Dungeon Quest

Battle System/Gameplay- 3/5
This game is designed to be a throwback to the days when videogames first exited the era of Ascii code graphics. To its credit, it imitates this style very well. Gameplay consists of wandering around dank dungeons filled with monsters and treasure chests. Combat is extremely simplistic, any time you choose to fight an enemy you will be given 3 commands. Fight, in which you physically attack the enemy with either a Sword or your bare hands (Swords break after each use), Magic which lets you blast an enemy to dust as long as you have a Scroll handy, and Run, which will of course allow you to flee. Scrolls seem to instantly win the battle against every enemy with a few exceptions, while Fight is a bit more risky since you may take a point of damage while defeating your enemy (especially if you're out of Swords). There's a bit of randomization both to the outcome of battles and to what you will encounter in the dungeon, so you'll require a mix of strategy and luck to actually complete the game. The last boss requires 5 hits to destroy, so you'll need to conserve your strength to have any shot at completing the game. Combat does get stale after a while, but really you're not meant to be playing this game long enough to where it reaches that point.

Storyline/Characters- 2/5
You are a champion sent forth to rescue the princess from an evil villain. That's really the only storyline you get, and about the only thing I can say is since the story is nonexistent it does not detract from the game experience in any way.

Level Design- 3/5
The levels are simple, which matches the simple gameplay quite well. Every room consists of one or multiple locked doors, a few enemies, some treasure chests, and maybe a random merchant. The first enemy you kill, or the first treasure chest you examine, always drops the key which lets you advance to the next room. There are multiple routes to reach your final objective, some of which are far more dangerous than others, which adds quite a bit to the replayability.

Graphics- 3/5
Everything is drawn to mimic the old school style of the gameplay, and it manages to capture that spirit perfectly. Unfortunately it is marred by a few problems that those games once shared. The first of which is the tilesets are so dark it's pretty hard to see anything. The second is that doors are the same color as the walls, which will occasionally have you squinting at the screen trying to find the exit.

Music/Sound- 3/5
The game contains only a single song, which fits well enough with the style the game is going for. Sound effects also match up consistently with the games of that era.

Random stuff I liked-
A couple of the endings are quite amusing, but I won't spoil anything.

Random stuff I hated-
The Run command was completely pointless. The only time you get into an encounter is when you initiate it yourself, and since combat always ends in a single round there's never any situation where you'll see things are going badly and attempt to flee. The only exception is against the final boss, where the run command does not work.

Final Thoughts-
Overall this is a very average game that accomplishes exactly what it has set out to do. I felt it could have become a much more enjoyable title with a bit of innovation, but I suppose that wasn't really the point here. If you're a fan of the old school and are looking for a little nostalgia this is worth the 5 minutes it takes to download and play through, and is probably worth opening up every once in a while when you're feeling bored. Everyone else, stay far away.