Players have the opportunity to take on the roles of either a knight, an alchemist, a druid or a berserker. It's an interesting selection - more for what is not included in the character line-up. There are no traditional priests or Magic Users. This is compensated for with the addition of a skills tree that lets you personalise your character and gain magic skills suited to your style of play.

The game begins with the traditional kindergarten levels, where you are introduced to the game mechanics. There is nothing really new here. You have the basic attack keys, potions, and inventory system. There is a useful map feature in the top right-hand corner of the screen, which allows you to see where you are in relation to the rest of the dungeon.

You begin your quest in the city of Avon, where a story of imminent peril unfolds as you progress through the game. You can interact with various people in the city including merchants and quest givers. It is somewhat disappointing that this is delivered via captions rather than actual speech. Although sufficient to carry the story the lack of speech does not convey the colour and depth the storyline deserves.

The visuals are very attractive, with some interesting environments to explore. Although some attempt has been made to populate these areas with items, furniture and the like, the repetitive nature of some of the tile sets can be a bit tedious. The animation is done well and the combat can be fast and furious - although at times we found it difficult to align ourselves with the monsters we were fighting and often were flailing thin air rather than the ungodly hordes.

As you progress through the game you pick up items that can be viewed and equipped through various inventory screens. There is a big selection to wade through and we found we spent a lot of time poring through our loot, trying to get the combination of equipment which best suited our character. Items which are surplus to requirements can be sold to merchants back in the city.

Also included in the pull down screens are a quest log and skill tree, the latter being where you can specialise the character to fit within your playing style. These skills are then accessed from the keypad during play. The special abilities are limited by how much power you have (mana). This is displayed in-game with a power bar next to the traditional health bar. These in turn can be topped up with potions picked up in your travels.

Overall there are some 100 levels of dungeon to explore, with a huge bestiary of monsters to combat. All are beautifully rendered in 3D, the combat is reasonably paced to your level of ability, and although some of the boss monsters were a challenge we found it fun to play without resorting too often to saved games.

An attractive addition to the game is the multi-player feature. You can, through your wireless connection, host an additional three players. We found that this worked reasonably well and added a new dimension to the game.