Reviewed: January 29, 2003
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Interplay
Vivendi Universal
Developer
Snowblind Studios
High Voltage Software
Released: November 20, 2002
Genre: Action/RPG
Players: 2
ESRB: Teen
8
6
7
8
7.9
Supported Features
The Baldur’s Gate franchise has become synonymous with RPG gaming and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance takes the series and the genre to unprecedented new heights. After last year’s mega-success release on the PS2 Interplay has finally released this epic quest on the GameCube, and while it suffers from a few mysterious problems and shortcomings it remains one of the best RPG games you can currently play on the Cube.
The Baldur’s Gate series has always been true to the rules of the Dungeons & Dragons universe and Dark Alliance makes excellent use of the third edition rules set that the paper and dice gamers have been using for quite some time. These new rules offer all sorts of new and exciting gameplay potential including new races and characters classes.
Dark Alliance blends all of the hack-n-slash action of Diablo with the stringent rules of the AD&D universe to create an excellent RPG experience unlike most other RPG games in the genre. There is an incredible story that grabs you in the beginning and carries you throughout the entire game, and when combined with excellent dungeon design, creative monsters, powerful weapons and spells, a dynamic RPG structure, and a totally addicting cooperative two-player mode, the hardest part of this game will be turning it off.
As with any RPG game the first thing to do is create your party. Your initial choices are limited to the Human archer, Dwarf fighter, or Elf sorceress, which translates to short, long and magical attacks. The added bonus of having a friend join you on your quest allows you to create a unique balance of power where one person can be doing the hand-to-hand combat while another player is in charge of magical or long-range attacks.
Once you get into the game it all become the tried and true gaming we have come to expect from the genre – hack the monsters and collect the treasure and clean out dungeon after dungeon. You will collect gold, earn experience, increase in levels, and improve your character as you follow the engaging story. Your character development is severely governed by the third edition D&D rules that dictate limits on race and class and other important calculations. Most of this is “behind the scenes” stuff that D&D gamers will appreciate and those unfamiliar with the rules can still enjoy.
Having played Dark Alliance on the PS2 I was curious to see how the game would port to the GameCube, and I was pleasantly surprised. The RPG interface has now been streamlined to work very well with a GameCube controller. You attack with the A button and block with the Z. The Y button jumps and the B button performs any magic while the X picks up items. The left and right triggers handle health and mana recovery while the C-stick rotates the three-quarter isometric view.
Every button on your controller does something important but there simply wasn’t enough buttons to go around when mapping out all of the critical commands. This will often force you to open the command menu using the Start button and scroll through additional commands like inventory and mapping functions. This is only mildly annoying and unless you have played the game on another system you won’t even know what you are missing.
The difficulty level of Dark Alliance is a smooth progression that is always increasing. This not only serves to keep you continually improving your characters’ skills and abilities, but it also prepares you for those challenging boss battles that will test everything you have learned up to that point. Boss battles take their cue from traditional boss fights with attack patterns that need to be observed then used to your advantage.
High Voltage Software was put in charge of porting Snowblind Studios’ amazing 3D engine over to the GameCube and while they managed to bring over the beautiful rendered levels, stunning animations, and detailed graphics, the overall game engine has taken a severe blow. The game slows down to distracting levels, which is really a shame.
Assuming you can get past the horrid framerate you will find and enjoy some of the best fantasy art and graphics going. The characters and monsters are all stylish and wonderfully animated with exquisite and often creepy levels of detail. Lighting effects are stunning and there are destructible environments, jaw dropping water effects, and excellent particle effects that bring all of the enchanting spells to life.
Owners of high-end video systems will likely balk at the lack of any progressive scan support, so if your criteria for game purchases relies heavily on graphics and performance then you may want to think twice.
The soundtrack is wonderfully constructed so that it slips comfortably into the background only to emerge at just the right time to evoke the exact response that the designers wanted. Scored by Jeremy Soule, the music in Dark Alliance rivals anything you might hear in a feature film.
All of the sound effects are wonderful whether it be the ambient noise of the dungeons or wilderness areas to the crackle of a torch or the supernatural sounds of spells being cast. It’s all of the highest quality and compliments the excellent visuals.
The dialog is plentiful and of excellent quality. I can’t recall any conversations that seemed forced or clichéd and the fact that the characters all have near perfect lip-synch was an unexpected bonus. Even the growls and inhuman noises of the various monsters and creatures you will encounter are perfection.
For some reason I always feel the need to complain when a new game doesn’t feature a surround sound mix and Dark Alliance fails to make use of the Dolby Pro Logic II support that so many other games do use. Even so, the quality of the sound and music in the game is so good that the lack of some spatial effects will probably go unnoticed except for home theater aficionados like myself.
Dark Alliance is big. There is a library of spells to learn and an arsenal of weapons to buy. You can tackle the surprisingly long quest either alone or with a friend in co-op mode. You can choose from various character classes and races and even unlock a hidden character and an extreme difficulty setting. Plan on spending at least 20-30 hours on this game – probably more.
Even though Dark Alliance is starting to show its age since its PS2 release over a year ago, you won’t find a more captivating RPG experience on the GameCube provided you can overlook the regrettable poor video performance. If you have a PS2 you will probably find that version looks and plays significantly better. The framerate is much smoother and the extra buttons on the Dual Shock make up for the menu you are forced to use on the GameCube.
Of course, if the GameCube is your platform of choice and you are looking for a great RPG game that follows the latest third-edition rules from the D&D universe then look no farther – Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a great game that will captivate you (and perhaps a friend) for countless hours of dungeon crawling and hack-n-slash adventuring.