At first glance, Cladun: This is an RPG! might appear as just another hack 'n slash role playing game for the PSP but after playing it for a while, you begin to realize that it's so much more than that.

You begin the game taking control of Souma and his childhood friend Pudding. They have mistakenly traveled into the mysterious world of "Arcanus Cella." Many characters live in the Arcanus Cella including the sorceress Despina and a talking black cat named Crosstine. You'll also run into others who will help you explore the various dungeons filled with enemies and treasures.

You fight enemies in real time and can equip either a sword, blunt weapon, or staff; each with their own unique attributes. Swords are good for combos, blunt weapons can destroy boulders, and staffs have ranged attacks. In order to power-up your character to their maximum ability, you must master the Magic Circle.

While you can only control a single character at any given time, you can place others in your Magic Circle to boost your abilities during battle. Depending on the formation of your party, various effects are triggered and you can even equip a number of artifacts that further boost your battling skills. As you level up your characters, more formations become available and you can equip more artifacts. Experimenting with the Magic Circle is half the fun of the game.

You're going to need all the stat boosting you can get because Cladun is by no means an easy game. A typical dungeon consists of you running in and getting your butt handed to you the first time around. Then you either enter previously cleared dungeons to gain more experience or find better equipment so that you can tackle the more difficult ones. Surprisingly, it's not just some mindless task farming for experience and can be quite fun. You can always change your playable character or even use one you've created yourself.

The character creator isn't too fancy with it's 8-bit style graphics. The biggest concern with it is the fact that you can only change the head of the character and not their body. You can make the head big enough to cover much of the body but their arms and legs will still be visible. The makes many of the user created characters look awkward so it might be best to just stick with what's already there.

Aside from the regular storyline, you can unlock what's known as the Ran-geon which is a randomly generated dungeon that has 99 floors of increasing difficulty. Here you'll find some of the strongest monsters but also some of the best items. It's a great place to level up your characters.

There's also wireless co-op for those who want to tackle dungeons with up to three buddies. You can either work together to complete the levels or fight until only one remains in versus mode. It's a little disappointing that it's only Ad-Hoc enabled and no online mode is available but there's some enjoyment to be found in co-op. 

Overall, Cladun: This is an RPG! is a decent title from Nippon Ichi Software and can provide hours of handheld entertainment on your PSP. Dungeons are fun and diverse and you'll continually be changing around the Magic Circle to find what fits each character best. Whether you're just looking for something to pick up and play for a few minutes at a time or hours upon end, Cladun fits the bill.

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