Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

"This game is one of the best action/rpg's..."

I was skeptical from the start when i heard that this game was coming to the ps2. I thought "this can't be as good as the previous Baldur's Gate games on the pc. So with that in mind i rented it shortly after it's release. I played the game for a couple hours with a friend and we thought this game is just as good as the first Dark Alliance game.

Gameplay: This is probably the most important aspect of a game. Single player is good, two players is much more fun. If you're alone there are certain advantages. You gain all the experience from monsters (instead of 50% each in two player). You get to keep all the gold for yourself and buy only for yourself. In two player mode the game goes alot quicker. There are numerous support spells. Any combination of characters has it's pros and cons. And you have someone to talk to while playing. The bulk of the game is summarized into two words: hack and slash. The rest of the game is cut-scenes or dialogue. You can also upgrade certain items you find at bartley's shop at a costly price. There is also a small ability added in the character menu in-game which allows you to rotate your character in a 360 degree motion just to see what the backside looks like.

Graphics: Some people can't see a good game if the graphics aren't top quality. The game uses the same graphics engine as the first Dark Alliance. That being said it has the same graphics as Dark Alliance did. This engine however was adequate enough to still make the game look good. There is almost no frame-rate slow down. Unless you happen to lure about 30-40 monsters on screen and attempt to kill them all then there will be a little slowdown. But for the most part the graphics run smoothly.

Sound: The sound is not perfect but it gets the job done. All the sound effects that should be there are there. The music is off and on which happens to be good thing in my opinion. If the music was on constantly, you would probably just turn it down or turn it off.

Re-playability: This game features 5 main characters that you can be. A necromancer, barbarian, monk, cleric, and rogue. You can achieve a maximum character level of 40. To do this you only need to beat the game twice (once on extreme), this taking about 8-12 hours per game depending how cautious you are. So if you get all the main characters up to level 40 than you probably have logged about 80 to 120 hours of play time. That should last more than a few months if you play an hour or so a day. This game is all about re-playability.

Overall: At the price of $40 to $55 new, it's well worth the price. If you like action/rpg's and playing long hours with a friend or sibling than this game is a must have.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/04