Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

"Diablo 2 Can Go To Hell.....Literally"

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is one of those games you have seen about a billion of, so obviously it’s not going to win anything for innovation. I first played this title January 2003, mostly because I needed a good hack and slash for my gamecube and quit playing Diablo two because the expansion ruined it, but I will save that for another review. To get right to the point this is an excellent hack and slash, I couldn’t find anything I disliked about it, but I thought this game should have been a little bit longer and gold should have been a lot easier to get and more abundant. As a lot of you might know this is a port from the playstation two version of the game, I didn’t play the playstation two version of this game, but from what I hear it is exactly the same. I really had a good time with this game and the two player option was nicely done, but I still wish your partner could resurrect after they died, that alone can get really annoying and reminding your partner to refill his health every two seconds can get quite old.

GRAPHICS 10/10
Superb graphics to say the least, I really thought these were excellent for a hack and slash and on a console remind you. It is a little dark and the camera is questionable at the start of your adventure, but besides that the character models are extremely well done and the level designs are superb. I think the weapons could have looked a little bit better, anyone remember the original Diablo? Well that’s how I believe weapons should look in any type of hack and slash, but that are pretty good nonetheless. The enemies oh wow the enemies are awesome and so cool looking, I won’t tell you what they are, but rest assured they are your usual Dungeon and Dragon type enemies.

SOUND 10/10
Unimaginable is only one of the few words you could say about this games sound, it really is good; the voice acting is the best I have seen for the gamecube since Eternal Darkness. Alright now your probably wondering how the music is, well the music is decent at best, but serves the games purpose of putting you into a fantasy based world with monsters and men alike. The sound effects are excellent also, the death cries and the battle sounds are very good, I had no complaints about them, but then again sound means little to me, if the voice acting and sound effects are good then that’s good enough.

STORY 8/10
Pretty classic story for a Baldur’s Gate game, Alright well basically you’re an adventurer and you sets off to Baldur’s Gate to seek your fortune, you can choose from three races Vahn, the Arcane Archer, Kromlech, the Dwarven Fighter and Adrianna, the elven sorceress, alright the story basically goes like this, you go in Baldur’s Gate and occurrences happen which you will get a quest for obviously, there are three acts and each one has its own difficulty, I personally found that the third act was the most hard for me but it could vary in which part of the act you are on. Good story but I don’t want to ruin it for you; if you played any of Forgotten Realms games then this story will be the same old you are use to, so don’t expect much in originality.

GAMEPLAY 10/10
This game is very fun and that is coming from a long time hack and slash player, though this game will not win any awards for originality, it is definitely a must have for a gamecube owner, two players is extremely fun and never gets old. The controls are decent; I never had that problem of missing my opponent while I swung my staff or other edged blade at him, but using a bow in this game can get very annoying, but all in all the controls are more then sufficient for a veteran or newbie hack and slash player.

REPLAYABILITY 8/10
This game might collect dust on your TV stand, but it is sure to be dusted off to play over and over again for years to come, the two player part of this game will insure of that, I always give two player games a good score, because really how can a two player game not have good replay value? Well to put it frankly this game has lasted me so far and I don’t expect it to collect dust with my Neo-Geo games.

OVERALL 10/10
Maybe I am giving this a really good score because I love hack and slash games, but whatever you might think this is another good Baldur’s Gate title and I hope to see many more spawn on future consoles. I would recommend this game to anyone with a gamecube, it is the best hack and slash I have seen for awhile and I highly advise a fan of this genre to get this game as soon as possible.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/03, Updated 03/03/03