Any fantasy-based game is cool, simply because of the genre. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is just another one of these. I'll begin by discussing the games weaknesses to get them out of the way, because if you look past them, there is a great game waiting for the fantasy role-player.
The game is very limited in certain areas. The first of these is the characters. You can only play as a single adventurer, as opposed to controlling an entire party. Also, you can only choose from 3 individuals to take through the game: human archer, dwarven fighter, or elven mage. Upon completing the game, you can actually play as Drizzt from R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels. Even so, by that time, your character is way tougher than Drizzt anyway, so it's a pretty good let down. Sure, Drizzt's double sword action is cool, but he's just too weak, with very limited armor. Don't look forward to this feature of the game too much. One nice aspect of the game was that even though I began as a human archer, I was able to form him into a great fighter, so your starting class doesn't really limit you completely. No matter which character you play as, you will need hand-to-hand, archery, and magic skills to do well in the game.
Another area of the game that seemed limited to me, and quite boring, were the dreaded monotonous environments. It was always so invigorating to finally reach a new location (but sort of a bummer because you can't really backtrack). Sadly, I grew bored of the environments rather quickly and was forced to run through hours and hours of the same stuff with the same enemies. It was mindless hacking and jumping all the time. Sure, there were treasure chests to open and items to grab from shelves, but nothing made the monotony any more bearable. Then, when you finally reach a new location, you just pass up the weapon shop because you know you'll find way better items just dropping form enemies in battle. I had more money than I knew what to do with by the later parts of the game. I would just collect a surplus of great items and sell them, never to actually spend the gold. The environments were certainly beautifully created, but they could have thrown in 20 more worlds and kept me far more interested. The swamp grows dull very fast. I wanted nothing more than to get out of there, never to see another lizard man in my life.
Now for the good stuff, which actually far outweighs the bad stuff. First of all, the graphics are so fluid and clean. The animation is smooth and the motion precise. These are some of the best graphics I've seen on the PS2. The overhead perspective works well (although a zoom feature similar to that in Dungeon Siege would have been nice), and there is full 360-degree camera movement, which really helps sometimes. I don't know why more games haven't adopted this feature. The controls are very easy, and it is nice being able to down potions in mid-combat.
The fantasy aspects of the game were very fun as well. For instance, the tavern at the beginning of the game is constantly crooned by the voice of a dead elf, singing in distant, eerie tones. Later in the game you encounter robust dwarves and mighty frost giants and diabolical traps. It feels very much like a good D&D-style adventure.
The sound in the game is also very clean. The effects are realistic and believable, as well as the quality voice acting. The non-player-characters are masterfully rendered and animated, seeming lifelike when engaging in conversation. The music is not tear inducing by any means, but does what it needs to in supporting the moods of the environments. The orchestral sounds are quite pleasing.
Some other great little bits in the game were weapons like: Frosty Dwarven Masterwork Mace of Dismemberment +5 (or something like that). The weapon would actually have a little blue glow around it and you could turn enemies into ice and bash them into shards. Also, the experience system was not bad. They have far simplified it from the standard AD&D rules, but in a way that keeps things clean. Once you reach a new level, you can add points to a certain skill or feat or magic from a given list. Another helpful feature is that the bosses are never too complicated. You won't ever have to reload 15 times to finally figure out how the boss works. It's all pretty straightforward, right through the end of the game. It's also fun to put new armor and weapons on your character because they actually show up in both the inventory menu, and the normal game mode. Another feature more games should adopt.
One little feature I loved (because I like cheats) was the ability to save, then drop all your stuff, then reload your character into your current position and pick up all your stuff, so you now have duplicates. It sounds weird, but it actually works quite well when you try it. This will allow you to make big money fast.
Overall, I definitely had a great time in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Gaining experience and developing the character are just enough to balance out the monotonous environments. The game does what it does in a solid and visually pleasing manner and gives the staff at Interplay a good image.
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