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Watcha Playing: AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon

Posted by Bob Mackey

The DS has been my platform of choice lately, mostly due to the fact that the limited nature of the technology forces developers to show some self-control. Case in point: 10 minutes into AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon, and I was actually playing the game; compare this to my experience with Persona 4, where I've already sunk in an entire hour without fighting so much as a single demon. When I was a kid, I never thought I'd see the day when interminable prologues would become the norm.

You may have missed AWAY: Shuffle Dungeon because the title had a quiet October release with little fanfare; and considering that the DS is absolutely overrun with RPGs, it's incredibly easy for something from the genre to be forgotten about after release week. Admittedly, AWAY is a little simple, even when compared the old-school DS Dragon Quest remakes--but it's refreshingly fast, fun, and perfect for short bursts of gaming.

As indicated by the game's title, AWAY involves exploring multiple dungeons--though there's a slight twist on the familiar Zelda-y premise; every so often, one of the DS screens will start to rumble, meaning that your hero (the embarrassingly named "Sword") must hoof it to a stable screen or get shuffled off by the changing layout of the affected screen. AWAY is more of a puzzle game than an action-RPG; most of your time will be spent running from screen to screen, discovering and clearing pathways to treasure, items, and little monster helpers as the dungeon shuffles through some prescribed designs. I've never seen anything like it before, and while I don't know how long they can keep the mechanic interesting, it's certainly made for some tense moments as I've escaped being shuffled by mere tenths of a second.

The non-dungeon segments of AWAY manage to make the core mechanic of the game a little more rewarding; essentially, the premise of the game is to rebuild a small town by finding people and items in AWAY's many mazes. I've always been an insane fan of games that let you change the world in some significant way, and the town-building element of AWAY certainly helps flesh out the admittedly-simple gameplay. I'm not sure if AWAY will hold my attention until the end, but it's definitely sunk its hooks into me over the past few days.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, check out the game's trailer below:

Related Links:

Watcha Playing: de Blob
Watcha Playing Xmas Swag Edition: Rune Factory 2
Watcha Playing: Secret of Evermore

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Posted Mar 19 2009, 01:00 PM

Filed under: ds, jrpg, bob mackey, majesco, away: shuffle dungeon, mistwalker

Comments

parish said:

The first hour or two of Away made me think I was going to give it a really high score. The following dozen hours made me decide I wasn't. It's a really clever idea that basically doesn't go beyond that one idea, and after a few dungeons becomes incredibly repetitive.

March 19, 2009 1:36 PM

Bob Mackey said:

Yeah, it seems like the shuffling can get old after a while. It's a fun diversion for the moment, though.

March 19, 2009 1:49 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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