Deathtrap Dungeon
Developer - Eidos
Publisher - Eidos
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card
The bit on the box
"Built by a mad baron to bring notoriety
to his town, only the brave or foolish would dare to enter Deathtrap Dungeon.
Fabulous riches await the victor. Many adventurers have tried - none have
come out alive...As Red Lotus, the alluring assassin, or Chaindog, the
savage warrior, you must battle your way to the heart of the dungeon and
slay the great dragon, Melkor, mightiest of all the beasts of the underworld.
If you succeed, gold and glory will be yours. If you fail, your sole reward
is death. A hellish horde of monsters await you in subterranean pits and
passageways. A host of weapons, spells and charms are available - you will
need them, for you are about to embark on a heart-stopping journey filled
with brutal combat, deadly traps and the darkest magic. Are you a hero
or a zero?"
Graphics
It seems strange with a company with a reputation that
Eidos now has for it's brilliant Tomb Raider games and the asthetically
pleasing Fighting Force, to suddenly see them take a backward step.
The graphics themselves are well drawn and textured, and the 3D dungeons
look suitably forboding. So what's the problem? The animation, not just
for the characters and monsters, but also for the moving camera, is extremely
jerky. After playing Tomb Raider 2 I expected the same fluid scrolling
and game speed. I was wrong. Also worthy of a mention (or warning) is the
virtual camera that follows you through the dungeon, which tends to give
the player consistantly bad angles of the in-game action.
Sounds
Deathtrap Dungeon's sound effects are well done,
many of which provide extra atmosphere to the game to make the dungeons
more eerie and creepy. The music is a mixed bag of medievel type compositions,
and while uninspiring they don't get too repetitve and pretty much go along
with the fantasy feel of the game. There is virtually no speech after the
intro is finished and therefore no story or plotlines are really relayed
to the player throughout, perhaps an evil-sounding voice to read out the
mission briefings could have helped spice up the mission-based style to
the game. Unfortunately the sound doesn't do enough to recover this game's
shortcomings.
Gameplay
Argh. You'll be hearing that alot in this game, whether
it be from your character constantly dieing or from you gasping in frustration.
Deathtrap
Dungeon uses a control system similar to Tomb Raider, which
is not a bad thing, and the fighting moves, while few, are well implemented.
But the virtual camera is the major downfall here. It is completely out
of control, and swerves off in angles that lead you to an early grave from
either a monster out of view or a trap. There are also one or two instances
where your fighter can miss an easy jump and fall to an untimely death,
because halfway through your movement the camera moves and puts off the
player's concentration. Deathtrap Dungeon also uses a similar save
game system as the first Tomb Raider, but the save skulls (as opposed
to purple diamonds) are badly positioned and not in great abundance (and
a few actually require gold to use).
I feel a verdict coming on
Fans of the Tomb Raiders may like this game, but
I would advise renting before buying, because I was greatly disappointed.
It is a great pity too, because I am a big fan of Ian Livingtone and his
books, in which this game was based on. I would have also liked something
more in the way of a storyline, and maybe some non player characters to
interact with, but the bland mission-based structure reminds me of the
way Mechwarrior 2 was designed, which was one of it's bigger flaws.
I cannot recommend this title straight off, but trying before you buy would
be a definite plus. I will also slip in a mention of the rather pathetic
ending to the game, come on Eidos, after all that frustration I was at
least hoping for something that lasted more than 10 seconds. The masters
of the 3D action adventure game missed the mark on this one.
Review by D.R.T.Barrett
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