The Xbox has so far been pretty barren in terms of RPGs. Apart from Baldur's Gate and Morrowind, there hasn't exactly been a platter of satisfying titles to sate the appetite of hardened fans. Could this be the juicy main course RPG-lovers are crying out for, or just a canapé?

Metal Dungeon is set on the futuristic world of Aransas, where an experiment to create super-cyborgs has gone wrong. The cyborgs have taken over the asylum and created an army of hybrid monsters to keep the humans locked out of their own facility. You must lead a team of up to five characters to rampage through ten dungeon maps and take back the facility from the hordes.

There is little else to tell - and that is one of the major drawbacks of the title. You never really care very much about the characters because there is no narrative to support them.

The dungeon itself is quite a dull and repetitive environment. There are ten areas to explore and each level randomly generates upon entry, but it ultimately results in much of a muchness as you walk around similar-looking maps, opening treasure chests or entering rooms and getting jumped by Fisher-Price-style monsters.

Combat, by far the largest part of the game, is also mundane. Metal Dungeon is being touted as a real-time battle, but it's really just a case of selecting which weapons/spells/items to use and nominating which character attacks which target.

Your team will operate automatically without your instructions and there is very little control over each member. There is also little sense of urgency due to such basic character animations and poor weapon/spell effects, combined with nothing to be gained from killing the enemy. No loot is dropped from slain monsters, just a few experience points added to your team's tally.

To the game's credit, you can spend a lot of time customising your characters rather than just following the linear levelling path of many other RPGs. But when there is no story for them to be a part of and you're faced with a treadmill of repetitive gameplay, then you have to ask: "Where's the fun?"

1. Traditional RPG-style game, lacking on Xbox.
2. Strong strategy element

1. Repetitive gameplay
2. No story
3. Poor graphics

Power
Pretty underwhelming. Poor visuals, unimaginative monsters and drab environment.

Style
Non-obtrusive music, poor story and lack of surface world makes the game feel like a last-gen title.

Immersion
Repetitive gameplay with very little feeling of suspense or fulfilment.

Lifespan
Apparently over 100 hours of dungeon fun...if you can manage to stick with it.

Summary
Without a story or any real reason to sweep the dungeons clean, it's hard to justify investing the time to play it.