2D Brawler meets MMO
Take the gameplay of a classic 2D brawler and add the persistence of an MMO and you have Dungeon Fighter. It sounds great, but the execution isn't quite all there. However, it can still be some decent entertainment.
The game is essentially divided into two parts. First is a town area where you pick up quests, talk to other people, buy skills and equipment, and group up. Then there are instanced dungeons which play like stages from any 2D brawler. You simply go to a cluster of dungeons, select one, and begin your 2D brawler portion.
The 2D brawler portion is decent. The dungeons aren't as good as any given stage from a Capcom brawler, this is mostly due to dungeons only having a few enemy types in any given dungeon. Still, the combat is passable and there are no glaring problems with the brawler portion of the game.
The MMO portion on the other hand is plagued with Korean style grind and the typical F2P problems. The most noticeable issue will be that respecs cost $15 a pop. You get one respec when you change class (available at 18) and after that, you better have your character planned. Mistakes become costly. The experience required also really begins to ramp up in the 20-30 range and progression slows down to a crawl. This is a bit of a problem because of the way skills are spaced. You a cluster of skills in the first 10 levels and then one or two before you hit 20. The first big step in skill power and function comes at 25, but the slowed progression means a lot of players will get bored and quit somewhere in the 20-30 mark.
There are some other annoying issues, for example the resolution is stuck at 800x600. This can result in things being distorted on some monitors. The grouping system is horrible, so if you don't know people outside the game, don't expect to group.
It controls via keyboard, but feels much better with an arcade stick. However, you may need a 3rd party keyboard emulator to get your arcade stick working. While the game recognizes button presses, it has trouble recognizing some joystick inputs. Additionally a program such as Xpadder lets you use a somewhat more complex control scheme (using a button a shift button) and map more skills effectively. Skills do have shortcuts so this game can be reasonably played on a 6-button or 8-button arcade stick if you can get the joystick inputs recognized.
I can't really recommend this game, but I can't recommend against it. It is free, so if a 2D Brawler with levels is an appealing concept it is worth a try. The brawler gameplay is fun, but it gets dragged down by the hamfisted MMO elements and the rather greedy implementation of the cash shop. I suspect most people will get bored and quite somewhere in the 20-30 range, being entertained for a few weeks. However, if you are one of those people who compulsively purchases DLC or you find yourself spending a lot of money of F2P games, steer clear. All the cash shop options are ridiculously overpriced and the game isn't good enough to warrant spending money on it.
In the end, it really makes me wish Capcom would bring more of its old brawlers to XBLA/PSN, especially their D&D brawler series. I think a better company could take the concepts of this game and do something great with it.
