Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

"Read this review before you buy the game, trust me!"

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is a Diablo-esque game that allows you to play seven total characters (five available at the beginning, two unlockable later on) in various maps designed to do one thing and one thing only, kill stuff, and kill lots of it. Unfortunately, nothing about the gameplay is all that novel, fun, or unique, so before you spend your money on this game, give this review a read and decide if you'll really be getting your money's worth.

Story: 5/10 - The story is pretty basic. It picks up where the first game left off, gives you some background, and throws you right into the game. Each character (of the main five) has a unique mission of his or her own, but other than that, all of the missions are identical for each character. Thus, what seems to be a bit of replayability ends up not being much, as all the characters are not distinct enough to create even half as much enjoyment the second time through with a new character as the first time. The plot is minimal, just enough to tell you why you're going to each new area to kill things, and more than 90% of the game, if not more, is spent killing things and collecting gold and items which you can later upgrade at the shop. You won't really find this to be much of an RPG from a story standpoint, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere. It's Diablo, not Final Fantasy, ok?

Gameplay: 5/10 - The gameplay is pretty similar for all but the necromancer. See a monster, hit the monster by mashing the X button over and over again, rinse, repeat. The combat is very repetitive, a bit sloppy (as in you can't lock onto what you're fighting, so you might easily find yourself swinging at midair a lot, either because you're a step too far away, or you're angled off to the left or right a bit too much), and not all that fun overall. Having a friend with you makes it a bit more fun, I must say, as you can joke around and support each other, but it's still tiresome. Lord of the Rings did a much better job of making the killing of endless hordes of creatures entertaining. The necromancer is different in that he's not built for melee fighting. He's more geared toward ranged attacks, so he summons an undead creature or shadow creature to aid him, and stands back while using that creature as a shield to unleash spells. It might sound fun, but I found the necromancer to be boring in the extreme. Ranged attacks look cool, but in practice are extremely dull. Still, for those that are into that sort of thing, the necromancer provides a refreshing change from the other characters. The item upgradeability is nice, as well. However, it was made so utterly, ridiculously expensive that only by cheating could you tinker with items as much as you might want to (or if you're a necromancer or thief, in which case you have skills to lower the cost of item creation). So, what could have been extremely fun ends up being frustrating because you haven't enough gold to make the modifications that would best suit a certain dungeon you're in.

Graphics: 8/10 - They look good, in all respects. The characters are a little small zoomed out, and you can't really afford to zoom in if you want to see what's coming at you. The camera moves fairly well, also. It's basically as good as you've come to expect from the newer PS2 games.

Sound: 8/10 - Again, the voices and sound effects and music get the job done. I would note, however, that on my system, there was an annoying high pitched ringing sound, like microphone feedback that I heard at the end of many combats. It's noticeable, it's annoying, and there wasn't anything I could figure out to get rid of it.

Bottom line: I think for me, it's just knowing that Diablo games aren't any fun anymore. I LOVED Diablo. It was NEW and that gave it a ton of replay value until it felt old. Now everything that's come after it feels exactly the same, because the gameplay is so utterly simple that you really don't ever feel that engaged in what happens. Finding newer, better items gets old, too, and since there's no randomness to any of the levels, unlike Diablo, when you've been through it once, there won't be any surprises other than your single unique quest if you play a new class. If I was rating this on a personal tilt, I'd give it a five, but really, it's not a bad enough game to deserve that, overall. It's more the feeling you're left with, at the end of even a rental period, which is an increasing feeling of malaise as you realize you've been doing the exact same thing for the past 3 or 4 hours, and haven't had a bit of fun the whole time. Still, to go through it once, with a character that you are enjoying quite a bit when you start, is worth the cost of a rental, just please don't buy this game, there's not enough replayability to warrant even a second rental.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/02/04