Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, or How to Make a Sequel
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance ended with such an obvious cliff-hanger that it was clear a sequel was forthcoming. For fans of the hack 'n' slash end of the RPG market (more Diablo than Final Fantasy), it was a long wait. Snowblind went off to make Champions of Norrath, leaving Interplay a bit stuck, until they came up with Black Isle studios, the people behind Icewind Dale. That meant it was a good two years before the promised sequel emerged, but that seems to be all it did. The second game is pretty much identical to the first, but there's enough here to give fans a reason to come back.
What hasn't changed, first up, is the sound and graphics engines. BG:DA was a revelation graphically back in its day, but DA II hasn't progressed at all. That doesn't mean the graphics are bad, they're still very good, though perhaps not as good as Champions of Norrath. The flip side to that is it doesn't have the long load times of CoN, either. You see what you equip on your character, though most of the time you'll be seeing them from so high above it doesn't really matter. Of particular note for creating atmosphere are the lovely lighting and shadow effects. That's good graphic design, not huge processor power. The same goes for the nice little touches like the different ways monsters die.
The sound is pretty much what you expect from your classic D&D-based RPG: orchestral background music that builds nicely when you're in trouble, and good battle effects. As a nice touch, your character's voice will change as they level up - as we all know, becoming more powerful makes your voice drop. The general voice acting is good, and appropriate to the very serious, quasi-medieval tone of the game.
Gameplay is in essence the same as BG:DA, or any other game like this: kill, acquire, sell, buy, level up, go out and do it again. While DA II is true to the formula and hasn't imported any obvious gimmicks, there are enough little differences to make it worth playing.
The story is minimal, mostly simply moving you from one host of baddies to the next, but that's typical for the genre and it's certainly not as bad as some. BA:DA II picks up right where the first game left off. The three central characters have been captured and imprisoned: it's time for a new team. This time you have five initial choices of character: human barbarian, human cleric, moon elf necromancer, dark elf monk, and bizarrely, the dwarven rogue. There are two more options to unlock down the track. A wide range of spell and ability trees as you level up, and more levels achieved in a typical game, means more customisation of your character. Missile weapons now don't run out of ammunition, making ranged combat a more attractive proposition.
DA II has also picked up Diablo II's socketing system. You can now customise weapons with a huge range of options, using gems and runestones. The way your weapon appears will actually change, letting you plough through a host of undead as your sword trails a miasma of lethal green vapour behind it.
There's also a two-player option, which always makes the game more fun and is a distinct improvement on its predecessor, though doesn't stand up well to the inevitable comparison with CoN's four player and online modes.
The game also makes full use of the pad, allowing you to easily swap between weapons and spells during combat without having to scroll through menus. It takes a bit of getting used to, but the benefits are obvious. You can cycle through ranged, one-handed, and two-handed weapons using the D-pad without pausing for breath.
Basically, despite the change of studio, Dark Alliance II stays true to the mood, plot, and play of the original, while adding enough variation in characters and weaponry to make it feel different enough to be worth playing. It sounds simple, but it's a balance some sequels just don't manage.
Overall Rating: 8.2
|
|
