is exploration mode that gives you a chance to solely move around the location checking it out, then if an enemy is sighted or you enter a room with an enemy in the game drops in to combat mode.
Movement is set-up in a two-tier system where you first can move your character around the map, then you can either continue movement or if you have reached your enemy in combat mode attempt an attack. With combat it is dealt with menu systems that you have to flip through deciding on your type of attack. Depending on what type of attack you choose decides whether it will work or not.
The biggest problem that faces you in the game is the menu, when you’re on the world map the menus divide into two sections in the far left and far right of the screen meaning that if you wish to read about a weapon or item that you have just got you have to look at the other end of the screen for the details. This leads neatly to another of the problem with the game every time you complete a mission you need to sort out all the of the equipment that you have just acquired otherwise your characters will become encumbered limited their movement next mission. Also the analogue nub is over sensitive which means in menus if you are scrolling through or reading large blocks of text you find that you can miss the option or hit the bottom very easily.
The graphics are a massive pain although the cut-scenes look nice in their cartoon-like feel, the rest of the game can’t say as much. The dungeon graphics look okay, very dull with them a lot of the time cloaked in darkness, the characters look terrible, like small metal coloured play dough in the shape of a person. There are also animations missing at times making things look disjointed. One of the worst is when people die, either one of your characters or one of your foes. Your characters can be saved if removed from play but they kinda sag so it looks like they are just kneeing down, same goes for your opponent they look a lot of the time like they are praying so unless you see the brief second the word dead appears over them then you can spend a lot of time setting up an attack on a dead adversary.
The multiplayer is very limited you have just two game modes, a simple deathmatch and Monster Bash that makes a vain attempt at a co-op mode. But by far the most awful thing about the multiplayer is the fact that there are only three maps in the game, making things even more limited.
Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics, is a solid tactical RPG, and has a nice length to it, but the shortcomings of the game make it very tiresome to play. If you have nerve to stick with it then you will be rewarded, but for most it requires too much time and attention to make it any fun.
Top Game Moment: Summoning my first monster to crush a goblin.
 |
 |
|
| The movement of the characters is defined by chess-board like squares | All the cut-scenes are cartoon-like drawings |
Can such an in-depth game such as Dungeons & Dragons be faithfully reproduced in a game? Well, this review will tell you.
First off you need to understand that D&D is already complex. The game consists of a range of damage modifiers, armour classes and base attack multipliers. (See, what I mean). So things will take some getting used to, and for that there are four tutorials that give you everything that you need to play the game. I might add that unless you’re a hard-die D&D fan study these closely.
But it doesn’t take too long for even the newest member to understand the skills and rules that need to be used to be affective in the game.
The story of the game is the normal Dungeons & Dragons affair of prophesied destruction of the world by witches. Which goes hand in hand with a quest to destroy an ancient artifact called the ‘athearorn’.
The game does give you a lot of freedom in the beginning to customise your character choosing from what alignment to have good, evil, lawful, the list goes on. You can also choose what warrior type you wish to have from a range including two new types created for the game.
Choosing you character’s alignment is extremely important, unlike some games in this genre. With a few bad choices and your good, lawful Fighter has changed determinedly evil. The only problem is once you’re on the path to darkness it is close to impossible to tear yourself off of it.
 |
 |
|
| Combat is rushed, but is simply a hack up session | Dragons aren’t all this game is about |
The design of the game takes the approach that gives you a large map in which once you have completed a task in one of the towns, villages or cities that appear on the map you may move onto the next. But after you have completed each mission in that place you are free to move back to that location anytime.
The combat is handled in a chessboard like fashion. You have two phases in the location maps, the first is exploration mode that gives you a chance to solely move around the location checking it out, then if an enemy is sighted or you enter a room with an enemy in the game drops in to combat mode.
Movement is set-up in a two-tier system where you first can move your character around the map, then you can either continue movement or if you have reached your enemy in combat mode attempt an attack. With combat it is dealt with menu systems that you have to flip through deciding on your type of attack. Depending on what type of attack you choose decides whether it will work or not.
The biggest problem that faces you in the game is the menu, when you’re on the world map the menus divide into two sections in the far left and far right of the screen meaning that if you wish to read about a weapon or item that you have just got you have to look at the other end of the screen for the details. This leads neatly to another of the problem with the game every time you complete a mission you need to sort out all the of the equipment that you have just acquired otherwise your characters will become encumbered limited their movement next mission. Also the analogue nub is over sensitive which means in menus if you are scrolling through or reading large blocks of text you find that you can miss the option or hit the bottom very easily.
The graphics are a massive pain although the cut-scenes look nice in their cartoon-like feel, the rest of the game can’t say as much. The dungeon graphics look okay, very dull with them a lot of the time cloaked in darkness, the characters look terrible, like small metal coloured play dough in the shape of a person. There are also animations missing at times making things look disjointed. One of the worst is when people die, either one of your characters or one of your foes. Your characters can be saved if removed from play but they kinda sag so it looks like they are just kneeing down, same goes for your opponent they look a lot of the time like they are praying so unless you see the brief second the word dead appears over them then you can spend a lot of time setting up an attack on a dead adversary.
The multiplayer is very limited you have just two game modes, a simple deathmatch and Monster Bash that makes a vain attempt at a co-op mode. But by far the most awful thing about the multiplayer is the fact that there are only three maps in the game, making things even more limited.
 |
 |
|
| Lucky not all dungeons are dark and gloomy | If you don’t sort out your character items then they will have limited movements |
Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics, is a solid tactical RPG, and has a nice length to it, but the shortcomings of the game make it very tiresome to play. If you have nerve to stick with it then you will be rewarded, but for most it requires too much time and attention to make it any fun.
Top Game Moment: Summoning my first monster to crush a goblin.
