Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

THE BAD:

SUMMARY:
This is a great game. Most fantasy RPGers will find this game challenging and enjoyable. This game isn`t like in depth rpgs like Final Fantasy, but is easy for anyone to get into, even for people who don`t like rpgs. It`s great fun on two player as you and your mates will probably find that you play this for hours on end. It`s great fun picking up loads of spare armour and weapons, and then selling them to get better stuff.
The graphics are really realistic, and it`s cool killing masive creatures like yeti and Hyeana beasts and seeing them lying in a pool of blood afterwards. It`s also cool killing things like zombies and skeletons. In conclusion hack`n slash fans will probably love this game.

THE BAD:
Not a lot of great weapons, can get repetitive, and there are only three characters to choose from.

SUMMARY:
Baldur's Gate has come along way since it was first released. Dark Alliance is a game that would really be a good idea to consider. The story begins when you are struck from behind by two unknown men, possibly accused for an assault earlier. Thus, what happens next, can come totally unexpected. One of the more wonderful factors about it is the fact that you can actually play a Story Mode 2-Player, which is a rarity among these kind of games. When you see the water in this game, it is exactly like reality, no wonder it has been acclaimed the best graphical game of its time. If you like medival, and love to have a wide selection of weapons, which totals up to the triple digits, this is a game you might consider picking it up.

THE BAD:
Quite boring on 1-player mode, 2 players are better
Only 3 characters
If you don’t like hacking and slashing a whole lot you won’t like this
Easy final boss

SUMMARY:
Baldur’s Gate surprised me as a game. I didn’t really expect too much out of it and I’ve never played a game by this company before. After playing a few levels I got a bit bored as there didn’t seem too much to do. Then I played with my brother and the game took off.

The basic storyline is that a female warrior, who was the most feared in the land, has returned to Baldur’s Gate in order to get revenge on the people she feels betrayed her when she was alive. She’s somehow been brought back and you have to stop her. There’s a better description of the story in the booklet.

You start off by having to clear some rats from a sewer and eventually you become a mighty warrior capable of destroying any enemy in your path. There are 3 characters to choose: a Human Archer, a Female Elf or a Dwarf Warrior. They excel in Archery, Spell-casting and Melee combat respectively. Each of them has different abilities to use and most can be upgraded 2-4 times.

When you kill enemies or complete tasks you will be given experience points. When you reach a certain amount you will go up by one level and be given separate points to spend on upgrading your abilities. Unlike some games where you can carry an entire arsenal on your back, here you are limited by the strength your character has. Each weapon, item of armour and item has a weight and once you reach your characters limit you have to either drop or sell current items or weapons to pick up more. The limit can be increased though.

As you go on the enemies get progressively tougher and you need to call upon your skills and abilities to try and exploit any weaknesses. This is where two players comes in handy. While one of you may be in the thick of a melee battle the other can be shooting arrows or casting spells from afar and causing additional pain to the enemies. You are both on one screen, there is no split-screen in this game, so you can’t go too far apart. This might seem like a bother at first, but a bit of teamwork later and you’ll hardly notice it.

The weapons, armour and items you can buy at the shop getter better as the game goes on and eventually you can get weapons that would have killed earlier enemies in just one hit. But these are needed because the further you go the longer it takes to kill enemies and having a shield to block will become invaluable, especially on harder difficulties.

One of the strong points of this game, which others tend to lack, is that there is actually a good storyline here and there seems to be a purpose to what you are doing. True, once you’ve done it once you’ll know what to expect again only harder, but even then there is a desire to beat the game on the hardest mode as you then unlock Drizzit. So there is good replay value here.

Also, should you want to, you can import a character from another game, or even another memory card, and then use them in your current game, although you can’t have two of the same character. But if you manage to utilise your characters special talents then you will become very deadly when playing with someone else instead of just mindlessly hitting anything that comes your way. If you just plan your attack for a few seconds then you can find yourself saving tons of time and money in the long run.

The only major downside I can think of to the game is that the end boss doesn’t take much thinking to beat. A few blocks and timed hits is enough to beat her even on the hardest mode. Once I got there and beat her it was a bit of an anti-climax as I didn’t die once fighting her. So in a way it doesn’t really do the game justice as you will have a much tougher time with earlier characters.

But if hacking and slashing doesn’t appeal to you then this game won’t do that much to change your mind. You can pick characters that rely more on distance fighting if you like, but at some point you will need to break out a sword and whack people with it. And also if you have someone to play this with then you will get far more excitement out of the game.

THE BAD:
~Dumb AI
~Sometimes repetitive
~Extremely linear

SUMMARY:
The PS2 is very lucky to get this great game, it's a fun and enjoyable D&D game, and should do well in your pile of games (if you have any).

The game starts you off with the choice of 3 different and unique characters. These characters are the Arcane Archer, Dwarven fighter and an Elvin sorceress. After completing the game with one of these characters you can go back to the start and play the game over with the same character or chose another one. This adds to the lastibility of the game.

The graphics are out standing considering how old the game is. Though the unfortunate thing is the camera angles, which really don't give you a chance to marvel at the graphics. The only time in where you get a close up of the graphics is when you are in a conversation with some one.

