Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2

A lone road beckons, rutted by caravan wheels and pitted by weather.

From the wrecked remains of a caravan and an encounter with the Red Fang Goblins, to the Plane of Shadow, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2, a PlayStation2 release from Black Isle Studios and Interplay is a wonderful return to the fantasy and lore created in the first title.

The game can be played either in single-player or two-player cooperative mode, and features a host of improvements over the original title in terms of game features.

The story follows the story of heroes gathered in Baldur’s Gate to face yet another lofty challenge. In the original tale, adventurers battled through to the Onyx Tower, the power center for Eldrith the Betrayer. But that was only the beginning. Those who vanquished Eldrith have disappeared, but darker forces seem to be at work; vile enemies who slaughter and mutilate their victims, and the overall script will take the brave and would-be saviors through a labyrinth of levels.

The game is spread over four acts, and has five new customizable characters. There is Dorn Redbear, the barbarian; Vhaidra Uoswiir, the monk; Ysuran Auondril, an elven wizard; Allessia Faithhammer, a cleric; and Borador Goldhand, a rogue. Each character has separate and unique skills that can be leveled up.

The game also features a creation system, which allows players to forge unique magical weapons and armor.

While the game has the array of mob drops that increase in power as you progress through the game, do not expect this foray to be a random, non-linear adventure. BGDA2 is very linear in that you will enter a quest and while there are branches in the maze path, ultimately there appears to be only one true way from the beginning to the end. If you enter a forest, you cannot veer from the path, because the rest of the wooded land is an impenetrable wall.

The mobs will throw melee, missile and some magic at you, and by the time you get to Argesh, the abomination boss, you had better be beyond level 10. Argesh has been created from parts of other beings, has a lot of hit points, does a lot of damage per attack, is surrounded by minions, and is a real challenge.

And that is, perhaps, the hallmark of BGDA2 – challenge. The game is rife with it.

Whether it is battling the various mobs, undertaking one of the numerous quests, or entering into a workshop in hopes of forging that ultimate weapon or armor, this title will draw players in and keep them glued to the game.

The crafting system requires a masterwork item (such as a finely crafted piece of armor, or weapon) and a rune stone. You can basically attach the rune stone or rune stones to the base item (the masterwork weapon or armor) to increase its effectiveness. After imbuing the weapon or armor, you can then add gems to it to give the item a magic effect. You can also break down an item to recover whatever was used to create it.

When it comes to the control elements, this is a game that is easy to understand and jump into. The controls are rather simple to use. The graphics are also wonderful, but are not a huge improvement over the original title. The camera does get hung up on occasion and is not fully rotatable in certain areas. For example, if you make it to Baldur’s Gate, you will find that the camera is locked and you cannot see the entire town structure. If there are doorways at the bottom of the screen area of the town, the only way to search them is to disappear under the roof tiles and blindly crawl along the wall.

The sound of this game is very good, and carries the original title’s mood and style.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is a huge game in terms of map area and challenge. There may not be much in terms of replayability here, but sacrificing that for a game that certainly entertains and is somewhat addictive is worth the adventure. The truly nice thing about this title is that while you can pick a certain character style, the way you invest your skill points can create a character that is totally different from another similar character. You may have two elf wizards, with their core quests, but by investing in different skills, those two versions of Ysuran may be completely different in terms of attack abilities, and defensive skills.

BGDA2 is engrossing and a great deal of fun.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is rated Teen.

Gameplay: 8

The game is somewhat linear in that there is one correct path through most of the dungeons. The camera gets hung up a bit in places and you cannot see all aspects of the area you are in – like in the town of Baldur’s Gate.

Graphics: 8.9

The game looks terrific. The animation is very good and the environments are excellent. Effects like spells are well done.

Sound: 8

The vocal acting is well done, and the musical score and ambient sounds are solid. The game does have some humor in that the characters will, at times, refer to the game player

Difficulty: Medium

The game will progressively challenge the player. While the initial challenge of the caravan can be surmounted, there are much more difficult bosses ahead, and relatively quickly.

Concept: 8.5

The game is a nice adjunct to the original and carries the style through quite well.

Multiplayer: 8.8

This game will support up to two players in cooperative play.

Overall: 8.7

The game is somewhat linear, but boasts a lot of eye candy and solid gameplay. This is a good title in solo play, but much better in cooperative game play. Dark Alliance 2 a great way to start off the year in terms of RPGs for the PS2.