The latest thumb-number from programming wizard John Carmack, the brains behind Doom and Quake, isn't another bar-raising first-person shooter; it's an addictive old-school fantasy role-playing epic originally created for mobile phones and now enhanced for play on the handheld Nintendo DS. While technically impressive for the platform (and addictive in a simple button-mashing sense), you really have to be a fan of yesterday's dungeon crawls to appreciate the game's mindless simplicity.

Those who grew up on PC gaming classics like Ultima Underworld and Eye of the Beholder will feel right at home. Guided by task-assigning ghosts and a talking wand, you play a swordsman who explores a ruined dwarf stronghold while battling lava monsters, orcs and giant caterpillars ad nauseum. Each level, from forge to feast hall, is a self-contained labyrinth filled with traps and treasure that, while presented from the hero's 3D perspective, actually sees you moving step-by-step along a 2D grid. Instead of focusing on genre conventions like hoarding experience points and tactically minded confrontations, button-mashing melees take center stage, with simple puzzle-solving and exploration being secondary highlights. In lieu of random encounters, you also see enemies charging from a mile away. Half the challenge simply comes from deciding when to sidestep or waste turns downing a strength- or speed-boosting position.

If you're searching for depth or gameplay innovation, look elsewhere. Clocking in at just over six hours to play, the tale focuses on repeatedly fighting the same monsters using hammers and crossbows, and unlocking passage-barring rune doors. A juvenile sense of humor (including sections where you're forced to get drunk, prompting disorienting penalties) will also seem strangely primitive to adults. Nonetheless, there's good reason for such anachronisms. A shameless throwback to gaming's golden age, it's precisely these nostalgia-inducing oddities that'll remind veterans of adventures gone by.