Away: Shuffle Dungeon review

Give this one time and it will surprise you

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

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    Fast-paced

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    exciting stuff

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    Inventive premise

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    Vivid art style

Cons

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    Slow beginning

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    Slightly too-cutesy graphics

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    May get old after a while

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An interesting one, this. At first glance it all looks a little too Animal Crossing - cute green fields, clear blue streams and cozy little houses. You’ll soon begin to wonder where all the monsters are at, this being a dungeon-crawler and all. Have patience. After a bit of aimless wandering the story kicks in – the usual ‘peaceful village plagued by evil forces’ guff – and you’ll be introduced to the rather dynamic dungeon portion of the game.

The 2D dungeons are displayed on both screens. The catch is that after a certain amount of time, each screen will rumble and ‘shuffle’ sideways to reveal a new area. The aim is to avoid being caught during a ‘shuffle’ while simultaneously killing monsters and pulling levers to escape. It’s fast-paced, exciting stuff, and marks out Away: Shuffle Dungeon as an intriguing title.

Dec 3, 2008

More info

GenreRole Playing
DescriptionA DS dungeon crawler with the cute twist of constantly moving and changing dungeon floors. FYI: Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and composer Nobuo Uematsu both contributed to this, giving AWAY a genuine pedigree.
Platform"DS"
US censor rating"Everyone 10+"
UK censor rating"Rating Pending"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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