Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was an action-RPG that was heavier on the action
than the role-playing. Since the game was set in Dungeons & Dragons’ Forgotten
Realms universe, it could draw upon D&D’s well-known well-defined role-playing
elements and use them as the basis for a good hack and slash dungeon crawler.
The result was an exciting game that is the closest you can come to playing
Diablo on a video game console.
Dark Alliance II picks up pretty much where Dark Alliance left off. The
characters from the first game have no time to relish their victory as they are
immediately captured by Mordoc, a vampire lord. Mordoc has decided to take up
residence in the Onyx Tower that our heroes have so kindly purged of its prior
residents, and he doesn’t want them returning to do the job again. Thankfully
there is no shortage of heroes in the realm, and it is up to you to step-up and
defeat Mordoc and free the captured heroes.
 |
| Fending off a manticore. |
The three characters from the original game covered the basic play styles by
letting you choose between an archer (ranged attacks), fighter (melee attacks),
and a sorceress (magical attacks). Since these three characters are locked away
at the start of the game, Dark Alliance II gives you the choice of five all new
characters that provide a more diverse selection of play styles: barbarian,
monk, rogue, cleric, and necromancer. The last two of these new characters
provides players who prefer spellcasters to select from two quite different
schools of magic – in one case you will be turning undead creatures, in the
other you will summon them to fight by your side. I liked the fact that Dark
Alliance two gives you a greater variety of classes to choose from, as they give
you more leeway in selecting a character that will fit your preferred style of
play as well as enhance the game’s replayability. The new classes are also more
interesting than the basic ones found in the original game, with the necromancer
being particularly enjoyable to play. There’s still no room for customization of
your character’s appearance though. You character’s appearance will change
through the game as different weapons and armor are equipped, but you have no
control over facial features, skin tone, or even your character’s name.
Gameplay in Dark Alliance II is very similar to that of the original. You
play from an overhead third-person perspective, with the right stick used to
rotate and zoom the game camera. The camera control is smooth and fluid, and it
is easy to quickly put the camera where it needs to be to give you the best view
of the action. You’ll primarily use the two face buttons assigned to attack and
spell casting while playing, but just about every button on the controller is
mapped to an action. Shoulder buttons are used to block attacks and down health
and mana potions, the remaining face buttons are used to pick up objects and
jump (although you’ll rarely find yourself in a position where you are required
to jump), and the D pad is used for a myriad of actions. Using the D pad you can
select your currently active spell, show and hide the automap, and switch
between your equipped melee and ranged weapons. This works well enough most of
the time, but in heated moments you’ll find the overloaded D pad will sometimes
so something other than intended – I walked away from many a pitched battle to
find that I had apparently closed the automap in the heat of action.
As for your foes, you’ll see many of the same creatures that you encountered
in Dark Alliance as well as some new monsters. You’ll face a variety of attacks
from these monsters – melee, ranged, and magical – so although you’ll be doing a
lot of fighting the game never feels all that repetitive. The slower brutes
still suffer from the same problem as in the original game though, as they can
be dispatched without too much trouble by patiently running circles around them
and hacking them in the back. You’ll periodically encounter boss creatures as
well, usually at the culmination of a quest, that will have unique attacks and
that can take a lot of punishment.
The RPG element comes into play with the awarding of experience points and
gold, weapons, armor, or potions for slaying monsters. The experience points
accumulate until you advance to a new level, when you are given bonus points to
spend improving your character’s skills. These skills include faster health
recovery, weapon and armor proficiencies, and new spells. This allows you to
customize your character by selecting which skills on which to spend your
points. You can go for breadth and try to pick up as many skills as possible, or
concentrate your points on improving a few key skills.
Weapons and armor can be equipped for use by your character – provided that
you’ve acquired the proper skills to use them – or sold to shopkeepers for gold
to use to purchase more powerful items.
Page 2 of 2 »
