hen the original Dungeon Siege was released back in March of 2002, it was snatched up by hack n’ slash RPG junkies thanks to its slick user interface, adept combat system, and intricate storyline. Following in the footsteps of games like Diablo, the game struck a chord with PC gamers looking for an engrossing adventure that provided tons of gameplay. And now, three years later, Microsoft and Gas Powered Games are teaming up once again for Dungeon Siege II. But, as the old adage goes, things do indeed get better with age. Upgrades are the order of the day and Dungeon Siege II packs them in like it’s going out of style, whether it’s the newly enhanced combat or the all new character creation feature. If you’re a PC gamer hankering for an adventure, lace up those boots and sharpen your swords; you’re about to get one heck of a lesson on how to do things right.
Dungeon Siege II opens not unlike other RPGs. In the first Dungeon Siege game an evil sword gave an evil warlord the power to conquer the world, but was ultimately trumped by an equally powerful mystical shield that counteracted its power. After the battle at the aptly named Plain of Tears, the sword was locked away, seemingly forever. But as fate would have it, another madman has discovered the sword and with it has once again set out to enslave the world. Surprisingly enough, however, you start off the game from very humble origins. Brought in as a mercenary, you’re little more than hired muscle, but as you progress through the game you take on more and more important roles, until it finally becomes clear that perhaps you’re the only one that can restore some sort of balance to the world and defeat the evil sword and its bearer.
When you first start up the game, you’re given the option of creating a character, with four different races available to choose from. Each race has their own unique strengths and weaknesses, so you’ll need to carefully weigh your options when doing so. The Humans, perhaps the most balanced race in the game, excel at both combat and magic. The Dryads, on the other hand, are skilled more with the use of the special Nature magic (used mainly in support roles), although they’re also very skilled with ranged weapons like bows and arrows. The Elves function much like the Dryads, except instead of Nature magic they’re more skilled with Combat magic. Lastly, the Half-Giants are a fearsome and behemoth race, and naturally, excel in combat and melee fighting. While the personalization options for each race don’t set any new standards in terms of depth, you can change things such as gender, hair style, and hair color.
After you’ve created your character, you’re ready to get to the game. Dungeon Siege II opens with your character landing on a beach as part of a mercenary group attacking a Dryad settlement. Your patron, the evil man who possesses the sword from the first game, is seeking out a special magical icon to increase his power even more. At first, you’re given a fairly lengthy chance to learn the ropes of combat and magic, but you soon find yourself captured by the Dryads and made a lowly prisoner. But, the Dryads seem to see something special in you and choose not to end your life. And so, from the role of being a prisoner, you start off on your epic journey.
If you’ve played games like Diablo or console titles like Baldur’s Gate, much of Dungeon Siege II shouldn’t come as a surprise. At its core it’s a hack ‘n slash RPG, so everything from combat to movement is pretty simple. On the field, your character can take part in both melee and ranged combat, depending on what kind of weapon you have equipped. To attack an enemy, all you need to do is center your targeting reticule over the unit and click the right mouse button. Doing so will make you attack, and subsequent presses will make your character attack repeatedly. The system is simple and easy to handle. Your attack power is thusly affected by what level your character is at as well as what weapon you have equipped. Gaining experience by defeating enemies will also give you access to some special combat powers that make battling much easier. Each character has a certain number of special power slots that can be filled with a special attack token. Take the power of Brutal Blow. Once you’ve gained the power you can use it while fighting. But, it comes with a catch in the fact that it can only be used once and then needs to recharge. From your character menu, you can view all of the special attack tokens you’ve learned and then drag the token icon to your slot menu to fill one of the four spaces. On the field of battle, all you need to do is click on a special attack icon that appears at the bottom of the screen and then attack an enemy; after that move you’ll unleash the special attack.
Magic works much in the same way, although you don’t necessarily have to gain experience to learn new spells. In your handy character menu you can view all of the magic spells that you have, and logically, use the same drag and drop system to equip them. Spells come in various flavors, although the two main categories are Combat and Nature. Combat spells are the magical attacks that you’ll be using to defeat enemies. Nature magic, however, is a bit different in the fact that most spells from that category are tied to some natural element, such as fire, water, and ice. Both spell types are formidable when fighting enemies, but it’s still usually a good idea to balance out between the two types as you’re playing.
Engaging in combat and using magic will garner you experience points and when you acquire a certain amount, you’re character will level-up. Besides increasing your overall stats, leveling up also affects things such like how proficient you are when engaging in melee and ranged combat, as well as how effective your spells are. I already mentioned that you can acquire special attack powers, but you can also gain some other secondary abilities that aren’t directly tied to fighting. Take, for instance, the ability of survival. Besides being able to increase your ability to use healing magic, it also allows you to cultivate magic and life replenishing potions from certain patches of flowers you find scattered throughout the game. The entire system operates on a branching tree diagram, so obviously, later abilities can only be acquired after leveling up previous ones.
Weapons, armor, and items follow the standard seen in other hack ‘n slash titles and throughout the game you’ll rely on using a window-based system of equipping items and toting them around with you. But unlike other games out there, you’re not bound by weight limitations. Instead, you’re given a certain amount of inventory space and how you utilize it is up to you. The inventory menu screen is also a handy place to check out your character’s stats, such as how much health they have or how much intelligence they possess. Considering that in the game you can have more than one character in your party at once, the menu system is both intuitive and easy to use and allows you to cycle through characters and their menus with a click of the mouse.
Visually the game seems to be coming together quite well, at once offering up explosive graphical detail while fighting and using magic, as well as providing a lush environment and world to explore. Character models are still a bit rough, especially in terms of enemies, but there’s enough variation between the many enemy units to keep things interesting. The really impressive features come in the world that you’ll adventure through. Forests are filled with tons of vegetation while caves and the like are dank and pretty realistic. Granted, games of this genre usually don’t take the PC to new graphical benchmarks, but Dungeon Siege II provides enough visual pop to keep your eyes happy while your fingers do all the work.
If one aspect of our preview build of the game was the roughest, it had to be the audio. While the game does feature some epic sounding music, character voice over was still a bit hit and miss, with some dialogue bordering on embarrassing. But, the framework seems to be in place to create an aurally pleasing experience.
Overall Dungeon Siege II is one of those games that really manages to impress right out of the gate. Whether you’re in it for the story or the combat, you’re bound to find something that will raise your eyebrows. While the game does sport a fairly steep learning curve and a sometimes overwhelmingly deep experience and character upgrade system, the entire package makes for one heck of a time.