Baldur’s Gate for the PC is a real-time strategic RPG. Therefore it was a complete shock to me, when Black Isle, the game’s developers decided to turn the Playstation 2 Baldur’s Gate based Dark Alliance into a Diablo-like hack and slash. It is a game completely different from the PC games, yet fulfilling the quality that comes behind the Baldur’s Gate name.

I originally strayed away from this title, because I quite frankly expected it to be identical to BG on the PC but in a more badly made Playstation 2 format. In addition, I did not really even like the Baldur’s Gate series the way I loved the Diablo series. While BG has great graphics, huge environment, and storyline, it lacks the hack and slash, rampaging enemy hordes, level building, and item collecting fun that Diablo has. Turns out this game has elements both Baldur’s Gate fans and Diablo fans will get a complete kick out of. Maybe that whole Dark Alliance thing has some kind of strange symbolic meaning…this game is truly an alliance of the best RPGs for the PC ever.

Gameplay Ripped Straight Out of Diablo

Black Isle managed to take out gameplay elements so straight from Diablo you wonder how it’s even legal. This real-time action game is based on clicking your character toward the enemy to perform a swing. Same D&D rules apply with damage and hit, but it’s all done with continual directing and control of one character. To make it more Diablo-ish, there is no pause button, everything is done in real-time. If you play the sorcerer you can use your special abilities as needed. The game may have you running about dodging fireballs and enemies while shooting magic missiles frantically. It’s reminiscent of the battle between Diablo in Diablo II.

In addition to the similar if not near identical dungeon hack gameplay, Dark Alliance also has a rather similar armor/item/weapon collecting format. Dead enemies drop your standard share of axes, swords, shields and potions. There are rare items that have certain attributes, much the way armor and weapons had attributes in Diablo. You might pick up a Mace of Destruction, which would have attack bonuses, or you might end up with a dull knife. Obviously the variety of stuff to collect enhances the gameplay, you keep killing in a quest for better stuff, the exact way Diablo operates.

Another blatantly identical gameplay element is the potion use. As in Diablo, there are moments where you have to hack, hack, potion, run, heal, hack, hack and repeat. BG has the exact same potions down to the letter, red healing potions that can be used by pressing R1 and rejuvenation potions (Mana potions in Diablo) that can be used by pressing L1. Not at all different to hitting 1-4 for potion access on the computer, hm?

Graphics Ripped Straight Out of BG

These graphics have the really careful work that you’ll see in BG that you do not see in Diablo. In Diablo, enemies look like they’ve been copied from vomit. The graphics and textures at times get grainy, and you’ll be wondering also why you keep passing the same darned tree over and over again. This trend is not quite so in BG, where each magnificent map has it’s own flavor. Every building has original architecture designed for it, and there are unique furnishings in every home.

In this case, Dark Alliance takes the BG formula and pushes it up a notch further. It makes a move from 2d rendered sprites on the PC games to a full fledged true 3D game. The graphics are crisp, utilize reflection maps and surface maps, and the enemies and characters look wonderful. Each character has their own animated 3d conversation screen. Simply put, this game has the prettiest floors you will ever see in a computer game. They are shiny, squeaky clean, and filled with gorgeous patterns, you’ll love treading about the dungeons. In terms of technical detail, the floors have reflection maps, coupled with sharp texture maps to give them that mind-boggling feel. And, for those that said the lack of anti-alias (jagged lines) would plague the Playstation 2? Well check this game out, the polygons surprisingly utilize anti-alias and the game looks wonderful, this is one of the best looking games on the PS2 to this day. The only gripe may be the dungeons are somewhat more of the repetitive kind, ala Diablo, but still look so pretty you just can’t complain much.

Great For Two Players

With a drought of good 2-player games on the PS2, this game is great for playing with a friend. It utilizes some nice two person tactics, and the inclusion of two players will also throw up the enemy count a bit, adding to the mayhem. Two-player mode involves some partly competitive play, in terms of collecting gold and items, yet at the same time requires cooperation, or you’ll both end up dead. A very well-balanced game, and much more fun in two player mode.

Leveling Up Is Fun!

Unlike Baldur’s Gate where levels may come once a blue moon after a few long and hard working quests, Dark Alliance is fast paced, and leveling up takes not much longer than an hour of solid gameplay. After gaining a level, you are given points to then distribute among your skills. As a sorcerer you can use this to get more magic, as a dwarf you can get more skills and as an elf more kinds of projectile attacks. The level ups are nice, but do slowly become less frequent as you reach the end up the game. That leads in to the only real negative point of this game.

Darned Lack of Replay Value!

After defeating the game once, the game play gets old, like Diablo 2 but without the multiplayer to keep it semi-fresh, it does get tiring and becomes a waste of time. The game attempts to redeem itself with a few nice bonuses for beating the game however. After defeating the game, the Gauntlet mode is unlocked, a special trial-type of combat, in which you have to successfully kill all the enemies in a dungeon using Drizzt. Complete that and you’ll get the extreme mode, an ultra-difficult setting that doesn’t really keep the gameplay fresh. Those determined enough however will find it a challenge, but a time-consuming one at that.

The nice thing about this game however is that it does have a few cheat codes, as well as a few obvious exploitations built in. The easy one to spot is that you can import your own saved character into a new game, effectively restarting the game with killer armor and weapons. In addition, you can also open up an invincibility menu and do a few leveling up tricks. For those interested, you can head over to www.gamefaqs.com and check out the codes section for dark alliance.

Bottom Line

Get this game! It’s a great PC-style RPG that you usually don’t see on consoles and it comes out pretty darned good. If you do get sick of it, you can always sell it on Ebay, and be sure to keep your saved game for the next game! BG: Dark Alliance is said to have a sequel in store, which explains the handy character import feature, not to mention the obvious mysterious ending in which your character wakes up in the middle of a new foreign land. So consider this the start of a hopefully long relationship with your new BG-PS2 character.

Overall, this game should keep you entertained for anywhere from 15-25 hours, my game took 20, and provides some of the best graphics on the PS2 to date. A well-worthy pick for any Diablo-fan.



Recommended: Yes