Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

The Good
Graphics-wise there is little to complain about in Dark Alliance. The monsters are well modeled and animated, the locations are interesting to look at, and the lighting effects are wonderful. The ripple and counter-ripple as your character wades through water is beautiful. Your character portrait is a pleasure to look at. My only real complaint with the graphics is that your character is a bit small and there is no way to zoom in closer to the action.

The Bad
Sadly, for me there was more bad than good to this game. The game began very well and I was anticipating and enjoyable adventure. By the end of Act I I was very disappointed.

The game play is repetitive and predictable. Each level consists of nothing more than killing the hordes of monsters that charge you. Usually there are only 2 or 3 types of monsters per level. There are no puzzles to solve beyond the very simple 'pull the lever to open the door' variety found in Act I. There are no mazes to explore. Every level is either a twisty passage from entrance to exit or starts with a left or right choice that both lead to the same place. Game play is a matter of walking from point A to point B killing anything that gets in your way.

There is not even the excitement of finding powerful artifacts and treasure in the dungeons. I found that the weapons in the chests and dropped by enemies were always inferior to what was available in the shop at the start of each level. There came to be no point picking up other weapons except to sell them for gold in order to buy the most powerful weapon at the next shop.

The game was also VERY short. I finished it in 11 hours, and that was making point of searching out and exterminating every monster on each level. Another gripe is that the end boss was ridiculously easy. It was over so fast that I figured that it must not be the end of the game after all. I was wrong. It was the end and a short on at that.

The Bottom Line
Dark Alliance started out very well and then dropped the ball. There are no surprises in this game after Act I. As an action game it is completely average. It is so standard that it could have been a 2D side scroller without losing anything from the gameplay. As a RPG it fails. I was actually glad that there were so many save points so that I could play in short intervals before I grew too bored.

If you are looking for a serious RPG skip Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. It is nothing like it's PC cousins. If you are looking for a simple hack and slash fantasy game you have found it with Dark Alliance. Don't expect too may thrills though.