Review: Super Dungeon Explore

So much promise, by and large left unfulfilled

Well this will be an interesting product to review. I think it's fair to say I was left a little bit 'deflated' after my unboxing of the game. Hey, I'm open to criticism and I went back through the article and tried to see if what I'd said was in any way a tad too harsh as some people had suggested to me. My considered answer after all this time? No, I was bang on with what I said. I still think it was a daft oversight not to include instructions on assembling their overly fiddly miniatures, and while I'm glad they've produced some, it's not in the box is it? Secondly it doesn't say anywhere on the outside of the product that it requires assembly. I'm not bothered that I need to assemble these miniatures, as I'm a wargamer and used to such things, but as a product on the shelf it should tell people what it is, and what to expect. The box it comes in is a shit quality corrugated card board affair, that does damage far too easily and thus makes storing the contents of the box difficult. And the playing cards? They're still the worst quality playing cards I've come across. So I'm sticking by what I said, so to those of you who have emailed me and told me to edit my unboxing article and be more upbeat... kindly go forth and multiply. They're my opinions and I'll not change them for all the barracking in the world! But what do I think of it as a game now I've played it?

Box contents pre-assembly

Product Description

Yep it is yet another board game in a box. Get over it already! You get 9 hero miniatures, 5 minion spawning points, 5 treasure chests, 2 boo-booty treasure chests, 22 Kobold minion miniatures, 6 Drake denizen miniatures, 2 Kobold Ogres and 1 Dragon miniature. They're the undeniable stars of the product. There are 5 double sided dungeon tiles that measure in at roughly 12" by 12". There is also a game tracking card which tracks various game effects and also measures 12" by 12" in size, meaning the maximum gaming space it takes up is 3' by 2'. There's a myriad of colourful game tokens and a nicely produced full colour rulebook. There are also 16 custom dice, 8 blue (weakest dice) 6 red dice (middling) and 2 green dice (most powerful). Finally there are about 60 playing cards representing Loot, treasure, Adventurers, Minions, status effect etc.

Gameplay 6.5 out of 10

A game set up and ready to go.

Let me be clear about this, I actually have enjoyed playing this game for the first few times. It's a pretty good brainless dungeon crawling romp, tinged with a soupcon a 16-bit SNES geekery. It's mindless fun, and there is nothing wrong with that. The mechanics aren't all that bad, even if much of them are borrowed from other games and have some inherent flaws. But what game in this hobby hasn't borrowed mechanics off of another game? Sometimes theres a comfort in the familiar and it can aid you in learning and playing something new. Yesterday I wrote about how I struggled at first with Claustrophobia, and its new and different mechanics. I'm guessing you could say that Super Dungeon Explore is sort of the opposite of that experience. I took to the game and the rules like a duck takes to water. Sure there are the odd wrinkle or foible that takes getting used to, like there is with any game, but on the whole I've seen it before and that helps getting started.

A nice artistic touch, but it's not enough to make it a good game

That's a good thing though sometimes, and initially I have to say I took a lot of enjoyment out of finally putting the super cute chibi miniatures down on the board and rolling some dice. I want to make it clear, that initially I found Super Dungeon Explore to be a riotous amount of fun. I was all ready to forgive the game its initial disappointments, but then came some pretty nagging doubts about longevity. I am blessed or cursed, depending on your viewpoint, with a highly mathematical brain. I literally see probability and numbers, it's hard to explain sometimes, but when I was at university I had an uncanny ability to look at data sets thousands of cases long and tell whether they'd be statistically significant or not. And even in some cases to what sort of degree they were significant. Some of my lecturers thought I was some sort of savant. I'm not, it's just that I get maths, I can visualise systems in my head, and Super Dungeon Explores has some serious flaws.

The dwarf prepares to cleave a path to the first spawning pool.

The game scales appallingly, if at all. The maths of the game and the specialist dice are broken. I think that Soda Pop must have realised this at some point as well with the dice, because they limit the amount of damage that can be dealt by anyone attack to only 1 wound. That is a clunky fix, to a systemic problem that their dice and profile system has created. There can be wildy varying results in terms of damage rolls vs defence rolls that can measure as high as a differential of 7, because of the specialist dice mechanic. If they didn't limit the damage to 1 'wound' per 'hit' then it's theoretically possible that sometimes heroes could be killed with one hit. Rather than accepting the dice were wrong and needed fixing, or that the profiles needed changing, or subtleties added they placed this clunky 1 wound limit on top of the a system that doesn't feel like it was meant to be limited. But does it work?

