Dungeon Explorer II Review by:
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Though evil endures...
And legends don't die...
The hero exists..
In a blink ..
...of time's eye...
A flash of light blazes through the sky...
And a beautiful voice begins...
Legend speaks of a dark horde rising to reclaim the lands
they once ruled before the time of man...
It is also said that a chosen will come forth to
strike them down...
Weilding a shining light to lift this darkness from the
face of the world.
It is a quiet summer afternoon, silence
fills the air
Suddenly, an explosion rings out, and the heroes of the Orb
of Ora
begin their quest to
retrieve the orb and stop the Dark Horde.
| 
| 
| 
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| Riot...the mischeivous bard
| Ardin...the master hunter
| Sorn...the wise cleric
| Sepi...the stealthy theif
|
| 
| 
| 
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| Dorz...the mighty dwarf
| Fina...the swift elf
| Efrem...the faithful wizard
| Alex...the great knight of legend
|
A voice echoes through the darkness with a warning
to all those who dare embark on this fateful
quest...
To weild the Orb of Ora...
Is to hold dominion over all that is good...
And bind all that is evil...
But the wicked never rest...
And so the eternal battle begins..
Anew!
Dark Lord Natas, master of the Black Horde, and source of
all evil...
Phades, a mysterious warlock, who is more than he appears
to be...
The clash of swords...
A flash of light...
D U N G E O N E X P L O R E R I
I 
Thus begins Dungeon Explorer II for the Turbo Duo.
It is the sequel to the popular HU-Card game, Dungeon Explorer, which was
released a few years
ago. It quickly became a favorite among Turbo Grafx 16 owners because of
its unique style of gameplay and intense action. The introduction you see
above warrants special mention, because it's one of the most impressive
opening cinemas I've ever seen on the Turbo Duo. It's impossible to
describe in words, you must see it for yourself. For a taste of what this
intro is like, check out the
section of Bob's site.
This review will be divided
into four sections:
Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, and Overall.
GAMEPLAY
Many years ago, an evil demon known as Natas stole the Orb of Ora, a magical
crystal with the power to rule the world. And you, the player, could pick
one of several heroes in a quest to destroy Natas and recover the Orb of
Ora and return peace to the world. Now, 50 years later, a mysterious sorceror
known only as Phades has revived Dark Lord Natas to aid him in his quest
to capture the Orb of Ora. At the beginning of the game you witness the
death of the holder of the Orb, and the seizing of the Orb itself. This
is where your quest begins. The gameplay itself is best described as a combination
RPG and a shooter. You travel from town to town, gathering information on
the next phase of your quest. The bulk of the game, however, is taken up
by the shooting aspect. Enemies in the field (or dungeon or castle) come
from monster generators.
The goal in any area is to destroy the monster generators the the enemies
appear from, make your way through the area, and find and defeat the boss
of that area. You can accomplish this by shooting in one of eight directions
and using the variety of magics that each character comes equipped with.
This aspect of the gameplay can become a bit repetitive, but the variety
of enemies and characters to choose from give the gameplay enough diversity
to hold your interest. Speaking of characters, up to five players can choose
from any one of eight characters: A fighter, a cleric, a thief, a wizard,
a bard, a dwarf, an elf, and a hunter. There are also six other characters
that you meet througout the game: a monk, a beastman, an engineer, a robot,
a witch, and the princess herself.
Each character has a white magic spell and a black magic spell, which
you can replenish by picking a white bottle or a skull respectively. To
add variety to the quest, each of the fourteen characters has an event or
area unique to them only. For instance, the beastman comes upon his home
village where he must exterminate a monster and regain his birthright. The
wizard comes upon a door in a cave which only he can open, and in doing
so gains a special power. This aspect gives the game extensive replay value.
GRAPHICS 
The graphics in this game range from drab and uninteresting to very detailed.
The animation is smooth and clear, with little or no slowdown or flicker.
Overall, they're nothing to write home about, but they're adequate. Now,
there is something special about this game that's worth bringing to the
attention of all Turbo Duo owners out there. In one of the wisest moves
TTI ever made, they decied to hire (for what reason I don't know) none other
than Working Designs to re-record the soundtrack and do the voice overs
for the cinema scenes. As a result, you get some of the best cinema scenes
to have ever graced the Turbo Duo! Not to mention the fact that it contains
some of the best voice acting ever to be heard in a Duo game. With every
major event, you are treated to an elaborately drawn, well acted, fully
animated cinema scene. Just one observace of the opening is enought to
tell you that! This aspect of the game alone is reason enough to hunt
this thing down!
Bravo Working Designs!
SOUND 
Let me start by saying this: Dungeon Explorer II has second best soundtrack
I've ever heard in a Duo game. The first is Ys Book I & II (as if you
didn't know that). Now, the way in which the composer went composing the
soundtrack is rather peculiar. The style isn't like anything I've heard
in any game recently. The majority of this soundtrack is composed of a dance,
almost disco style of music. Yes, you heard me correctly...disco. Sure,
there is some rock and classical mixed in with it, but this is the primary
style the composer picked for the soundtrack. Why he picked this style of
music he did is beyond me, but it works! It works really well. It's done
in a very modern atmosphere with lots of brass and strings, mixed in with
precussion, gutars, and a few sythisizers thrown in for good luck. The result
is fantastic! Am I into disco? Generally? No. But I know for a fact you'll
be throwing this in your CD player long after you get tired of playing it!
OVERALL
I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who played (and enjoyed)
the original like I did. Unfortunately, this game is becoming very difficult
to find, so if you want a copy you're going to have to hunt one down. Let
me assure you though, it's well worth it. The basic game structure hasn't
really changed from the first game, but then again, if isn't broken, why
fix it?
Review by John Phillips. Layout, graphics, and design by Bob Frasure.
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