Four pre-teen children are playing a pen and paper rpg. Each of the players choose a dwarf for their player character and they are searching for a portal. 1d20 encounter roll results in every goblin in the world attacking the heroic party of dwarves. The party chooses to flee into the portal while being chased and critically fail the difficulty check to get through before the portal closes. The twist in this plot is that the portal leads to the real world and the children are playing the game in a secret military installation and with their imaginations called forth the dwarves AND goblin horde into reality.

Overall:9
The for a side scroll brawler the game is quite enjoyable with its cartoonish mayhem. Each dwarf possesses a slightly different play style with both his melee and ranged attacks. I found that enemies were better dealt with one dwarf than another. Mashing the tag team button results in the 3 getting into a big brawl with each other that can be steered around the screen for a short time. Great fun!

Graphics:9
Using super-realistic graphics for this game would lessen its quality. It looks and feels like you are in a slap-stick cartoon. The naked ninja clan with the black censored blocks cracks me up every time I see it! The opening movie and cut scenes are just about the right length and look like they could have been hand drawn.

Sound:8
The sound is in keeping with the cartoonish spirit of the game however the background music is repetitive. The sounds in the cut scenes and voice acting is well done, especially the General.

Addictiveness:5
Not a lot of replay value because it is a straightforward side scrolling brawler. It certainly is worth playing through once. I would say that the score would be higher with multiple players.

Story:9
Not a simple "save the princess" canned story here. The opening movie and cut scenes paint an interesting picture. The story could have been much creepier and darker if they didn't throw in a bunch of mad-cap humor into it. Especially the last level.

Depth:5
The game doesn't have any side-quests or secrets to discover. It does offer a bunch of mayhem and slap-stick humor. The boss fights are unique and may even be worth a strategy guide for.

Difficulty:7
Just about the right amount of difficulty. It may seem almost too easy at first when you find you can just smack a down character awake,but if you get overwhelmed its continue time. Some of the boss fights can be tricky.

In conclusion, this game offers a lot more than most games of it's type. It's like Earthworm Jim only with a detailed story and cut scenes. It's even worth staying tuned in during the credits!