Dungeon Siege II

"So, where's that dungeon?"

I haven't played the first installment of Dungeon Siege, so this second volume came as a complete surprise to me. For what I had read, it looked like just another dungeon-crawling-monster-bashing-almost-rpg game, with the added novelty of controlling up to 6 characters at the same time. Confusing? Sometimes.

Controls - 8/10

The game is build around hotkeys, and you better learn where they are and what they do. Luckily, there isn't a lot of them, and they work well in-game, releasing the usage of the mouse almost to moving and attacking exclusively.

Gameplay - 7/10

Things get a little fuzzy here. With a small party of, let's say, up to 3 characters, things run smoothly. After that, you can find yourself seemingly lost in huge battles, striking the wrong foe when they cramp up on your screen, constantly having to pause the game to correct your strategy. It's not the best of feelings for this kind of game, as it cuts the action more often than we'd like to but even so, the party's AI prevents it from aimlessly rambling on the battlefield.

Storyline - 5/10

Heh. This is the weakest link on Dungeon Siege II. The old backstory "bad guy finds old thing and tries to destroy the world with it" is back, with little news. It's an old premise, but it suits its purpose, I guess. In-game things don't evolve much further than that, and you'll find yourself more than often running small ordinary errands that little have to do with the main plot.

Graphics - 8/10

Dungeon Siege II is pleasant to the sight, and it has some pretty nifty visual effects; I particularly enjoy the "warping" effect of teleportation or respawn. You can zoom in the game and admire the details of your warriors (and yes, their appearance changes with the armor and weapons you equip) and some of the monsters. The scenarios are also well portrayed and help to create that epic feeling of this kind of games.

Sound - 7/10

Regular, with some really good but sadly, almost unnoticeable background musics, due to all the bashing and screaming. The voice acts are OK, nothing more.

Replayability - 9/10

As with most games of this genre, Dungeon Siege II can be beaten in a whole lot of ways and with all the classes and progression paths available, it ensures that you do just that. Play as a fighter, archer, nature or battle mage and progress along several specializations or make a more all-round competent character. It's your choice. Also, with the added multiplayer gaming, which I haven't tried, Dungeon Siege II ensures you with more and more added hours of bashing fun.

Overall - 7/10

Dungeon Siege II comes as a mindless fun adventure in which you can immerse yourself for several hours, until you find it somewhat dulling. It lacks a somewhat more engaging storyline to really captivate the player and the tactics used in-battle most of the time reduce themselves to applying the damage that an enemy is most vulnerable to. So, if you want to spend a few hours travelling through the world of Dungeon Siege II, go ahead and good hunting. At least for that time, you'll enjoy a rather good game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/24/05