Deep Dungeons of Doom Review

I’m not really into the tap-action game scene on mobile devices. I’ve just never been too keen on piloting a floating object through a gauntlet of obstacles, or infinitely running over rooftops, or even shooting birds out of a slingshot. That’s just not my jam; my mobile needs are best served by games both puzzley and relaxed. So I was surprised to find that Bossa Studio and Miniboss’s Deep Dungeons of Doom, a tap-action RPG, sucked so many hours of my life away. Captivated by the game’s graphics and sucked into the punishing gameplay, Deep Dungeons of Doom impressed me.

Exciting, but Simple

Like all mobile games, Deep Dungeons of Doom’s gameplay is straight forward, but unlike most mobile games Deep Dungeons of Doom will also kick your ass and smile while doing it. You will pilot a hero through a number of dungeons, each dungeon being a linear series of one-on-one monster fights terminating with a boss monster and sprinkled with special events. You’ll have your choice of three heroes, a tough crusader, a glass cannon witch, and a wily mercenary, each with a unique and impressive tech tree to purchase upgrades from. Only by achieving a level of focus that few mobile games demand will you be able to get your heroes through all of the dungeons alive to save the day.

The fights are brilliantly designed. Your hero can only attack (tap the right side of the screen), block (tap the left side of the screen), using an item (tap the item), and a class-specific charge up ability (hold down on the right side of the screen, then let go). But the brilliance comes from the monster animation. Much like a mobile fantasy version of Bop It!, you’ll be studying your enemies for tells and memorizing patterns. Each wonderfully animated monster will let you know when they’re blocking and when they’ll attack. It’s a careful dance between you and the enemy, block and attack must be expertly timed since the average hero can weather about 3-6 hits before kicking the bucket.

All told, the game is just too much on the simple and repetitive side for me. The third or fourth dungeon you do in a row can feel samey, but the game’s special items, character specific abilities you purchase as you level, and randomly generated quests do a lot to keep it fresh. I certainly still have fun playing this game and it kept my attention much longer than other tap-based action titles.

Beautiful, but Goofy

Ah, the real high point of the game. The graphics in Deep Dungeons of Doom are spectacular. Miniboss has packed so much personality and detail into the backgrounds, story cut scenes, and sprite animates that it’s mind boggling. The enemy animations that call out attacks are silky smooth and their death animations are brutally detailed. A few of the bosses call to mind the pixelated masterpieces of Metal Slug, only shrunk down onto my phone. Even the colors of the game, heavy in browns, reds, and oranges paired with and opposing cyans, makes the game feel caked with grime while still keeping intact all of the hand crafted detail. The mobile game scene is full of primary colors and cluttered screens; this pixelated and murky game is one of the best looking mobile games I’ve ever played.

This game doesn’t, however, keep its tone consistent. The beautiful and grim backgrounds, gorgeously dirty palette, and gruesomely animated monster death sequences are paired up with inappropriately goofy writing. The mobile gaming triumph Swords & Sworcery pulled off a fusion of stylized modern language, fantasy elements, and contemporary music,  but that’s because the folks behind it are fucking masters. Bossa Studios doesn’t pull off that same this-just-feels-right alchemy that allowed us to buy into Swords & Sworcery; when the mercenary in Deep Dungeons of Doom uses the word “dude” I find get snapped right out of the experience. The writing is a miss, but it doesn’t impede anything else the game does so, so right.

Deep Dungeons of Doom, Get It

Deep Dungeons of Doom isn’t quite pitch perfect, but it is an extremely enjoyable action mobile game that is worth your time and moneys. Rarely do action games on mobile platforms keep me coming back for more and I’m still playing the shit out of this game. The first five missions are free with a $3 paygate to complete the rest of the game. It’s available for absolutely every platform, so there’s no excuse. Grab it on your robot pads, your macintosh touchmachines, the Ouya, and even the Kindle briquette.