Dungeon Scroll

                  Demo from www.rtsoft.com

                      Reviewed by Sue

Dungeon Scroll is a word game with RPG leanings. As you explore
its series of dungeons, you encounter a series of increasingly
nasty monsters. Like in Scrabble, you have to form words with
letters at your disposal. Each word works like a spell and causes
damage to the monster you're facing. You know how many hit points
the monster has got, so you know how difficult it will be to beat.
On the first level rats have 3 HP, spiders 8 and skeletons 13 HP
but these numbers increase as you descend.

If you take too long, the monster will hit you instead. You start
with 15 hits points but some monsters will pack a punch and soon
whittle down your points! Luckily when you beat a monster, your
points are restored ready for the next fight.

As you beat each monster, you'll also gain extra letter tiles.
These can only used once. The regular tiles are used repeatedly in
the dungeon you're currently in, then you're given new ones on the
next level. Each word you make can only be used once ... that's
once per dungeon, not once per monster. This makes the game more
tricky.

As well as letter tiles, there are special tiles. Some cause extra
damage by adding, say, another 10 damage. Others double the damage
caused by a word. There are healing tiles that will restore a
certain number of your wounds.  An Oracle tile acts like a help
command by showing a word you can use. You can carry on special
tiles from one level to another.

There are three difficult levels. Kid Mode has more letter tiles,
you have more HP and small words do more damage. Wizard starts on
dungeon 4 and doesn't have Oracle tiles. I chose Normal which
is between the two.

Registration costs $8 and gives you a key code to unlock the full
game. The unregistered version allows about 8 plays. And you can
only go as far as the 6th level.

The game is good fun, especially when you get a good selection of
letters. With poor letters and tricky monsters it's still fun but
frustrating too.













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