Baldur's Gate II: Dark Alliance
[Xbox]

Play the part of hero as you are called upon to rescue the town of Baldur's Gate from underworld criminals and other evil, atrocious villains. One really bad dude holds three heroes captive and plans to use some artifacts to power a portal that will give him the power to transport people. The story isn't very engaging. It's pretty generic and none of the characters are ever really developed in to anything more than talking drones. There are some plot twists toward the end, but there's nothing that isn't expected. It's pretty much "this is how it is." Most people will just skip the cutscenes and continue to hack away.

This is a hack and slash at heart. There are RPG elements and classes and such, but since the game takes such a basic, simple premise...it just gets overly repetitive. You start out choosing from 5 characters - - - Barbarian, Cleric, Dark Elf, Dwarf, and Necromancer. Each has their own beneficial attacks and spells, some better at certain things than others. The problem with the classes is that they are horribly unbalanced, and some of them have either missing abilities or they have abilities that they shouldn't, and that just doesn't settle with people who actually follow the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The best part about the gameplay is the enormous number of attributes that can be leveled up for each character. Want your Necromancer to be able to transform healing potions in to magic potions? Done. Want your Barbarian to dual wield double handed weapons? That's can be done as well. Your character is pretty much molded to your liking. Later in the game I found myself leveling up random things because I already had everything I wanted, so It could have been deeper...but there's plenty to work on with your character. There are tons of weapons and armor. Instead of just finding a Broadsword, you actually find around 7 different levels of each weapon / armor. Flawless is the best and shoddy is the crap. You can also find or buy rune stones and jewels to give your equipment elemental properties or an extra bit of strength. I found myself selling items, weapons and armor a lot. I was one very rich white guy. The downfall to the gameplay is that there just isn't enough variation. Even with all the different levels, enemies, and bosses...it ends up being the same thing every time - tap the same button over and over and kill them before they kill you.

I see a lot of sites and magazines that say Baldur's Gate is easy to just pick up and play. Easy learning curve. I say that's BS. Being part of D&D, Dark Alliance 2 has many things to take in to consideration. All of the buttons are used pretty regularly which means it takes time to adjust to the controls. It took me the better part of an hour to become comfortable. The funny thing is...with exception of leveling up and toying with your weapons, armor and items...the only buttons you'll be using are the analog sticks, a button for quick spells and the attack button (which has a huge variety of moves at it's disposal...like, 5. wOOt!) The most annoying thing is that the map is ALWAYS in the way. You look through the transparent map and play at the same time. Sure, there's the option to shrink it away...but then you have no clue where you have or haven't been. There is nothing wrong with the controls. It's just that there's just not a lot to the game in the first place.

Okay - - - Graphics and Sound. There's a ton of monsters, a lively city, and the bosses are pretty sweet looking. In the end, though...everything looks pretty boring and lackluster from the diagonal overhead view of the game. This is another department that's just okay. The sound is probably the best overall area in this title. The voice overs are well done and the scores in the game fit perfectly. This just isn't enough to save Baldur's Gate from itself.

Wrapping it up, I'll say that I enjoyed watching my character turn in to the threatening, gold plated bad ass that he now is. I thought it was innovative to have the option to import him in to a new game and continue making him more of a bad ass. I enjoyed playing it cooperatively with my cousin. The catch here is that I only enjoyed it for an hour or so. The rest of the time, I just played to finish. 12-15 hours and you'll be done and looking for a new game.

6.5/10

---Frayed