Dungeon & Hero: Legend of Dragon

When 'dungeon' comes before 'hero' in the name, you know what to expect right out the gate. The priority in this role-playing game doesn't lie with its peon protagonist.

Instead, it's all about the dungeon crawl, the never-ending level grind; the hero is secondary, story an incidental concern. This is role-playing at its most basic, reverting to an antiquated model that relies on repetitive action and limits character development.

Dungeon & Hero commissions one of three heroes to save the Mitheland Empire from encroaching evil. Sian takes up the mantle of the strong warrior, whereas Shana focuses on ranged critical attacks with her bow and Irene possesses the abilities of a mage.

Upon choosing one of these heroes, you begin the quest to rid the land of enemies using your unique ability to tap the attack button with your finger.

Character development is extremely limited in Dungeon & Hero with the only option for customisation coming in the form of ability points that can be assigned to any of five attributes upon levelling up.

Skills, however, unlock automatically every eight levels. You begin with a single skill and have no control over those you acquire through the course of the game.

That would be acceptable if you were granted the opportunity to strengthen these skills with additional points, but levelling up is not an option.

The paucity of options for developing your character leaves Dungeon & Hero more of a shallow dungeon crawler than bonafide role-playing game. Level grinding is what it's all about.

Quests are designed to serve this purpose, giving you lists of creatures to kill instead of tasking you with interesting errands.

Fetch quests and kill contracts are commonplace in role-playing, yet it's conspicuously shallow here. Hunting 15 of this enemy and 10 of that beast as your primary objective for dozens of quests is downright lame.

Despite faltering in its nostalgic appeal, Dungeon & Hero is a rousing success when it comes to presentation. While the music and graphics do little to exploit the hardware, the blocky visuals and character sprites are utterly charming.

Original tunes, even if they loop in short intervals, are surprisingly pleasant. It has the look and feel of a classic role-playing game, which makes it all the more disappointing that it can't deliver the same quality in gameplay.

By all accounts decent, Dungeon & Hero accomplishes its goal of providing an retro-inspired role-playing game. Unfortunately, it entertains elements both good and bad as a result.

The gameplay is outmoded. Value isn't an issue, and nor is technical proficiency. Rather it's the lacklustre design that gives rise to repetitive combat, limited character development, and a lack of variety in quests.