The game play is incredibly addictive which will get you hooked on it for hours. Though after those many hours the hack and slash fighting can get a bit repetitive. Though in a brighter view you are getting more and more experience to level up.

There are many unusual monsters you need to battle through and even bosses. The landscape in some areas is wonderful to look at but in other areas it feels depressing. You'll be fighting through dungeons and right up to mountains where it snows.

Whilst defeating these monsters you can get weapons, amour, potions and miscellaneous items. These items can also be obtained by visiting traders that can be found through out the region.

There are some side quests (not much) in which you can do for people but they aren't much as you will most likely encounter something of there troubles a long the way of your journey as this game is extremely linear.

This game has an array of difficulties that can be quite challenging. This also adds to the lastibility of the game. At first this game has 3 difficulties but there is an extra one, which you can unlock along with a character.

As the AI of the enemies are pretty bad. For instance if your smart you can make the game so much easier as the enemies that may be chasing after you might get stuck on something and all you have to do is, say shoot arrows at the enemy.

At the end of the game there will be a cliff hanger that will leave you wanting more and more. At the same time you'll be saying damn I finished the game now I want the second one.

The music and sound are at an average standard, nothing too great, but nothind bad. As this game is extremely long there isn't much different in the sounds.

The other thing is that intrigues a lot of people is the Co-op mode in where you can have a max of 2 people. This adds a lot to the game and makes it more fun and enjoyable. The great thing is if on player dies all you have to do is import another player and you back to playing 2 player.

Results:

Graphics: 9 /10
Gameplay: 8.5 /10
Sound: 8 /10
lastibility: 8.5 /10

Overall: 8.5 /10

Overall this is a satisfying game if your an Rpg lover, so I recommend it to you.

THE BAD:
Only three characters, swords and weapons are pretty much the same, and the view got quite annoying(birds eye view)

SUMMARY:
When I first popped this game in I was skeptical. THe first mission was kind of shall we say wierd. You had to rid the basement of giant rats. But as you progressed the game got more and more in depth with new enemies.(some of which look very cool) SOme of the enemies like the giants werequite weak in the beginning of the game.For the characters there are dwarf, human, and elf. The dwarf is your basic axe swinging shorty. The human is not what youd expect... he is an archer. And the elf(woman)is a sorceress. Thats it and that is the problem. Every game usually has a good amount of characters to choose from, but 3 characters not good enough for me. But if your looking for a solid Rpg/hack'n'slash game pick this one up. But whatever you do do not pick up the sequel may appear to be better but not worth the cost. If you like this game pick up Champions of Norrath.

THE BAD:
Only 3 characters And only two players.

SUMMARY:
I've played (but never finished) the PC baldurs gate titles, and loved them. I got this one thinking it would be more or less the same thing, and it turned out to be a birds eye view dungeon exploration type game, nonetheless, I quickly loved the game.

You play as either an Elven Sorceress, a Gnome with a love for rough housing, or a Human Archer, who well....ptheeeeeeeeeew...THUNK!

*gets arrowed in the head*

Anyhow, the story is simple. Baldur's Gate is a town under crisis, and whenever Towns in the Dungeons and Dragons world are under crisis, heroes come to the rescue, enter your character, who waltzes into BG, then gets jumped by some theives. You wake up in a nearby tavern, and having been stripped of your ass kickin' materials, you take your first job (for money of course, and fame perhaps) offered by the tavern host, and from there things lead up to you figuring out what's going on in "tha gate", and stopping the evil forces behind it.

It plays pretty easy, the controls are easy to learn, and messing around with the tons of inventory items, from weapons to equipment can be just as fun.

Great graphics, sounds, great epic battle music, decent D&Dish story, and has some replay value to it. Unfortunatley, I found the three characters to be a bit less on the side of good variety, and I also wish the game was 4 players. It has 2P Co-Op, yeah, but I dunno. I just don't see a lot of 4 player ps2 games, and D&D stuff is always meant for multiple heroes slashing evil.

It's also one of the greatest hits on the PS2, so i'd recommend ya pick it up if you think it's worth it.

Anyhow, that's my two cents!

THE BAD:
too addictive to last long, no replay value, not very original in any area, no character development.

SUMMARY:
This is a decent game all around: fair graphics, good length, adequate plotline. Alone it's pretty challenging, but it also can get pretty boring due to the repetitive gameplay. Dark Alliance is best played with a friend. Each of you can choose from three races (elf, human, or dwarf) all of which possess strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other nicely on the battlefield. You’re given a fair say in your character’s development since you’re granted a number of points for distribution after each level-up to use towards gaining new spells, abilities, or improving areas of weakness.
Despite the eerie déjà vu that the game incurs, Dark Alliance does a good job of capturing all the positives of the dungeon-crawling genre, but doesn’t manage to make any significant innovations (other than the aforementioned two-player option). And the stale story isn’t a major concern when you’ve got someone else playing with you. So, though you’ve done it all before, it’s worth doing again with a friend this time. I recommend a rental--due to the lack of reply value.