Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient Arts - Nintendo DS

by Konami

• Embark on a journey to rediscover and learn the lost Ancient Fighting Arts of Westria Kingdom
• Choose your hero from 3 races and 3 classes, each with unique strengths and weaknesses
• Choose from hundreds of different types of upgradeable weapons, armor, and equipment; 60+ fighting styles
• Wage battles against legions of different creatures, including undead soldiers, mutated monsters, and more
• Uncover the conspiracy to release the Demon God from his sealed prison

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0011G63NU
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 13, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,006 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: Nintendo DS

Embark on a journey to rediscover and learn the lost Ancient Fighting Arts of Westoria Kingdom. A land plagued by a legion of undead and monstrous soldiers, commanded by one Demon god, hell bent on bringing Westoria Kingdom to its final days. Legend foretells of one hero who will rise, wield the powers of the lost Fighting Arts to destroy the bringer of death, restoring peace to a once beautiful and great kingdom.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid not-quite five March 4, 2008

By Juan C. Nacho

Platform for Display:Nintendo DS

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I'm a huge fan of hack n' slash games; Baldurs Gate, D&D Heroes... all great games. Dungeon Explorer is similar to all of them theme wise. It's a real time hack n' slash that should more than satisfy your craving for zombie slaying, loot grabbing, level grinding fun.

It has it's strong points;
9 different classes
Lots of inventory functions
Fast leveling (nice feature on a portable where you don't plan on spending a lot of time playing)
Targeting system is very good compared to some others
You get a lot of money FAST.

It's also got its weaknesses;
Not many different items (I'd gone through four levels before I found a new type of armor)
Controls (like nearly all handhelds controls range from, "that's not right..." to "WHAT THE HELL?!")
Limited level design
Very poor graphics (barely a step above the Baldur's Gate GBA port)
Annoying music (it sounds totally out of place, it really does)
Nothing to buy with all the money you earn.
Save system kicks you back to the town whenever you restart.

In short; it's a definite keeper, but it's not the perfect hack n' slash!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than I Feared February 28, 2008

By Jay Morello

Platform for Display:Nintendo DS

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

I have to admit I kept reading the reviews fearing the worst. Like so many DS games that look amazing while in production end up failing by the time they ship. So I almost didn't buy it, but being a fan of both the gaunlet and diablo series games I sucked it up and gave it a shot. So far I am pleased. Yes it is flawed graphicaly and the control reminds me of old keyboard controlled DOS games, but I am hooked, and that's where it counts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Quirky Controls Ruin a Game with Potential August 9, 2008

By T. Stetzer

Platform for Display:Nintendo DS

Fun: 2.0 out of 5 stars   

I've been looking for a good dungeon crawler for the DS for a while and while not a huge fan of the anime style ones common to the DS this one seemed a bit different. Storyline looks good, character classes are interesting but I didn't get far in the game. Quirky controls made it painful to play and I gave up on it pretty quickly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I guess this is what mediocre is... August 24, 2008

