Deep Labyrinth

"Another game uses the rune drawing idea. Oh, and there's an RPG here, too."

First off, I'd like to say something about Atlus. Normally, I pass good judgement unto their games because they've made good localization choices in the past. Persona, Disgaea, and even Thousand Arms was pretty decent, imo. Deep Labyrinth didn't get so lucky. I fail to see how the same person who chose Contact and Disgaea also chose this game to bring over to the US. But I won't spill it all yet. I'll section this review for easy reading:

Story

The story in this game is what is to be expected of any dungeon crawler: Just "there". It will never move you to any emotion, never make you think or laugh (usually). It basically just gives a reason as to why you're doing what you're doing, and it does its job well. Actually, it's better than most DCs. You're a boy with his parents (whom are apparently having marriage troubles) out on a trip in the family vehicle. A flat tire causes you to stop next to a mansion. One thing leads to another, and eventually you end up in some sort of alternate world where memories are stored and dealt with. Aside from always chasing your dog to the next area/getting help from him, you're always going onward to the next area, looking for clues pertaining to the whereabouts of your parents.

System

This is a very basic RPG. It uses the standard EXP/Level gain system, with little to no customization. Spells are gained from tablets (aka shrines) you find in certain areas, not through leveling up. You can't control how you level up (ie: favoring certain stats), and each playthrough of this game will be the same in terms of growth. There isn't too much variety with equipment, either. Every so often, you'll collect a new set of equipment which means to replace your last. Again, no picking and choosing.

Controls

The control scheme is fairly simple, yet.....different. On the right side of the screen are five "modes". Attack mode just lets you swing your sword, which you do with the stylus. This part really disappointed me because I was hoping they'd put more effort into this. It would have been nice to be able to do more damage depending on where you hit the enemy, and how you hit it, but the truth is the stylus sword is just for show. No matter how you hit your foe or where you hit it, the damage is always based off your stats, like any other RPG.

The second mode is magic. In this mode, there is a 3x3 blue grid where you have to literally draw magic runes that represent the magic spells you have in your spellbook. The simplest spells only require one short stroke moving one box diagonally, like ice and fire. It gets more complicated, though, with some spells requiring a combination of spells. This was a great idea, but it's nothing new. There have already been DS games that used this idea, so I can't give it a good score for innovation, because there really isn't any. Though I'd have to say that, among them, this one is the best for "rune drawing", as it has come to be called.

The third mode is for your shield, which you have to keep held down to use. The shield, itself, wasn't very useful to me because the game is already quite easy even without using it. It does its job of blocking some attacks, though. The last two modes are your Item Pocket and Menu. Item Pocket is basically a quick-access item menu for when you're in battle. Menu pretty much speaks for itself.

Wasn't there another part of the control scheme? Oh right! The movement! With all that stylus play, let's hope they came up with a comfortable way of using movement and stylus at the same time. And the answer? Eh.........could be better. The D-pad controls all movement. Forward, backward, turn left, turn right. There IS a strafe, but it's horrible. In order to strafe, you have to double-tap left or right, and that gives you a very short strafe in either direction. You have to do it again if you want to go further. They really should have come up with a better way to strafe, as it gets annoying when you're simply trying to turn left, and your character decides to strafe left - especially when turning is the only effective way to aim spells without being locked onto the enemy. My final word on the controls, as a whole, is that they're decent but they feel too stiff. The turning is too slow, and it just seems to take too much effort just to move your character around, even after getting used to the controls.

Graphics

Unimpressive, even for the DS. Everything is in full 3D, but that doesn't say much by itself. Models are pretty blocky and used multiple times, simply color swapped - pretty early in the game, too. The game feels fairly choppy. It's not that there's slowdown, it's just that there are a few things they didn't give enough animation to, making it appear to be choppy. As far as art style goes, it's actually quite nice. I'm not a fan of anime-style art, but the monster/NPC design wasn't bad at all. If only they had a better writer for this game, there could have been some decent character development. The opening FMV is anime-style at an acceptable frame rate.

Sound

I'll keep this short. The music is great. I don't know how they convinced Yasunori Mitsuda to do this game, but he worked his magic like always. It's sad that it doesn't do much to save the game in its other failing areas. He worked well with what they gave him, though. Each piece fits the area its played in, and there never seems to be a dissatisfying tune. Menu clicks are standard game fare. Sound is the game's best area, yet unfortunately not much else can be said about it.

Difficulty

Lack there of. Each map area has a save point. Let me give you an idea of what this means. It only takes about 5 - 10 minutes to clear a map area, each only consisting of a handful of rooms. Meaning every 5 - 10 minutes, you see the familiar platypus creature to restore your health/magic and save your game. The enemies in this game are a joke, save for a few bosses which took me some leveling. Quite frankly, you can soar through 90% of this game without needing to stop and level up.

In Closing....

Overall, this game falls short in a lot of places I hoped it wouldn't. I didn't want to believe all those lesser reviews this game had been getting at the gaming websites and magazines. I usually love most games Atlus chooses to publish, and I gave this one an open mind, even an optimistic state of mind. None of that really works, though, when the game simply suffers from weak development. It's not a terrible game, though, and it's good enough to at least hold you over until a better RPG comes along.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/23/06