Fun but too short of a game.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fun, interesting turn based strategy game.

Cons: Too easy. Animations are only so-so.

The Bottom Line: 
Deffinately get dungeon dice monsters if you have a friend to play with where you both can get into it.

Author's Review
Here is the truth about this game. It has a unique gameplay style that will appeal to anyone in the turn based strategy crowd. It is a game based on monsters that are summoned to try and defeat your opponent while he/she tries to do the same to you.

The good:
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The interesting part comes in the fact that all of the monsters have different strengths and weaknesses and intricacies to them that will make any long-term player want to collect them all. Each time you win a battle against an opponent you get one of his monsters randomly. The way the dice work is also interesting. You see, each monster is represented by a 6 sided die that can have from 1 to 6 different symbols on each side in any combination. Before each players turn 3 dice of your choosing are rolled and the combination of symbols on the 3 dice determines what actions you can perform that turn. This adds even more strategy and fun to the game because you will have to choose carefully which dice you want to roll each turn depending on what action you want to take.

In addition, here comes the tricky part, each time a new monster is summoned the die that it represents unfolds and becomes land upon the playing field that it and other monsters can walk upon. This is necessary because at the beginning of the match there is nothing but empty space between you and your enemy. You also choose the shape of the 6 squares as long as they are all touching each other. This further adds to the strategy and makes the game very fun.

The bad:
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Ill be honest right off the bat. The AI is horrible. After learning the basics of the game I beat it in less than 2 hours without even coming close one time to losing. All you have to do is rush your enemy with a bunch of weak level 1 monsters which arent as tough, but are easy to roll the right combination to summon and you will win every game. The moves the computer makes seem to get more intelligent as time goes on but by then it is too late and you have overwhelmed the enemy. This game would be AWESOME if you have another person to play with on a link cable because then you will hopefully be playing a competant opponent. Too bad this game cant be played online, it would have rocked.

The other bad thing is that there are only 2 modes to the game. Tournament duel and free duel. In tournament duel you have to fight 4 AI opponents in a row each with their own different personality and dice (monsters) until you reach the end and win. In free duel you challenge one of the AI opponents that you have previously faced in a tournament. There is also an area where you can buy/sell dice but most arent available until much later in the game. I dont know how many different dice there are but my guess is that there is over 150.

Finally the combat animations are kinda weak. Im not a graphics fiend so they didnt bother me but anyone that isnt an old school gamer from the days of Nintendo 8 bit will be disappointed. They are very cartoony and light; all monster deaths are represented by them blowing up regardless of whether they were burned, slashed, speared, frozen, ect. You get the point.

My final advice on this game is this: Deffinately get dungeon dice monsters if you have a friend to play with where you both can get into it. Dont get this game if you are expecting a challenging, in-depth, turn based strategy game. Its missing one key element... challenge. Despite all of this, it will be one of the best games you play until the lack of challenge gets boring.