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Developer: Snowblind Studios
Publisher: VU Games
Genre: RPG
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 04 Dec 01
User Rating
10 (1 vote) -
Overview
Far after the events where Eldrith the Betrayer had fallen and cursed Baldur's Gate and all within it, a dark storm brews over Baldur's Gate. An adventurer wanders in the streets at night which because of recent events is not safe. Just as the adventurer decides to head for the nearest open building they are attacked by two thieves. Left unconscious on the ground, the thieves steal all of the adventurer’s gold. Some watchmen approach the scene and revive the poor adventurer. They suggest to head to the Elfsong Tavern. It too houses a few thugs and cutthroats, but maybe here the adventurer can find the answers to who attack them...
Gameplay
The game has 3 playable characters Vahn the Acrane Archer, Kromlech the Dwarven Fighter and Adriana the Elven Sorceress. A cool factor is that if you have a pre-existing character from another Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance game, you don't need to start a game over with a new character. You can simply import your current character from another game. To do this all you need to do is select "Change Players" from the In Game Pause Menu.
Like most or all games now to move around you use the left analog stick. Attacking is done with the X button, jumping with the triangle, casting spells with circle and the square for the action button it performs almost any other action other than jumping, casting spells or attacking. Also blocking is with R1, healing with R2, press L1 to bring up the map of your surroundings to appear and last by pressing the L2 button your character will being to drink rejuvenation potions.
After you defeat enemies or complete quests you get experience and will eventually level up after gaining so much experience. Every time a character gains a level they gain more health and more arcane energy. You also gain skill points when you level up, with these you can choose which skill to train. There are six skills, strength which is the physical power of your character, intelligence will make your character to learns, wisdom makes your character gain more experience points when they kill a monster or complete a quest, dexterity allows a better chance of actually hitting an enemy in a long rang battle and also gives a better Armor Class, constitution means your character will have more hit points with a fast hit point regeneration rate, and of course charisma makes the character have less trouble buying and selling items at a store.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance allows for two player capabilities. In this two players share one screen and must help each other to survive. It makes for some very interesting gameplay. During battles the player who kills the enemy will get 60% of the experience and the other player will get 40%, of course each player receives 100% of the quests experience. Also in a two player game the screen will split in two sides only to enter the player’s menu screen. That way one player cannot just take their friends armor, weapons or potions.
Graphics
The graphics are beautiful for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, everything from clear water that has a tiny sparkle to it to bricks that look like they have been around for thousands of years. Even the character models are outstanding, with much detail given to facial features when speaking to another character. On a down side most buildings you will see throughout the game are not accessible to you, but they still look the best that they can to give the game a feeling of being a real world which you are exploring. None of the realms look the same at all, they all have their own feel to them which also makes the world of Abeir-Toril seem more realistic.
Fun Factor
If you enjoy action packed, top-down games then Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a great. The storyline is quite enjoyable for starters and the ability to choose from three different characters makes for a great replay value. Seeing as of how each character has different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The two player games also add to the fun, it adds that little feature that the game needed to make it great. The only bad thing about this game is the lack of sidequests. That doesn’t matter much though, since the game itself is fun and doesn’t really need sidequests to make it better.
Overall
Great game for fans of hack em' up games with hours of gameplay. Amazing graphics and impressive voice actors all add to the greatness. Though we must remember that no game is perfect, and this one does have its share of bugs. There isn’t nearly enough to ruin the game in any way. Even with the lack of sidequests in the game, it'll keep you playing into the wee hours of the morning. The game is one to buy and if you’re too lazy to buy it then at least rent it. You shouldn't miss this one.
- Gameplay
8.0 - Graphics
9.0 - Fun Factor
8.0 - Overall
9.0
