

The plentiful enemies regularly surround and attack the hero, but it's easy to lose track of them. Between loot and the reliance on potions, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance never lets you trounce enemies that regularly rubberband up to match your current strength. While loot is plentiful, it never makes you feel all-powerful. Each area's earmarked by a statue that sells them, and there's no way to battle through a given area without filling up regularly. Most gold goes to purchasing potions, the only way to survive in Dungeon Hunter. Compounded with the option to auto-transmute items into gold, inventory management is super easy and adding coins to your gold stash simple. When bashing in the skull of a skeleton or gargoyle or spider, the loot drops give purpose to the fight Filling up the inventory with varied tools gets a boost from the auto-equip function that automatically throws on more powerful items. When too many enemies show up, things slow down. Even standing in front of a breakable barrel illuminates the inherent problems in hit detection, with containers often taking multiple swings to register a hit. Which enemy loses a sliver of life? Depends on the minute distinction of which direction a player is facing.

Ranged attacks and spells hit hard, even when enemies attempt to swarm the hero, but melee attacks feel imprecise, making many battles a lumbering frustration. Fighting through thousands of enemies in a long (yet familiar) quest plays out well, but diving into the framework reveals inherent problems.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is similar to Diablo, in that enemies drop weapons, armor, and treasure left and right, making it a collector's dream.
