Breath of Fresh Air: 9
I really enjoyed the things Deep Labyrinth did that were different. To start out, the controls were very different allowing you to attack using the touch screen and cast spells on the touch screen (this was done in lost magic but its different enough here that its new) as well as go into the menus and use items you have in your pocket. Needless to say, if you don’t like using the touch screen on your DS then you should rent before purchasing this game if at all possible. I will go into more detail about the controls in the control section.
The leveling up system is also quite different from other games. Not only do you level up from defeating the multitude of enemies you encounter throughout the game, but your sword levels up as well. Your sword requires a certain level before you are able to imbue it with magical attack and otherwise just grows in attack power with each level. When your player levels up, he gains boosts based on what he used during the previous level so your maximum mp will go up when you cast a lot of spells and your max hp and attack will get large when you are swinging your sword a lot.
Another thing this game does that is different is its save point system. Many could look at it and say that its just the same old save point we have seen before that can heal you only now it talks but I disagree. Instead of some random glowing orb or other object that stands out from the surroundings like other save points do and usually doesn’t have any sort of explanation behind why it works how it is, this one is explained and actually talks so he can explain himself to you. The save point in the game is a purple platypus with a golden crown on his head. He is the creature that keeps watch over memories in the world you are exploring. Basically you give him your memories when you save so that he will make sure you don’t lose them. It works out much better then lots of other save point systems and you get to know the lazy platypus well enough that id almost call him a character rather then just a save point.
The game also has two separate chapters you can play through. The first one was created for the DS while the second was initially a cell phone game in Japan and was ported to the DS. The second chapter is more difficult and more mature. Keep in mind that while this review only covers the first chapter, the gameplay stays the same no matter which scenario you play and the story isn’t as large a part of the fun as is the gameplay and music.
Characterization: 6
There are very few characters in the game to interact with making the save point platypus one of the few characters you actually get to know. The rest of the inhabitants of the world are mice you talk to who serve more as hints as how to progress then well developed characters and for the most part their dialogue isn’t all too interesting. That being said, the other characters you will meet throughout the game are well enough presented that you want to help the “good” characters and want to defeat the “evil” characters.
Plot: 7
The story in deep labyrinth is pretty basic. You are a young boy driving with your parents when your car stops outside a large house. Your parents go inside to investigate the house leaving you at the car. After waiting for a short while, you decide to go after your parents in case something went wrong. Soon after you get inside, your dog, Ace, runs off and you set off to find him and your parents. Later your journey becomes one to recover your parents memories and escape the world you accidentally stumbled into.
Immersion: 7
The world is described by its inhabitants as a sort of heaven where the creatures who live there are tasked with keeping watch over the important memories and disposing of the unimportant memories. This is because certain things, like what you had for lunch last Wednesday, aren’t important and your brain needs more room for the important memories. For a world that is so different from the world we live in, the areas you go through are definitely out there enough.
That being said, the dungeons you progress through are made up of blocky passageways and have very little in terms of scenery with the occasional tree, mouse, and save point being the highlights. The game’s areas do get repetitive after a while and can be especially barren for a good part of the game with only a few enemies in each level. This is remedied when you find any one of the Cursed items later on in the game that increases your encounter rate but seeing as how the Cursed items are kind of out of the way and definitely not required, its possible that you could get through the entire game without ever seeing more then five or six enemies pre floor. While this didn’t bother me, it didn’t really make the game anything special, although the interesting designs of some of the later levels somewhat makes up for it.
The graphics are some of the best 3d graphics on the DS. The huge bosses do the best job of showing off the well done graphics. The later spell effects are particularly impressive and satisfying, almost more so then many ps2 games.
Controls: 9
Many have complained that the game doesn’t do a very good job with the controls but I found the controls fit perfectly with the style of game and the DS hardware’s capabilities. To start out, I will explain the GUI the game uses. On the bottom screen you have five buttons. From top to bottom they go in this order, sword, magic, shield, pocket, and menu. Tapping on either of these will bring you into that mode.
