Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

"Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II -- Swing, and a Miss"

I hate comparing sequels to their predecessors, that said I also hate it when sequels ruin a series. This is a spotless example of the later of the two options. BGDA2 could have been so, so good. It could have set a new standard in the Hack and Slash genera. But, sadly, it will remain as temple to mediocrity, and an after thought to what might have been.

Gameplay: 6/10

Graphically this game has minor improvements on the original, but the game remains as a rather unremarkable graphical achievement. If you play this game in HD it certainly helps, but there are definitely better looking hack and slash games out there (D & D Heros is a great example). The character animations are excellent however, that helps to add to the playability of the game; but this does not make up for the fact that the targeting system for this game is abysmal. I cannot count the amount of time that I felt like I was watching a dodgers game. My monk would take a mighty swing at a level 2 goblin, and would miss horribly. At first I assumed that this was simply a problem with my aim, it was within the realm of possibility that I would have just been bad at a video game. After the first 20 minutes it was clear that it was not my problem... mean I have beaten both Veautiful Joe, and Ninja Giaden, so I can't be THAT bad at this gaming thing. It became so irritating to have to be lined up in such a precise fashion that it became completely monotonous.

Another gameplay flaw what the relatively useless story. I will cover more about the story in its own section, but a game like this really benefits from having a story that makes the action necessary, and makes you feel like you're accomplishing something. This game completely misses this mark. I found myself wishing that I could simply slaughter those who I was supposed to be protecting, and get the game over with. The individual character's subplots were not compelling at all, and provided nothing for this game. Ultimately the expectations and the pressure may have been too great for this game to succeed.

Story: 4/10

As I alluded to earlier, in a hack and slash, the story is not the crucial element. What is most important is the mindless slaughter of hundreds upon hundreds of creature. But there should be some element that makes the gameplay feel necessary. I should want to pick up the controller because I want to kill those evil goblins so that they don't kill my family or friends, I should want to do the right thing. But the dialogue felt so trite, and juvenile. I felt like Kabuki Warriors may have had a better plot than this game, and that's saying something. I am not sure why this game did not posses any of the originality that the first game had. Honestly, would it have cost that much more money to buy a script from a 5th grade english class? Anything would have been an improvement to the rehashed tripe that was piled into this game. If you are looking for something that is COMPLETELY mindless, then this game is right up your alley. If you are in a coma you might like the story as well as you liked this morning's breakfast...but for anyone who fancies themselves as intelligent the story fails on every level.

I guess I am hard on this game because it bills itself to be a RPG. If this was supposed to be an RPG, then there should be a compelling plot. Diablo II is still the King of the genera, console games could do well to take a page out of Blizzard's design notebook.

Graphics: 8/10

Okay, to be fair, the game doesn't look THAT bad. BGDA2 does provide interesting eye candy in its texturing, spell animations, and overall mechanics. The physics seem to be believeable...but I don't know why anyone needs to jump in a hack and slash. The graphics do well when you are in wide open areas, but the inside texturing doesn't do a good job providing a lot of variance between the areas. This game would have done well to get some verity, but the textures that they do have are well done. This may be the biggest saving grace for the game.

Overall 6/10

This game rates as a disappointment in nearly every way. The only reason that this game deserves your time is in reverence for the series. You owe it to the original to rent this game, you owe it to yourself to play this game for about an hour and return it from your local rental place.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/13/04