The biggest differences between No Heroes Allowed! and the previous two games in the series are the publisher and title. Originally released by NIS America under the Badman (later renamed What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord?!) series banner, No Heroes Allowed! is a dungeon simulator where you attempt to tame the chaos theory and build a dungeon fit for an Overlord.

No Heroes Allowed! sticks with the same "retro" look as past releases. It isn't much to look at or listen to, though at the same time, it provides a fun, quirky style. Sprites are noticeably sharper, adding more of a 16-bit aesthetic to what has traditionally been an 8-bit world, but it's still a lot of fun to look at and stands out enough that anyone who happens to spy you playing your PSP will likely ask what you're doing.

Music and sound keep with the "old school" spirit, tossing in loads of funny effects as well as upbeat, jazzy tunes that make the tedium of digging and hoping evolution goes your way just a little more bearable.

No Heroes Allowed! runs under the same premise as the previous two games. You are the God of Destruction, a mighty deity with a gift. He shovels well. He shovels very well, and... well, that's really about it. You have been summoned by Overlord Badman to help him reign destruction and do other evil things - ultimately allowing him to take over the world. However, in order to do so, Badman must first rid the world of heroes, which is where you and your digging powers come into play.

If there's one thing heroes cannot resist, it is a good, old-fashioned dungeon crawl. It only becomes more tempting when the dungeon serves as lair to a powerless Overlord (summoning deities is taxing business, after all) ripe for kidnapping.

Building a better dungeon isn't just about making labyrinthine tunnels and hoping the good guys get trapped like a group of Chilean miners. If you want to make sure the heroes are out of the way, you need to fill the maze with monsters. However, seeing as how your powers don't really extend beyond breaking stone tiles with a pickaxe, you need to get a little help from nature.

I'll get into the "how" a little later, but the basic idea involves building a lifecycle within your dungeon, starting with basic creatures and eventually going through the circle of life until you've got bigger monsters like dragons and ogres.

Admittedly, No Heroes Allowed! isn't going to appeal to everyone. It's a confusing game. For the most part, you're just watching things happen and hoping for a good outcome, though it's likely the most fun you'll have just sitting around and watching things happen.

For returning Gods of Destruction, No Heroes Allowed! offers little over previous games. There's a new water mechanic where you can flood passages, either washing out heroes (and your monsters), or building new eco-systems for aquatic life. It definitely adds something new, though I didn't see it as a major change.

No Heroes Allowed! also tosses in co-op multiplayer where players can build a dungeon together. As of the time of this review, however, I wasn't able to check the mode out.

No Heroes Allowed! is a hellish beast in terms of difficulty. The concept seems incredibly simple when Badman explains what you're supposed to do, but as soon as you're turned loose and given the ability to build your own dungeon, things go from zero to daunting real quick.

To it's credit, No Heroes Allowed! does everything possible to make sure your quick trip to daunting isn't filled with pulled hair, gnashing of teeth or giant, head-sized holes in your wall. The tutorial goes through nearly everything you need to know and does what it can to lead you through the incredibly deep set of mechanics without compromising gameplay for ease-of-play. In other words, it'll give you a hand up, but there's no handholding or handouts.

Tutorials are augmented by a series of daily challenges meant to test your skills and, hopefully, teach you something. Coming from someone who has played the series from the beginning, I found the challenges helpful for fine-tuning, but think they may pile on a little too much for newer players.

No Heroes Allowed! is a game where you do little, but a lot happens. Everything in the game revolves around a single mechanic - circulating nutrients and mana around your dungeon's ecosystem and watching your garden grow.

Everything begins with Slimemoss, gobs of green goo that slink around your dungeon, dropping nutrients as they pass through each corridor. Eventually, nutrients cluster together in spots, giving rise to bigger creatures. The basic idea is to build paths that encourage Slimes (as well as Spirits) to spread their "droppings" evenly throughout the dungeon. However, even with the best loops, things rarely go the way you want.

The most challenging - and eventually most frustrating - aspect of No Heroes Allowed! is you have no direct control over how life chooses to evolve throughout your dungeon. Advanced players will know the little tricks for encouraging life to follow certain evolutionary patterns, but these are just tricks and something you have to learn through multiple failures.

Care and maintenance of your labyrinth becomes much harder once heroes begin sticking their noses into everything. In their search for Badman, they'll tear through most of your creatures. The goal is to overwhelm them with monsters though, again, this isn't that easy. Eventually, you're trying to replenish lower-tier monsters while fostering the growth of bigger monsters.

As much as I want players to give No Heroes Allowed! a try, I'm also realistic enough to realize it is not something everyone will enjoy. The ten-dollar price tag makes it an enticing buy for curious players, and if you're in that number, by all means give it a try. Otherwise, No Heroes Allowed! is only for players with a taste for the complex and don't mind a high barrier to entry.

Players who have followed the series should like what No Heroes Allowed! has to offer, though at the same time it's really just more of the same. Unless co-op play or a new set of monsters is enough to get you excited, you can miss out on No Heroes Allowed!.