Tapping sword will bring out your sword allowing you to attack with it. You can either tap the screen or slash the screen with the stylus to attack with the sword. I found it much easier to do the former. Tapping magic will bring up a 3x3 grid that you will draw your spells on. You can either tap the grids in the order of the design of the spell or draw it but like sword swinging I prefer the former. The designs for the magic spells can get quite intricate and later in the game you are able to combine up to three spells to create more devastating attacks. Tapping shield will bring up your shield but sadly the shield only stays up while you hold it down and more often then not you end up hitting the pocket icon instead and making it harder to kill your enemies. Defending isn’t really necessary though so it’s a minor concern.
Tapping the pocket icon will bring up your item hotkey bar of sorts. In Deep Labyrinth, you can not access your items from the menu while you are in combat and instead are only allowed access to the five item slots while fighting. This makes combat more strategic because you are not able to use infinite items while in combat although later on in the game the healing magic is considerably stronger and your max hp grows so large that healing items besides the Vivos which restores your hp and mp fully are mostly useless.
Tapping the menu button brings up your menu where you can go to the items menu to assign items to your pocket and equip new equipment. The magic menu lets you view your current learned spells in case you forgot how to draw an important spell.
Sound: 8
The music in Deep Labyrinth is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda who is well known for his work on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts 1, and a few other games. The music stays true to his Celtic themes and some of the boss battle songs are particularly great. Definitely some of the best music on any DS game I have yet to play. The sound effects are well done although nothing special. There is decent voice acting in the intro and ending anime sequences but otherwise the game is without voice acting.
Final Score 7.7 (an average)
In the end I enjoyed the game a lot. Players who enjoy using the DS’s touch screen and microphone and like long focused dungeon crawlers without any sort of break to let you go back to a town will find a fun game here with just enough story to keep you going. The game takes about 12 hours to complete but as I mentioned earlier that is only beating one of two chapters and the second which I have not completed is more challenging and mature.
I really enjoyed the things Deep Labyrinth did that were different. To start out, the controls were very different allowing you to attack using the touch screen and cast spells on the touch screen (this was done in lost magic but its different enough here that its new) as well as go into the menus and use items you have in your pocket. Needless to say, if you don’t like using the touch screen on your DS then you should rent before purchasing this game if at all possible. I will go into more detail about the controls in the control section.
The leveling up system is also quite different from other games. Not only do you level up from defeating the multitude of enemies you encounter throughout the game, but your sword levels up as well. Your sword requires a certain level before you are able to imbue it with magical attack and otherwise just grows in attack power with each level. When your player levels up, he gains boosts based on what he used during the previous level so your maximum mp will go up when you cast a lot of spells and your max hp and attack will get large when you are swinging your sword a lot.
Another thing this game does that is different is its save point system. Many could look at it and say that its just the same old save point we have seen before that can heal you only now it talks but I disagree. Instead of some random glowing orb or other object that stands out from the surroundings like other save points do and usually doesn’t have any sort of explanation behind why it works how it is, this one is explained and actually talks so he can explain himself to you. The save point in the game is a purple platypus with a golden crown on his head. He is the creature that keeps watch over memories in the world you are exploring. Basically you give him your memories when you save so that he will make sure you don’t lose them. It works out much better then lots of other save point systems and you get to know the lazy platypus well enough that id almost call him a character rather then just a save point.
The game also has two separate chapters you can play through. The first one was created for the DS while the second was initially a cell phone game in Japan and was ported to the DS. The second chapter is more difficult and more mature. Keep in mind that while this review only covers the first chapter, the gameplay stays the same no matter which scenario you play and the story isn’t as large a part of the fun as is the gameplay and music.
Characterization: 6
There are very few characters in the game to interact with making the save point platypus one of the few characters you actually get to know. The rest of the inhabitants of the world are mice you talk to who serve more as hints as how to progress then well developed characters and for the most part their dialogue isn’t all too interesting. That being said, the other characters you will meet throughout the game are well enough presented that you want to help the “good” characters and want to defeat the “evil” characters.