No, it's a fudge and it feels like it. Is it OK that the hero's only cause 1 amount of damage on monsters when they hit? Yep because most of the basic minions only have one wound, or two at the most. Plus the heroes have multiple action points meaning they can make multiple attacks and theoretically topple sometimes 3 minions in a round. For the minions on the other hand causing only one point of damage at best is pretty much pointless, this is because I've found that as heroes you are likely to roll hearts on your attack dice to get those wounds back. The adventures seem to be far more likely early on to cause damage to others, than receive damage themselves. There's nothing wrong with that on its own. But the dice themselves often mean that you're rolling potions or hearts more likely than not, meaning in the unlikely event that the heroes do take damage its rapidly nullified. This turns the early rounds of the game into nothing more than a slow butcher fest, a hollow grind or slog. Maybe that's for you, maybe you'll enjoy it, but I can't get past the fact that it is actually a pointless phase of the game that has little meaning. It's just a speed bump until you get the mini bosses and boss out onto the board.

It got a bit hairy for the heroes at the mid point, but after that it was plain sailing

You as adventurers with multiple wounds and action points blat the lower level minions quite easily, smashing them to pieces and working your way to spawning points and destroying them. You then nip off collecting treasure from those treasure chests, some of which can really swing things your way. It's OK and at first  and it's fun, but soon you start wanting more from the game. Something different, a little bit of depth. As the Consul (or console, yeah I see what you did there. Nice!) you rapidly realise that it is best to just blindly throw cheap minions at the adventurers for them to slaughter as rapidly as possible, so you get to spawn your mini bosses and boss onto the board. That's when you start being able to deal damage and resist a bit yourself. I've heard people say they've found it hard or a struggle, but seriously as an adventurer we've not really had too much of an issue at 16-Bit (3 heroes) level. Each adventurer getting a tile, a spawning point and treasure chest sounds like it should actually be balanced. But it's not. It's the second flaw in the game.

A mini boss gets twated, while the last spawning pool dies!

At 8-bit or two heroes the two tiles and the two spawning points are dealt with way before power marker ever threatens to reach super and the boss is unleashed, or even the mini bosses at the halfway point sometimes. As the Consul you do only have two adventurers to deal with, but there is no where to run and invariably it comes down to one or two lucky dice rolls to see, which side wins. Or if the heroes have found stupidly powerful treasure items! At 8-bit the game is boring and not really a challenge for the adventurers at all. At 16-bit I found things a little bit more balanced, but still not really giving the Consul much of a chance. Have I won as the consul? Yes, and at times it's touch and go as to whether or not as the heroes whether you destroy all the spawning points before the final boss comes out. And if you don't you can find yourself in a sticky situation, that's the strategy for the consul really, chuck cheap crap at the heroes in the hope you slow them down and bottle them up so they can't destroy all the spawning points before the boss appears, allowing you to get the maximum amount of minions on the board to help you with the final fight.

At Super level, or with 5 heroes it swings wildly in favour of the consul. You see, all the adventurers start on the same tile, and this means they now have 5 tiles to move through, to try and get to those spawning points to destroy them. Is the power gauge made longer? Nope. So you have more bad guys to kill, more distance to travel and no swing in your favour to help you out. Perhaps it's not meant to be scaling in the normal sense, perhaps it's supposed to get slowly tougher I don't know. Perhaps the experience is meant to change this drastically. If it is then evidently I've missed the point, and I guess as the heroes it does become an engaging challenge, yet sadly for the consul it suddenly switches to being a boring walk in the park.

Finally the boss appears and it already looks grim for the Consul

There is never really a happy balance in the system. 16-bit gets close but fails to really deliver an engrossing game. I think sadly Soda Pop were relying on the hits of nostalgia they've carefully placed and loaded throughout product. The language in the rulebook and with the artwork, specifically on the board tiles to see them through on nostalgia and style alone. But, sadly the image of an old arcade machine on a floor tile does not a good game make! It helps, it does and I'm not denying that, it's just not a substitute for a solid gaming experience. But, the biggest fail is the total lack of variance within the game. Every game is the same, seriously. I'm not even sure changing the heroes you take actually changes how things play out that much, if at all, especially given they can all only deal 1 point of damage each any way. And then there's the boss. Singular. Yes I get that old top down adventure games were all about the bosses many of them, I really do. And I get that Super Dungeon Explore is trying to emulate that, and actually it doesn't do a bad job of it... but there's one boss.

