Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance takes place in the Forgotten Realms universe, a universe many of you are probably all too familiar with. This universe, not unlike many other fantasy worlds, contains dragons, swords, mages, spells and was also the setting for Baldur's Gate. BG:DA doesn't exactly stand as a true sequel, but more in the lines of a spin-off. Yet, this side quest of sorts does not retain the same game play of the Bioware RPGs but instead opts for hacking and slashing as the main component. Before you put aside this game as a mere Diablo clone, please realize that this game is NOT attempting to be Diablo by any means.
At first it feels as if the plot follows your basic "demons have invaded and you have to stop them" kind of bit, but as you dig into the game the plot livens up a bit, becoming more than just something extra tacked on. The game begins with an opening movie that shows your character being mugged. Without a single thing to his name, your character arrives at Elfsong tavern where you are immediately given the task of cleaning out the tavern's cellar so that you can continue to the sewers and find out who exactly robbed you blind. Yes, it's not going to by a famous novel, but you can't begin playing the game expecting the story to reach Metal Gear Solid 2's quality. The story isn't amazing, but it's not bad by any means.
Once you get past the opening scenes, you'll see where this game really shines. The biggest part of your time will be spent traversing through rooms and hacking away at enemies, so it's obviously the most important aspect of the game. It's not too difficult to attack an enemy, and it shouldn't be with the sheer amount of times that it must be done. Yes, there is a lot of combating to trek through, enough in fact that I'm sure many gamers will be bashing the game by calling it repetitive. Throughout the game, there was just something that made me want to get to the end, no matter how much I had to tap the X (A button on Xbox and GameCube) button to get there.
But there is much more to the game than just killing things. Along the way through the game you'll find items that enhance your skills and abilities, not only that, but equipable armor and weapons that come as a necessity to surviving the game. The inventory interface is extremely smooth: press select, go to correct category of items, equip/use items, and it's back to action. A very helpful feature I soon discovered after dieing a countless number of times is the ability to use the shoulder buttons as quick shortcuts to using health potions. You're going to have to use potions a lot, believe me, and it's nice not to be forced to pause the game and scroll through your inventory every time that your health is low so that you can get the battle going again.
It's also relatively easy to level up and the leveling up system is pretty similar to Diablo 2's. BG:DA allows you to choose between three different classes of characters which include a sorceress, warrior dwarf, and human archer. Each of them consists of their own special abilities that are only apparent when it's time to choose your skills to level up. The dwarf is able to choose a skill that allows him to use a two-handed weapon as a shield, while the archer cannot. Unlike the dwarf though, the archer can gain the ability to use bolt arrows which do much more damage than regular arrows.
But the single most amazing and innovative feature in the entire game is the ability to slash your way through the game with a friend. Yes, co-op is amazing. Never before have I actually been able to play my way through a game such as this with another human that I could actually see and not just speak to online. If you think single player is fun, you haven't seen anything yet. BG:DA's co-op is easily the most fun I've had in a long time. Co-op adds so much more strategy to the game it's unbelievable. For example, once my friend and I were stuck on a boss. We continually died over and over until we were forced devise a new plan. We decided to let one person to stand in place holding a shield, while the other person stood behind him and shot arrows at the boss. That way the boss couldn't attack the archer, since he was guarded by the shield. It worked and he was dead within the second attempt using our new strategy.
The graphics are stunning! So much detail is given to every single object in the game that sometimes you just want to sit and stare to be sure you aren't missing anything. Treads form behind you as you walk through murky water, characters actually appear to be wearing whatever equipment you equip, and the bosses, especially the ice dragon, are absolutely amazing looking. Definitely a step in the right direction as far as graphics are concerned.
The sound is also on target. The weapons sound great clashing together, the characters you speak to have their own individual voiceovers and they also match whatever character happens to be talking, and the enemies' cries aren't too annoying.
So which platform has the best version? Well, the GameCube is the worst version of the three due to the fact that there is occasional frame rate drops while playing the game. The decision becomes simple if you own all three consoles since all three versions play a like and look a like. If you own all three I would get the Xbox version because the load times are slightly faster and you don't have to worry about memory cards. Next is the PS2 version which is just as good, the only draw back being the memory cards. If you only own the GameCube, then it is still a great title, the slow down is not that bad and hey, you might not even notice much if you have never played the other versions.
Sharing more with the Diablo series than the series it was named after, it's a nice change of pace from the brain teasing combat of the other Forgotten Realms titles. Whether you liked the original Baldur's Gate or not, pick this title up, especially if you have a friend handy.
-Sam
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