After reading the hilarious (and terribly misguided) reviews about Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, I have decided to voice my opinions on the game. Now, I realize that this is the Internet MOVIE Database and not the Internet GAME Database, but it's on here, so that makes it fair game.
Basically, the game is about you, the player, trying to stop a group of villains from sowing discord and despair throughout Baldur's Gate and beyond. As a new visitor to the city of Baldur's Gate, you get robbed, then you have to go on a quest to find the thieves that took your possessions, which in turn to you subsequently being the sole savior of Baldur's Gate.
I own the original Baldur's Gate and expansion pack, and I have never played the second game. Needless to say, while I was playing this game, I was expecting a lot more, and my expectations were high because of the sheer volume of game-play in the first installment. However, I wasn't very impressed at all.
To begin with, while something like the original Baldur's Gate is truly mammoth in size, and can easily take over 30-40 house to complete, this game (and I kid you not) can be finished in under 8 hours (believe me, I know because I've done it). There's no depth to it. Sure, there's a variety of monsters and various riff-raff to slaughter, but it just gets old after a while. It's basically the same 20 types of enemies over and over again. In addition, while there are some nice types of weapons and armors in the game, there is little to no variety in them. The original game had a truly varied assortment of items, spells, weapons and armor to choose from, and there were literally hundreds of possible armor combinations to choose from. Here, I couldn't even buy half of the stuff in the game because it was too bloody expensive. And the best weapons in the game (i.e. those that you can sell for a profit to buy better armor) only are found in the final dungeon! Gone is the allegiance element of the first game (that is, whether you were Chaotic, Neutral, Good or anything in between), as well as most of the spells. Hell, there's not even a team element in this game. It's just you slashing monsters for a long time. There is very little variation in the landscapes and areas. It looks like the same set of paths and bridges multiplied a half-dozen times.
You can't even create a custom character or makes your own strengths and weaknesses, a fundamental part of D&D. Who's the clown on the comment page that said that this game is more D&D than any other game so far? It's a hack job, a complete butchery of what made the first game so unique and popular.
Bottom Line: Even though a new player who is unfamiliar with D&D might enjoy this, I see it as a waste of time. You can't automatically give a game a perfect score just because it's D&D-related. I give this game a 4 out of 10.
Basically, the game is about you, the player, trying to stop a group of villains from sowing discord and despair throughout Baldur's Gate and beyond. As a new visitor to the city of Baldur's Gate, you get robbed, then you have to go on a quest to find the thieves that took your possessions, which in turn to you subsequently being the sole savior of Baldur's Gate.
I own the original Baldur's Gate and expansion pack, and I have never played the second game. Needless to say, while I was playing this game, I was expecting a lot more, and my expectations were high because of the sheer volume of game-play in the first installment. However, I wasn't very impressed at all.
To begin with, while something like the original Baldur's Gate is truly mammoth in size, and can easily take over 30-40 house to complete, this game (and I kid you not) can be finished in under 8 hours (believe me, I know because I've done it). There's no depth to it. Sure, there's a variety of monsters and various riff-raff to slaughter, but it just gets old after a while. It's basically the same 20 types of enemies over and over again. In addition, while there are some nice types of weapons and armors in the game, there is little to no variety in them. The original game had a truly varied assortment of items, spells, weapons and armor to choose from, and there were literally hundreds of possible armor combinations to choose from. Here, I couldn't even buy half of the stuff in the game because it was too bloody expensive. And the best weapons in the game (i.e. those that you can sell for a profit to buy better armor) only are found in the final dungeon! Gone is the allegiance element of the first game (that is, whether you were Chaotic, Neutral, Good or anything in between), as well as most of the spells. Hell, there's not even a team element in this game. It's just you slashing monsters for a long time. There is very little variation in the landscapes and areas. It looks like the same set of paths and bridges multiplied a half-dozen times.
You can't even create a custom character or makes your own strengths and weaknesses, a fundamental part of D&D. Who's the clown on the comment page that said that this game is more D&D than any other game so far? It's a hack job, a complete butchery of what made the first game so unique and popular.
Bottom Line: Even though a new player who is unfamiliar with D&D might enjoy this, I see it as a waste of time. You can't automatically give a game a perfect score just because it's D&D-related. I give this game a 4 out of 10.