One boss. A dragon. That's it. So I slog through the game again and again and again to face the same boss. Colour me unimpressed. If they'd included a few more bosses I could have brought into the premise, but they haven't. Maybe that's their trick, maybe they'll be selling us all mini bosses and full on bosses to mix the game up. I hope so, I really do, because if this is it, if this is all it'll ever be it's shit. It gets far too repetitive far to quickly for this game to ever have much longevity. A few puzzle mechanics might have been nice, even if it was switches on different tiles, forcing the adventurers to split up to press the switches at the same time time to 'open up' the last tile. Maybe a rescue the princess mission. Anything. People have said to me I should write some rules like that myself, but honestly I don't really see why I should when there are other products and games out there that have done that for me.

The floor tiles are nice looking, but don't lead to interesting or varied games

I've also been told I should use my tiles from Descent or the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System games to make more interesting and engaging shaped dungeons. Maybe I should, but I don't feel inclined to do so. Because putting it bluntly it's just easier for me to take the miniatures and play other games with them that have already done all the hard work for me. Can I see kids enjoying this game with their parents? Yes, and I think that might be where its biggest success will be. It is a simple game to learn and it is colourful, bold and brash in a child friendly way. It also generates mercifully brief games so it's unlikely to bore kids like some more involved products. I've yet to test it on impressionable young minds though, but knowing what games I own that kids I know like, this is definitely ticking many similar boxes. It's just not for me... yet! If Soda Pop bring out some different baddies at a reasonable price that mix things up. Introduce different sorts of missions, then it might yet prove a more engrossing experience, but right now it isn't.

The bad guys

Detail 10 out of 10

This is something that nobody I know can criticise Soda Pop Miniatures over. The design brief is unique, wonderfully realised and pretty much perfectly executed. It looks like a 16-bit top down console RPG / Adventure game. It screams Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy or the daddy itself, The Legend of Zelda at you. It treats its source material with a reverence and respect that shows its creators have a lot of love and respect for it, and that shines through. It's fantastic, and I love the atmosphere and feel the game pieces create, from the floor tiles to the miniatures. It's clear that Soda Pop have spent an inordinately huge amount of time getting this visual aspect of the game and its setting just right. It feels like it was a labour of love, and that shines through in every miniature and token. I can't emphasise enough just how strong the theme is, and how well produced it is.

The good guys... notice the witch if sans staff because it won't fit

The tokens scream 8-bit and 16-bit computer games at you. The artwork borders on plagiarism at times but always comes down on the side of loving and respectful homage. The floor tiles themselves are splendid, the artwork calls up games like Secret of Mana, Pac-Man and Dragon Quest. The artwork on the tiles has many nice touches, the oft mentioned arcade machine is a nice 'in joke', but that's not really being fair to the rest of the tiles. They are splendid works of art. The pictures on the cards as well is always brilliant and massively anime and 90's video game inspired. They also function really well, with the treasure cards in particular marrying up nicely to your adventurers profile card depending on what sort they are. This means that they take up a small amount of space because of it. It is a neat touch and one that's welcome given how huge the actual game tiles are and how much space the game takes up.

The artwork on the cards is really good and characterful...

The rulebook is full of nice imagery and console game jokes, as is the game itself. The illusion and atmosphere is never broken by something being out of kilter or wrong. The land of Crystalia they've created also goes above and beyond the background you normally find in board games. I guess Crystalia also gives Soda Pop somewhere to expand to. Crystalia too evokes 90's console gaming at it's best, the map looks like something you'd see in a platformer or some such game from the era of cartridges. The rulebook is full colour and actually has high production values in terms on content. You can't fault the effort and artistic endeavour, it has made me smile on more than one occasion. It is a very stylish product that has been put together in an exceedingly slick manner and it certainly elevates the rest of the product far beyond what it's underlying game mechanics and components would otherwise achieve. As I've said before in my board game reviews, it's these touches that can really help a game out, and for Super Dungeon Explore that's certainly true.

...even if their quality is terrible!

Quality 6 out of 10

Right, lets get the bad out of the way up front. The game cards come on thin pieces of crap, to call the substance they're made out of card is far to kind. I've genuinely used printer paper that's thicker and sturdier. They're awful, awful, awful components and feel cheap and nasty. They're not consistently cut either, which is just a huge unforgivable sin. Some have rounded edges while others have more squared off edges. They're already getting dog eared and battle worn. Piss poor and Soda Pop and Cool Mini or Not should be embarrassed, given the price of the product, it is wholly unacceptable. The tokens were a pain in the ass to get out of their cardboard sprus as well. On more than one occasion I was close to tearing the artwork on them as they hadn't been properly punched out. Sitting their and removing them carefully with a craft knife is not my idea of fun.

