I am a sucker for a creative game that does something few games do. Almost two years ago, I played a game that allowed me to create my own dungeon on the DS. I played it until my eyes hurt. I have now found the PSP equivalent of that game: Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground. I enjoyed it immensely.

Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground is an introverted experience about dungeon making. The entire point of the game is to dig deep into the earth of your avatar’s recently purchased cave and create a dungeon. The reason for this is simple: to lure the biggest and baddest monsters roaming the countryside and take their treasures for yourself.

So how does this play out? The game is two-fold. First, you explore your created dungeon and hack-and-slash your way to victory. You have access to various types of weapons, armor, magic and items. How you use them is up to you. Second, the dungeon is created completely out of furniture. Every little section depends on what type of room you have purchased. Halls, twists and turns, chapels, crypts, fountains, storage rooms and stairs all stem from what you place down. Heck, you can even change the feel of the corridors with wood, stone and marble!

Thus, how the dungeon feels and is laid out all depends on your personality. Do you fill every ounce of space, working out the largest maze in history? Or is it tight and concise? Or do you try to balance it out? Just because you build it does not automatically mean the monsters will come. If you build too close to the entrance, monsters will not take residence. Treasure chests are optimum placed in corners of the map. Chapels repel the undead, and they prefer crypts.

Furthermore, you have almost total control over your avatar’s progression. At the end of each day, your character can eat a meal that improves one or many of his stats. The catch is simple: You have to find the proper ingredients beforehand, or the meal will not be made. The downside is that monsters drop certain items rarely. In addition, you have different roots that boost your character’s attack properties. With the roots, you just have to “feed” it the proper fangs and watch it slowly grow.

Graphically, Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground is a mixture of realistic yet cartoony portraits and somewhat realistic graphics. The portraits help explain some of the characters’ personalities. The carpenter has a muscular body and neat beard. The armorer has a wicked mustache. And the old man looks like a mysterious vagabond. Then there’s the dungeon. You can see the interconnectivity of wooden planks. Torches and lanterns hang on the walls. Stones are tightly connected. Bats flap in the air, cats and other creatures prowl on the ground, orcs lunge at your character, and slimes slink across the floor. Weapons glow when they are going to perform an attack. It’s a pleasant look.

Sound wise, things are a bit interesting. Yes, there are the usual fantasy trappings with the swings of swords, swooshes of arrows and magical sounds. Then there is the music. Although other games tend to have fun with it, this game takes it a bit more seriously. Harpsichord music of some sort is continuously heard throughout the game. The exploration music can only be described as harpsichord rock. (Can such a thing exist?) I like the few music tracks, though I wish there was a wider musical score to hear.

Overall, Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground is a blast for gamers looking for a creative change of pace for a role-playing game. T the similarities between this game and one of my favorite DS games is almost uncanny. It is like the two different developers had the same ingredients and mixed them in different ways. The DS game is all about friendship and teamwork, while Hunting Ground is an introvert experience. The reason you continue to play depends completely on you.

Best of all, you can pick up this game for about $10. This is a strong, creative game to play when you have plenty of free time ahead of you, whether you are waiting for an appointment or unwinding at the end of the day. I quickly confess that I have played this game well beyond my bedtime. So, what are you waiting for? Create your own hunting grounds!