Dwarves, and Goblins, and Wizards…Oh My!
Summoned by a mysterious Hot Chick, you are tasked with defending the denizens of Daggerdale — a little hole-in-the-wall somewhere in the Forgotten Realms — from an Evil Cleric (aren’t they all?) named Rezlus.
Now, I personally don’t know what any of that means, nor do I care.
I’m here to Hack n’ Slash my Dungeon Crawling way to victory while obliterating a shit-load of regenerating wooden barrels.
Who’s with me?!
First we need to pick our character.
Human Fighter? Nah, feels like I’m down the Jersey Shore.
Halfling Wizard? Hate magic and the Harry Potter movies.
Dwarven Cleric? Too damn short and would probably just run off looking for altar boys.
Elven Rogue? Totally reminds me of Cate Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings. I’m all in.
And remember fellas, there’s no shame in playing as a female character. If you have to stare at somebody’s backside for 10 hours, it might as well be a rough and tumble, yet adorable, Elven long-range artist.
Next, we’re off to customize via a very clean and simple interface.
Spending points to beef up the “skills that pay the bills” and eventually turn ourselves into the unstoppable killing machines we all aspire to be (in the game, of course). Being a somewhat cowardly gamer, I like to phone it in on the bad guys from about twenty yards out, and then run away if they get too close for comfort — It’s who I am. Don’t judge me — so I most definitely appreciated the variety of ranged attacks available within the first couple “level ups.”
They included; three balls of blinding light thingy, red glowing arrow thingy, and my favorite, punch-through-a-’79- Buick thingy. All quite handily mapped to the left trigger and a corresponding face button, you’ll be mowing down goblin scouts and fiery skeletons in no time…
If you’ve recently played another recent Xbox Live Arcade game, Torchlight, or any other hack n’ slash RPG in the past ten years you pretty much know what you’re getting here.
It’s a tried and true formula that just plain works.
While Torchlight is firmly rooted in its bright, cartoony cel-shaded graphics (which I really dug), Daggerdale goes with a somber, grimier, more “realistic” presentation that succeeds in creating its fantasy world where evil abounds and death awaits.
Which brings us to a couple of things that irked me…
When you embark on a quest, the game auto-saves at the point of entry, which means that when/if death catches up with you after twenty minutes or so before you can complete the quest…it sends you back to the beginning to start from scratch. (Though it appears to be saving your stats as you go, so you won’t lose those at least.) A “save anywhere” option would have been nice, but alas. And while graphically up to snuff, the music and sound could have definitely used some work.
The soundtrack is completely forgettable. Hell, even Torchlight had a main theme that made you feel heroic. Nothing here. And even cranked all the way to 11, it still managed to blend into the background instead of really taking over.
I was also disappointed that when you talk to other characters, they’re text only. Voices would have lent a little character. And a little character can go a long way.
Ultimately, no deal-breakers here, just annoyances.
For 1200 MS points and about 6 hours of Campaign (which you can play by yourself, locally with 1 other player, or online with 3 friends), I’d say it’s probably worth the trip to Daggerdale (though I’d wait for a sale).
For the same price, I would recommend purchasing Torchlight first, but there’s definitely room for more hack n’ slash, dungeon crawling action on Xbox Live and while this may not be the perfect companion, it might be able to tide you over until one comes along.
SCREENSHOTS (Click to
