Dungeon Fighter Online Review

What’s Dungeon Fighter Online?

DFO is an arcade-side scroller that’s been ported over to North America by Nexon. It combines arcade action with elements of role playing games. Players can choose from a wide variety of classes and characters and experience dungeon-crawling mayhem!

Graphics (3 out of 5)

Your first thought might be - Why am i playing this? It has graphics that look like something from a Super Nintendo game! Well, that’s sort of the point - what Dungeon Fighter Online does is place you smack dab in the middle of something out of an old-school arcade game or console. The graphics are HEAVILY pixelated and 800x600 resolution, and one may think this is a huge detriment, but in actuality it suits the content perfectly. You will feel like you’re playing a coin-op beat em up right out of one of the arcades of yesteryear.

Sound (3 out of 5)

Much like the graphics, the sound suits the game - Cheesy voice overs and all the thrills of smashing, breaking, busting, and crushing your foes, straight out of arcade games such as Golden Axe and Turtles in Time. You’ll hear goblins scream, witches cast freezing ice gales, and giant bosses laugh maniacally as they shower you with lightning bolts from above.

Gameplay (4 out of 5)

The gameplay is pure arcade action with RPG development. You level up, gain new skills, equip all kinds of gear from quality levels akin to classics like Diablo 2, and explore dozens of different dungeons. Playing solo? Got friends? Both types of gameplay are supported, as dungeons can be assigned a difficulty level before entering. Feeling like you can handle group maps by yourself? Go for it, and reap the rewards! As you shoot, smash, and star-blast your way through a multitude of different environments you’ll be graded on your performance by a letter score at the end, much like an exam or test, and gain massive experience rewards for doing well. It’s addictive, it’s fast paced, and it’s fun - and you can fit it into whatever time block you like. Blast through a quick dungeon in five minutes, or run through large ones for hours on end.

Localization (1 out of 5)

This is where Nexon “done wrong”. The game has been successful in other countries for a few years now, including Korea and Japan, and their versions offer a multitude of features that DFO does not. Auction houses, guilds, events, a much higher level cap, skills, balances, other classes, and a lot more. These things may be coming, but one can not ignore the most glaring change, which was a much higher experience requirement to reach various levels. Yes, that’s right, this eastern to western port now ADDS grinding instead of removing it, in what may be the first ever occurrence of a non-grinder becoming a grinder in translation. You will indeed have to grind out certain levels with very few or no quests, and it’s very noticeable.

Overall (3 out of 5)

This is a great game with lots of potential, whether or not it will “get there” remains to be seen. Fans of side-scroller arcade games, Diablo style gameplay, and fun games in general will love this game, and the fact that it’s free to play gives very little reason not to try it out. So grab your gamepad and enter the world of Arad!