Overview

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Review

Release Date: 01.20.2004
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Black Isle Studios
Publisher: Interplay Productions, Inc.

Reviewed by Elias Gonzalez on 1.19.2004

Review Rating: 8/10

User Rating: 7/10

A little over two years ago Interplay and Snowblind Studios turned a legion of console gamers into hack-and-slash fans when it released Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance on the PlayStation 2 console. The game was received so well that Interplay went on to release it a year later on the GameCube and Xbox. This success ensured that the franchise would live on.

Fast-forward to 2004 and we finally find ourselves with a sequel. The appropriately named Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II picks up where its predecessor left off, with Alliance’s three heroes arriving at a portal after defeating Eldrith, only to be captured by a new enemy, Mordoc. You are promptly told how you did everything he had hoped you would and learn that the defeat of Eldrith was simply part of an overall larger and diabolical plan.

For those of you who held onto those Dark Alliance game saves, I feel your pain - they will be of no use to you here thanks to the incarceration of the original trio of adventurers. The good news is that once you start up the game you are given the option to choose from five new heroes: a drow monk, elven necromancer, human barbarian, dwarven rogue, and human cleric. Each, of course, has their pros and cons as well as abilities specific to their class, but they all share the same linear storyline.

Despite that linear story, Dark Alliance II is a surprisingly deep game. Sure it’s a button masher at heart, but there are some side quests thrown in to break the monotony and a great new feature in the “workshop”. Talk to the trader in the city of Baldur’s Gate and he will allow you to customize weapons, armor and jewelry with precious stones. These various stones will boost the stats of any item they are added to, as well as add elemental or acid related damage or resistance depending on the item. This portion of the game cannot be overlooked, as enemies react differently to certain elements. Customizing your weapons and armor so that you have a good mix of elementally charged items will make your journey that much easier.

Luckily, carrying and switching between all these weapons is easy as pie. You are allowed to equip three weapons at any given moment, and a quick tap on the D-pad allows you to switch between the three without every going to the item selection screens. The rest of the game controls similarly to Dark Alliance and veterans of the series will have an easy time jumping right in. Attacks and blocks are handled with the face buttons, and the shoulder buttons are used as shortcuts for health and rejuvenation potions. The jump button is still here but luckily for veterans of the series the maddening puzzles requiring you to jump across moving platforms above a never ending pit of death are gone.

Even though the jumping deaths are kept to a minimum and elementally charged weapons help you defeat tough enemies, don’t think for a second that Dark Alliance II is a walk through the park. Boss characters, especially in the earlier parts of the game, can be quite difficult to kill and it is not uncommon for you to find yourself severely outnumbered. Depending on which character you choose you have to be extremely careful about getting too far ahead of yourself. If you do find yourself in trouble, and have to run away, be prepared for the mobs to give chase.

While you are running for your life popping healing potions like no tomorrow, be sure to take a look around because Black Isle has created a great little world here considering they are using the same graphics engine they created back in 2001. Characters and enemies, while fairly small, show an amazing amount of detail. Kill an Orc or Gnoll and chunks of flesh and pieces of armor go flying through the air. Spell effects look great and special weapons leave trails of fire or blood as you swing them around. As if that weren’t enough, those great water effects from Dark Alliance are back and pretty as ever.

Level design, while a little uninspired at times, really helps get you into the game. Levels like the Halls of Hammer and Dragonspear Castle have a very “Lord of the Rings” feel to them (minus the thousands of on-screen enemies), and that is a good thing.

Top the visuals off with a great musical score, awesome sound effects and you are probably saying to yourself, “jeez, does this guy expect us to believe that this game can do no wrong?” Well, unfortunately, the answer is no. While Dark Alliance II does a lot of things better than its predecessor, it failed to improve upon other areas of the game and I feel as though this is more of an expansion pack than a true sequel. In other words, it could have easily been called Dark Alliance 1.5 and no one would have thought twice about it.

Sure there are new characters and new locales to explore, but other than the item/weapon creation, there is nothing groundbreaking about Dark Alliance II. I am still running around hacking the heck out of little Goblins and running errands for Jherek, who can’t seem to do a damn thing for himself. In its defense though, the words groundbreaking and hack-and-slash do not often go hand in hand. Ever since Diablo graced our PCs we have been treated to dozens of near clones in this genre. Why fault Dark Alliance II so much for being like the first Dark Alliance, when that game was good despite being so much like Diablo?

I for one come from the camp that believes there isn’t much that can be done to improve upon the gameplay in this genre. Change too many things and you could be looking at a whole new category of gaming, not a dungeon crawling hack-and-slasher. That being said, there are a few things that can be changed without ruining a genre many of us have come to love.

First off, with all this item customization going on, a little character customization would have been nice. I love making characters that resemble myself, or some that just look plain silly, and I know I am not the only one. Also, what’s with the two-person multiplayer? In this day and age a game like this deserves at least the four-player treatment and if the developers really love us, online cooperative play. Last but not least, how about more wide-open spaces in the levels and fewer hallways leading to dead ends or that take us in circles?

After reading all of this, what you should be asking yourself is whether or not you loved Dark Alliance enough to want to spend another $49.99 on its slightly improved sequel. Even without all the fancy new bells and whistles, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is a fun game that will keep you entertained for a good 10 hours, more if you decide to play through the game with multiple characters. I firmly believe that you will happily get your money’s worth, but if a four-player mode and online play are crucial to your buying decision, you may want to wait for Champions of Norrath.

Box art