“Cladun: This is an RPG” is what it says it is…an RPG! More specifically, it’s a real time action dungeon crawling hack and slash RPG with classic styled visuals and sensibilities. You can download it on PSN for your PSP for only 20 bucks.

Not much of a story in Cladun. You’re just in a secret world full of monster-filled dungeons and treasures for you to collect. Play as one of the existing characters you meet or create your own and edit his or her class and appearance. Then venture into dungeons to collect treasures and equipment as well as fight monsters to gain experience and level up.

One of the more original aspects of Cladun is the use of Magic Circles. Characters you are not using can be arranged in special areas to add to your main character’s defense. Artifacts can then be attached to characters in the Magic Circle to boost your stats even more. Only problem with Magic Circles is sometimes it can be a little confusing to tell how your arranged characters and artifact really help.

Cladun has a retro throwback style when it comes to visuals. All the graphics are done in 8-bit and 16-bit. You can even change the music to sound more retro. There’s also quite a bit of humor and fourth wall breaking in the text. If you know another nearby player with a PSP and a copy of Cladun, you can even do some wireless co-op dungeons.

Cladun is also very streamlined. If you don’t feel like walking to the shop, tavern, or dungeon entrance, you can access everything just by opening the menu. Dungeons are short enough that they can be beaten quickly, which is perfect for handheld gaming. If you die, you’ll lose the items you collected in that dungeon, but you’ll still get some experience points. Cladun makes for a decent enough handheld game if you like action packed dungeon crawlers.

Kid Factor:

Cladun: This is an RPG is rated E-10 for Everyone 10 and up with ESRB descriptors of Language, Mild Fantasy Violence, and Suggestive Themes. The language and suggestive themes are in the text only. And the 8-bit graphics help tone down the violence quite a bit, even though you do nothing but fight monsters. Reading skill is required for all the text, and younger players might get a little frustrated with the more challenging dungeons and confusing interfaces and menus. Kids might not get all the classic game references and simpler graphics, but the game is still good for anyone who likes dungeon mazes, monster bashing, and treasure hunts.

Tags: Game Reviews