By Robert E. Russell

Platform for Display:Nintendo DS

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

Over the years that I have played video games I have noticed that if one reads reviews of hack'n'slash rpgs in professional gaming websites and magazines, one will find mediocre scores. The reason for this is because of the reviewers will claim repetition of hacking up enemies, level grinding, gathering items, and lack of an epic story as keeping the games from being enjoyable. Also, they like to claim that many of these titles are Diablo "clones" (which is true for some). Though if I am not mistaken, Diablo isn't as original as some would like to claim, but just popularized this sub-genre to some extent. Now what does all this have to do with this game? Well, Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient Arts is such one game. When this game came out, it too received many so-so scores from the professionals. But I didn't let that get in the way of me buying this game; as I and many other gamers of this genre can attest, games of this type are highly addictive and fun, and one can lose hours upon hours playing them. Unfortunately I finally agree with some of those professional reviewers. When I got this game I was really excited and and wanted to like very much. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting the game of the year or anything like that, but something very enjoyable nonetheless. Normally, I try to get halfway or farther into a game before I review it, but I just couldn't with this one. Instead, I became very bored after a couple of hours and simply turned it off. I tried playing it again but didn't get much farther and haven't played it since (in fact, I traded it in at Gamestop). And now I am going to tell you why. First off, the controls. Controlling your character is choppy. Part of the reason is the lack of an analogue stick or pad on the DS, but most is ingame. Baldure's Gate: Dark Alliance for the GBA and LotR: The Two Towers and Return of the King play better than this. You just feel like you are trudging along. The next reason, and the biggest one for me, is that it is just a lack luster. It's hard to explain, but I just didn't have fun. That addictive quality was missing that many games of this type have. It's alright for an hour and a half or so, but that is about it. Another problem I had was the graphics. I am far from being a graphic whore and actually don't care if a game is 2D or 3D. The problem I have here is that everything seems bland. Nothing is really bright nor does it ever gets dark, it's just dull and grayish. Overall it's not a real bad game, just not that good in my opinion. Is this going to deter me from my love of dungeon clawlers and hack'n'slash rpgs? Nope. Not one bit. But it isn't the best example of the genre and not the one for those interested into getting into this type of the game to start out with. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dungeon Crawler your are looking for September 15, 2011

By Zazezizozuzy

Platform for Display:Nintendo DS|Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I rarely used my DS prior to finding this game. Most adventure games I found were just disappointing. I wanted a Diablo/Baulders Gate-like game. Something of a hack and slash style that gave me dungeons upon dungeons and endless amounts of loot. I found that with this game.

It goes along the lines of a standard RPG/Dungeon Crawler. You make a character from a choice of three races. Each race has three classes. One melee, one ranged, one magic. The difference between races is the weapons and armor they use. One races ranged glass would use bows, to where another uses pistols. Items have generic stats: Strength, Agility, Magic (Which is called 'Art'). Each level you get gives you points to put towards your stats. Makes customizing your character easy.

Gameplay is pretty straight forward. You get quests to complete certain tasks. "Go get this item. Go kill this guy". If you're ever lost or don't know what to do, just look at your quest log. Some dungeons are linear, other have multiple paths to take. All of them go by the same formula though: Kill things, unlock doors, kill boss. WARNING: This makes the game very repetitive. If ever you get tired of killing things with your first character, just make another one. You may find hitting things to be more entertaining than shooting them. The combination of weapons and Arts give you a little variation on how you kill things as well. Also, some of the boss fights are actually pretty intense. That kept me going.

I like the controls. I couldn't get into the DS Zelda games because I hate using the touchscreen to move. This game has no touchscreen integration. Everything is done using the buttons. D-pad for movement, ABXY for attacks/items/spells, right bumper to target mobs. The downside to the controls is with the left bumper which is used with the directional pad to switch spells/items. It would be way easier to have the touchscreen for this. Since your equipped items show up on a bar on one of the two screens anyways, they could have just made it so you touch one to switch them. Instead you have to hold down the L-button and use the D-pad to switch, making it so you can't move. Not really that big of a negative, but still annoying.

The last thing is the title. Dungeon Explorer:Warrior of the Ancient Art. It is really corny. And it doesn't stop there. The names of the towns/characters/weapons. All of them are pretty corny. There is a Goblin, named Gablin. I just ignored it, but take it as you want.

Conclusion:

Pros: Classic rogue-like gameplay. Thats hard to find on DS
Class choice/customization
LOTS of weapons and armor
Pretty long story, multiple characters you can play
Controls; movement and attacking use buttons
Don't want to spoil anything, but Robots

Cons: Repetitive gameplay
Objectives; easy to lose track of what you're suppose to do
Controls; switching items and spells
Corny names

If you are looking for a classic dungeon crawler, this is the game you want. It is by far one of my favorite DS games. Thanks for reading Read more ›