Removing these carefully without tearing them was painstakingly slow.

I've been told that I expected too much from a new company releasing their first product and that I'm being harsh. Thing is they are operating in a field where Fantasy Flight Games, Wizards of the Coast and Asmodee ply their trade. When they release a product that costs more than these companies premium product and it fails so hard in comparison on key components it's not acceptable. My dice actually had some of the white paint in them chipped before use, I mean how crap is that? Also if I'd been picking the game up in an actual shop I'd have thought twice about it because of how flimsy and easily damaged the box is. It doesn't 'feel' like a premium board game product when you hold it in your hands, yet sadly enough it has pretencions of being one as its RRP confirms. It isn't all bad though, otherwise the score wouldn't have been dragged up to a 6 out of 10.

The centerpiece. A bugger to put together as it's warped and comes in too many pieces. But it is glorious when done

The miniatures are lovely. True they were an utter bitch to put together as many parts in my set were warped beyond the point of fun! The fact that Soda Pop could lavish such attention to detail on the art direction yet fail to include any sort of instructions for the miniatures in the box though beggars belief. But, I need to calm down because I'm close to flying off the handle again, and I want to be positive about the miniatures, because they're lovely! They super cute and well worth the effort once they're assembled in my opinion. I love them and they are a significant step up on what you usually get in board games. They're up there with the Gears of Wars miniatures from Fantasy Flight Games as being currently the best examples of miniatures in a board game. I don't include the Dwarf Kings Hold games because those are sort of wargames miniatures 'borrowed' for a board game. The rulebook too is a very nicely produced full colour glossy affair, crammed with cool artwork. The tiles are very sturdy and as good as those provided by most board game manufacturers you could care to mention. It's just a shame some of the other components are so utterly rubbish, they really do let the product down as a whole and that's a crying shame, as a little bit more care and effort with sourcing them would have elevated the product so much.

Service 9 out of 10

It is a miracle of biblical proportions that the box got to me unscathed by it's transatlantic excursions via God only knows what method of transit, to the games UK distributor. Then from the distributor to OG games and then onto me via Royal Mail without damage. Because not two minutes after it was in my hands than my terribly cute Maine Coon cat Poppy sat on the box on it dented it badly. So truly, to all involved in getting the box to me in one piece, and unscathed. Thanks. And I'm sorry your hard work was in vain... stupid bloody cat! The fact that OG Games got the game into my hands weeks before many Americans who had pre-ordered the game off of Soda Pop got it is also testament to how good their customer service is.

Price 7 out of 10

It gets a 7 out of 10 purely by virtue of the amount of really nice miniatures you get in the box. If the game had been utterly brilliant and varied, instead of the bland grind that it is I dread to think of the score it would have got as a product. Couple that with the massive improvement they could get for the quality of the components... missed opportunity! Here in the UK its RRP is £64.99 and OG Games knocked that down to £55.99 for us. Not bad for those mini's as I say, but it isn't much of a game and some of the components are diabolically shoddy.

it's a total Dick in a box moment

Overall 7 out of 10

Super Dungeon Explore seems to me to be a product that was purely designed to give people a good enough reason to buy Soda Pops cute chibi miniatures. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, it's basically how most miniature companies operate. It's an accepted business model. However, I think the miniatures are striking enough and strong enough to have sold on their own merit any way. I really do love the aesthetic style of them and question why they weren't done by others before now. It just seems so obvious when you see them. So kudos to Soda Pop for finding something original to produce in a sea of identikit games. The score is arguably as high as it is because of the miniatures. My biggest problem is that the game as it currently stands that you get in the box isn't anywhere near as strong as the artistic direction on the product.

It's an exasperating product it really is because it could have been so much more than it is. However, it really is a triumph of style over substance at this juncture. The game gets boring really quickly, far too quickly for my liking. Sure I could spend time writing my own different scenarios, or using the tiles provided by other companies products to make interesting looking dungeons... but... why don't I just play other peoples games that already do that for me with Soda Pops admittedly excellent looking miniatures? It's a question I've asked myself and it's one I find easy to answer. There's no point at all in trying to develop stuff on top of Super Dungeon Explores core mechanics. I'll keep an eye out to see if Soda Pop actually release some sensibly priced and designed expansions packs for the game, that give us more variety. But, I'll be very wary of dropping my cash on further Super Dungeon Explore gaming products. I will however continue to buy their miniatures. Peace out!