The game veterans amongst you may remember the times of PC games where you would need pen and paper to draw maps of the game you were playing. After all, without those you could not orient yourself. Atlus found those times to be quite fun and now offers you the possibility to relive those days, but in a new way: this time you get to draw the maps and icons through your stylus and the Nintendo DS' touchscreen.

You can draw paths, drag walls, point where hostiles, treasures and traps are located, and at the same time also make notes. The way this is done is very good and it better be as it makes for the largest part of the gameplay. To progress you'll have to completely sketch the different floors of the dungeon before you can continue your adventure.

Of course there's some more fun to be had. Your party can be made out of five characters that you can select from nine different classes. The selection is vast and you get the typical archetypes with some variation. Inventive is that you can make more than five avatars that stay in the guild house so that you can pick the right one depending on the challenges that confront you during your next trip to the dungeon. A careful selection and buildup of your characters will be necessary as skill points are rare and the classes have their own strong points which you can't make up for with others.

You understand it already, despite the clear structure and the excellent menus this is all but an easy game. That philosophy also goes for the items and gold as those are also not available plentyful and good weaponry costs loads of bucks. On top of that you'll die incredibly much or get hurt and to recuperate healers also ask for muchos dineros. Expect a constant fight against an empty wallet.

Talking about combat, that's also good for a lot of sweat. Simple butterflies with easily kill your party and you'll carefully have to consider how far you want to go into the level in your current status. One wrong decision can be enough for a lot of swearing and a loading screen. On top of that your FOEs will make your life extra sour. It are the only enemies you can see on the mini-map but once they've spotted you you'll die more than you'd like. Luckily the combat system is, although classic, very well-done and lovers of the genre will have a blast with it.

The graphics are simple but more than adequate with handy menus, a very clearly worked out map system and 3D graphics to display the dungeon on your screen. Enemies and characters are simply but nicely done in an oldskool way and will no doubt appeal to the target audience eventhough we would have loved to see some more variation. The most important thing is without a doubt that the game has a certain charm and that you really have the feeling of going on a dangerous adventure each time you close the door of the inn behind you.