fter furiously thumbing the "attack" button through thousands of gorgeous 3-D drones in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, players were treated to a boilerplate cliffhanger that practically bellowed "sequel." Picking up right where things left off in the original, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II returns players to the ever-popular Dungeons & Dragons world of the Forgotten Realms, where swords and sorcery are as boundless as air and water.
At the end of the first game, the denouement wrapped up with the protagonist stepping through a portal, only to discover a ring of creepy shadow creatures surrounding a clearing in the forest on the other side. The second game takes up this thread in the introduction, revealing that the heroes from the first game have been imprisoned. Though Eldrith the Betrayer has been destroyed, evil once again stalks the land, and it's up to a fresh team of heroes to answer the call.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is nearly identical to its predecessor, using the same controls, the same interface and the same game engine. Notable new features include the ability to play as one of five character types (the first was limited to just three), including a human cleric, dwarven rogue, human barbarian, drow monk or elven necromancer. The game perspective is isometric, about a dozen feet behind the character, and there is now the ability to partially zoom in and out on the action. The story breaks into chapters, which in turn are grouped by levels that, as in the first, are linear paths through varying environments that dish up waves of creatures for battle. Accumulating gold, items and experience points triggers level advancement, allows skill upgrades and provides funding for upgrading armor, weapons and magic items. Each section culminates in an elongated "boss" monster battle.
High expectations haven't been fulfilled
Put bluntly, this is a perfect example of how to milk a concept without adding a whiff of innovation; generally a good thing here, considering the first game's high-quality gameplay. Still, given that this is essentially one very long trek through a massive maze of creepy critters, it would have been nice to see the game concept evolve into something less predictable, and frankly, more challenging. Played at the default normal difficulty setting, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is a less-than-10-hour breeze to sail through, and for $40 there should have been more.
The other problem, and it appears to be limited to the PS2 version, is that the textures look stretched and blurry compared to the glistening photo-realistic environments that graced Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Even the colors are notably less vivid, especially in interior locations. This is simply unacceptable for a PS2 game, given the higher-quality look of the original, now over two years old.
Level design ranges from mediocre to exciting, though, given the flat two-dimensional movement options of the main character, the few jumping puzzles scattered through corridors and passages feel artificial and annoying. There is also a sense of overdevelopment of certain levels, places where the polygons have been stretched and contorted too dramatically, giving the overall level a needlessly busy look that detracts from the color and lighting schemes.
Still, it's hard not to recommend Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II to fans of the original, given the extra character classes and the safely preserved gameplay that won the first title so many awards. The only serious caveats would include the shortened game length, poor textures on the PS2 version (given the option to choose, the Xbox version is the clear winner) and repetitive gameplay, but anyone who's played the seminal Diablo and its progeny has heard that complaint before, and understandably ignored it.
A bit of a disappointment coming off the elegance and polish of the first game, but still worth at least a rental, if not a full purchase.
— Matt
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