Dungeon Hunter has had a successful run of releases across various platforms, and why not?  Gameloft effectively channels in the classic Gauntlet vibe with this game, providing hours worth of hack and slash fun, whether alone or with friends.  But the main appealing factor was the game’s price.  Up till this point, you could get your skill set on for no more than $13.  But with the PlayStation Vita version of the game, titled Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, you get the same old dungeon crawling action for a startlingly hiked price.  Worth it?  Not really.

The game has you playing in the role of a king who has met his demise, but finds a way to come back ala resurrection, and just in time, as your kingdom is in grave danger.  Filling the roles of a given character, namely a warrior, a rogue or a mage, you set out to reclaim it, one battle at a time, running into all sorts of living and dead enemies and sending them all to meet their maker, mostly through slicing them up and earning up levels.  The higher your level, the stronger you get, for the most part.

Sure, the action is derivative, but considering how affordable (and accessible) it was before, it really wasn’t that big a deal.  But the PlayStation Vita version of Dungeon Hunter has not one, but two big problems.  Not only is the price jacked up to a ridiculous retail amount ($40, miles ahead of the usual standard), but it’s also quite flawed.

First off, the collision detection has some severe problems here.  We’ve run into situations where enemies have somehow run right through us, only to strike from behind and actually cause some health damage.  Either they’re ghosts or they have these nifty teleport-to-behind attacks that can easily cause someone frustration.  This is almost unforgivable, especially in later parts of the hunt.

Secondly, in an attempt to add PS Vita touch functionality to the game, it’s been made into an even worse mess.  The front touch-screen features are cosmetic at best, allowing you to zoom in and out of the action or bring up secondary menus.  As for the back touch functions, they simply allow you to manually move a fairy along with you – and it’s annoying, especially in the heat of battle when they go flying off everywhere because you forget that’s how you can move them.  The traditional controls work well otherwise – you know, when you can hit something.

About the Author

Robert Workman

Senior Writer/Editor

Robert has years of experience in the video game industry, writing for such sites as AOL GameDaily, PlanetXbox360 and Comic Book Resources.  He can also outdrink you any day of the week.  And twice on Sunday.  Follow him at www.twitter.com/thedcd.