Previous Chocobo games have hardly set the world alight so one would be forgiven for passing this offering by in favour of a quick root through the bargain bin however, at a second glance Chocobo's Dungeon is surprisingly...interesting.
The background story is both interesting and different with the basic premise involving the clock tower in the centre of the city named Lostime somewhere in the vast and cartoony land of Memoria.
Every time the bell chimes in the tower it inflicts selective amnesia on anyone who hears it. The townspeople are divided as to whether or not this is a good thing - some want to forget painful memories, but others yearn to remember, no matter how difficult those memories may be.
As a brave Chocobo named... Chocobo, it is your job to dive into people's heads…read dungeons…and recover their lost memories. Each dungeon is a grid-based series of floors, with tons of monsters and items randomly scattered throughout. The battle system is pretty simple really as your only options are moving from square to square, attacking, and regularly using special attacks.
As you walk around, your health and special attack metre constantly replenish, but your hunger level increases, so you must constantly maintain a balance among the three by eating food and walking around. If it sounds simple it's because it is, but as you unlock new memories you also unlock the ability to change the tasks or jobs at the start of each dungeon which introduces a new layer that keeps gameplay fresh and interesting and even somewhat strategic. As you progress you will encounter more than one frustrating dungeon but the majority of them can be cleared without too much difficulty.
If you are new to the genre of dungeon crawling then this is a great introduction. If you are a Final Fantasy Fables fan then the heavily nostalgic soundtrack will be of great nostalgic interest to you. If you have no idea what either are about then by all means carry on rooting around the bargain bin!
7/10
