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Intro
 Something
is amiss in the city of Baldur's Gate. Take the form of a human archer, elven
wizard, or a dwarven fighter and unravel the mystery before it puts an end to
the legendary port town.
Gameplay: 9/10
Take the tried and true story-telling aspects of PC RPGs,
add in some style borrowed from console-oriented RPGs like Alundra and
Legend of Oasis, toss in a bit of Snowblind magic, and you end up with
one incredible game.
After choosing between the archer, mage, or fighter,
console gamers will be introduced to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Even
those familiar with the PC and Mac titles will find this to be a completely new
experience, as the turn-based party gameplay has been foregone for a solo affair.
Using an isometric view with a camera angle that can swivel on most occasions,
gamers will find themselves jumping on top of crates and dodging booby traps instead
of the more familiar actions of assigning party members to attack specific enemies.
Due to its real-time nature, the action is fast and takes place in large levels
that keep gamers on track instead of tricking them with dead-ends and pointless
obstacles. As a result, the game progresses at a great pace.
One
of the game's best aspects is the interaction with the non-playable characters,
as they look and sound fantastic. Unfortunately, the characters walking around
town can't be spoken to, nor can the various buildings be wandered into; I know
this would have not only taken more development time, but cost a lot more money
due to the high quality of interactive people and areas. However, some might find
this a bit stale and limited. I was only let down with those limitations for the
first few minutes or so, after which I came to appreciate how it keeps the player
on track, preventing them from getting lost, and helping to keep up the pace without
needless wandering. The action is done
well, presenting a healthy blend of raw fisticuffs and magic. Somewhat unorthodox
is that, except for the bosses, enemy health isn't shown, nor is the amount of
experience gained from each enemy's death. This isn't a huge issue, as regular
enemies only take a few blows to kill, but it would be more convenient to have
the experience gained on hand instead of having to go to the player's stat section
in the menu. One thing that was inconsistent was the enemy A.I.: in some instances,
they would go to incredible lengths to kill me, and at other times, they would
get stuck running in circles or behind a small crate and end up at the end of
my mace. This was only noticeable when most enemies had been killed, as most would
end their loops once enough room was made for them to leave. Thankfully, this
only really became noticeable at the end of long battles and never dampened the
gameplay much. A few of the things that
were done especially well are how the abilities are handled and how the story
unfolds. I have found that in most RPGs, not all of the attributes are necessarily
useful and some feel as if they don't do anything at all. Well, that isn't the
case here. The abilities are streamlined to the necessities: health regeneration,
endurance to carry more items, quicker reflexes, or the ability to strike a harder
deathblow, and so on. The story is also told via limited cutscenes, though the
bulk of the plot is carried through first-person interaction with the non-playable
characters, which is a good thing, considering the high quality of the latter.
In fact, the atmosphere completely engrosses the player and manages to stay entertaining
with enough twists to keep you feeling that the 'Big Secret' will reveal itself
in just a few more minutes. The various locations also keep the game refreshing,
and the various enemies and obstacles met along the way will have gamers on their
toes. It's a wonderful world that is not only beautiful to look at, but a joy
to explore….and killing hordes of ogres and dwarves while doing so isn't
bad either. It's difficult to explain
just how complete the game feels. Despite how the enemies occasionally freak out
and the minor tweaking that could have gone into the menu system and enemy information,
the game feels extremely thorough. The problems I mentioned sound much worse than
they are; in fact, they do very little to diminish the sheer enjoyment that this
title brings. The action is fun, the RPG elements give the game more depth and
when you toss in the simultaneous two-player mode and the unlockable modes and
characters, there is plenty to do here once the 12 or so hours of the quest with
the first character is done. Regardless of the repeating storyline, it is well
worth playing through with all three characters just because of how varied they
are, which is indeed a testament of how addictive and fun the game truly is.
Graphics: 8/10
Aside from the
occasional camera jerkiness when you're in a room filled to the brim with the
walking undead, the port manages to come off without a hitch. The default brightness
is high, so characters look a little washed out when talking to them, but that
tends to become less obvious as the game continues and the eyes adjust. The levels,
animation, and spell effects are all back in their splendor with plenty of bright
pyrotechnics and dramatic shadows to give even the dullest of dungeons a nice
bit of pizzazz. Despite being hard to see at times, the main characters and their
enemies look great in the isometric view and they move and act differently enough
so that the enemies for each level don't come off as carbon copies. In the end,
deep shadowy figures and half-bodied zombies crawling towards a hero with hands
ablaze drowns out miniscule problems any day. Sound:
9.5/10
The great music and voice-overs are back in all of their glory. The
moody and atmospheric tunes hit all the right marks as they create tension, fear,
and all the assorted feelings one succumbs to when surrounded by murderous creatures.
Very dramatic with a great fantasy feel and a solid variety make this one of the
best-sounding games on any platform. The voice-overs are also a high mark as they
are some of the finest to date. Standard settings will, unfortunately, have them
drowned out a bit by the background music, but that's adjustable, and adjusted
they should be, since the dead-on lip-synching and talented actors deserve to
be heard whenever they speak. With strong pieces and even stronger narratives
being ignored more and more these days, it's glad to see them still around and
still at the top of their game. Control:
8.5/10
Having a camera that's a fixed distance from the action can make things
confusing when the enemies pile in, but a steady swivel option and object transparencies
do a nice job of compensating. I was a bit disheartened to see that some things
weren't fixed for the port; namely, not seeing what would happen to the character
stats if a certain weapon or armor was bought. The player has to exit the screen
and check what damage it does or memorize all of their damage stats; also, some
very limited polygon clipping occurred. Being able to remap all the buttons was
a nice touch, as were the robust options, such as being able to display or disable
damage, subtitles, and so on. The basics were covered just as well as the original
with quick response times and easy navigation of all basic movements and attacks. Overall:
9/10
A solid port, and although it doesn't really take advantage of the GameCube's
power, the transition was well done. Ignoring the aspect of it being a port at
all, Dark Alliance is a phenomenal game that takes a simple hack-and-slash
engine and makes it robust with a plethora of weapons, spells, non-playable characters,
and a solid story. The experience will last around 10 hours, and there's an unlockable
level, but I've played through it twice now and plan on finishing it off with
the third and final character - not to mention the option to play through with
a friend. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a solid action-RPG through-and-through
and one that is definitely not to be missed. [
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