Plot: 7
The story in deep labyrinth is pretty basic. You are a young boy driving with your parents when your car stops outside a large house. Your parents go inside to investigate the house leaving you at the car. After waiting for a short while, you decide to go after your parents in case something went wrong. Soon after you get inside, your dog, Ace, runs off and you set off to find him and your parents. Later your journey becomes one to recover your parents memories and escape the world you accidentally stumbled into.
Immersion: 7
The world is described by its inhabitants as a sort of heaven where the creatures who live there are tasked with keeping watch over the important memories and disposing of the unimportant memories. This is because certain things, like what you had for lunch last Wednesday, aren’t important and your brain needs more room for the important memories. For a world that is so different from the world we live in, the areas you go through are definitely out there enough.
That being said, the dungeons you progress through are made up of blocky passageways and have very little in terms of scenery with the occasional tree, mouse, and save point being the highlights. The game’s areas do get repetitive after a while and can be especially barren for a good part of the game with only a few enemies in each level. This is remedied when you find any one of the Cursed items later on in the game that increases your encounter rate but seeing as how the Cursed items are kind of out of the way and definitely not required, its possible that you could get through the entire game without ever seeing more then five or six enemies pre floor. While this didn’t bother me, it didn’t really make the game anything special, although the interesting designs of some of the later levels somewhat makes up for it.
The graphics are some of the best 3d graphics on the DS. The huge bosses do the best job of showing off the well done graphics. The later spell effects are particularly impressive and satisfying, almost more so then many ps2 games.
Controls: 9
Many have complained that the game doesn’t do a very good job with the controls but I found the controls fit perfectly with the style of game and the DS hardware’s capabilities. To start out, I will explain the GUI the game uses. On the bottom screen you have five buttons. From top to bottom they go in this order, sword, magic, shield, pocket, and menu. Tapping on either of these will bring you into that mode.
Tapping sword will bring out your sword allowing you to attack with it. You can either tap the screen or slash the screen with the stylus to attack with the sword. I found it much easier to do the former. Tapping magic will bring up a 3x3 grid that you will draw your spells on. You can either tap the grids in the order of the design of the spell or draw it but like sword swinging I prefer the former. The designs for the magic spells can get quite intricate and later in the game you are able to combine up to three spells to create more devastating attacks. Tapping shield will bring up your shield but sadly the shield only stays up while you hold it down and more often then not you end up hitting the pocket icon instead and making it harder to kill your enemies. Defending isn’t really necessary though so it’s a minor concern.
Tapping the pocket icon will bring up your item hotkey bar of sorts. In Deep Labyrinth, you can not access your items from the menu while you are in combat and instead are only allowed access to the five item slots while fighting. This makes combat more strategic because you are not able to use infinite items while in combat although later on in the game the healing magic is considerably stronger and your max hp grows so large that healing items besides the Vivos which restores your hp and mp fully are mostly useless.
Tapping the menu button brings up your menu where you can go to the items menu to assign items to your pocket and equip new equipment. The magic menu lets you view your current learned spells in case you forgot how to draw an important spell.
Sound: 8
The music in Deep Labyrinth is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda who is well known for his work on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts 1, and a few other games. The music stays true to his Celtic themes and some of the boss battle songs are particularly great. Definitely some of the best music on any DS game I have yet to play. The sound effects are well done although nothing special. There is decent voice acting in the intro and ending anime sequences but otherwise the game is without voice acting.
Final Score 7.7 (an average)
In the end I enjoyed the game a lot. Players who enjoy using the DS’s touch screen and microphone and like long focused dungeon crawlers without any sort of break to let you go back to a town will find a fun game here with just enough story to keep you going. The game takes about 12 hours to complete but as I mentioned earlier that is only beating one of two chapters and the second which I have not completed is more challenging and mature.