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My sons and I love Dungeon... Or maybe I should say we have loved it... We have about played it to death and are looking for something new, and maybe a bit more challenging. I remembered hero quest from when I was younger, but at the prices they are getting on Amazon and eBay, I think I will go a different route. :)
Here are my preferences:
It is appropriate for prettenn and young teen players.
It is made for at least 5 players.
The players work together.
It is a fantasy game.
It wraps up in a few hours.
It has high replayability.
It is visually appealing.
I am hoping those with some more experience might be able to tell me if you know of one that meets these parameters. Ravenloft? Descent? Runebound?
Ravenloft seems to fit your needs the most, it's all players verses the "board" and takes a little over an hour to complete. Descent is a little more complicated (could be a pro or con) but requires a GM type role and takes closer to four hours or so with setup and break down time. Runebound is a lot of fun although there isn't much cooperation and a single game can take forever. Hope this helps a little, if not check out Boardgamegeek and check out some reviews.
For a good comparison between dungeon crawls games, Scott Nicholson did a great job : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rgaDCia9Hk
But, you may want to take a look at Talisman, from Fantasy Flight Games. A really great game for getting kids to learn rpgs. Not a dungeon crawl, more of an outside adventure, general questing game. That's the one I would recommand. Simple yet complete, featuring fighting and adventuring, quests, characters, items, and with plenty of good expansions to get the complexity up. It's not cooperative play, and more of a race, but you may ally and co-win in certain situations. Anyway, a lot of fun.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=29&enmi=Talism an
My sons and I love Dungeon... Or maybe I should say we have loved it... We have about played it to death and are looking for something new, and maybe a bit more challenging.
By chance are you referring to this game?
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2301/the-new-dungeon
I second the Small World recommendation, also Runebound is fun, but can be too long for some. Also if you're ok with 4 players check out Dungeon Lords.
:)
If you're willing to spend the money Descent: Journeys in the Dark with the Road to Legend expansion is the single most satisfying dungeon-bash game I own (and I own a lot of them!). The RtL expansion is vital, however, as it adds smaller dungeon levels that can be played in 90-120 minutes (as opposed to the mammoth ones in the base set that take twice that long) and adds campaign rules that allow you to increase both the heroes and "overlord" (re: runs all the bad guys) abilities during play. There is even a method to "save" your progress and pick up right where you left off - even in the middle of a dungeon. My group plays this constantly and have really grown to love it.
I highly recommend Betrayal at House on the Hill. Its more horror/sci fi creepy than fantasy but it is AWESOME. The party works together until one becomes the traitor, a random occurrence that happens in play. Then the group has to work together to stop the traitor. If they meet their goals the heroes win, if not the traitor wins. The best part is it is completely random, the house is made of tiles so it is different every time, there are over 30 possible traitor events so each game is different. My gaming group uses it as a fill the gap game when someone can't show up. In an evening between 8:30 and 11 we can usually play it three times.
+1 Small World.
I'd also HIGHLY recommend the boardgame of Battlestar Galactica. It covers everything you listed that you want in a game. Well, you say "work together" which is true, except for those stinkin' toasters that are working against the others. Loyalty cards and all. Good times. :D