Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Hack-n-slash action comes to the Xbox by way of Baldur?s Gate. Should you make the journey?

Baldur?s Gate: Dark Alliance has been ported over from the PlayStation 2 virtually untouched?which isn?t such a bad thing since the Diablo-esque hack-n-slash adventure was previously well received.

Dungeons, Dragons, and You
Dark Alliance is an above-average fantasy adventure, populated with items and creatures faithful to the D&D canon. You choose from three warriors and rid the land of evil, leveling up your character as you progress. Graphics have been ever so slightly tweaked with the most noticeable benefit falling to owners of HDTVs capable of displaying 480p signals. Although the game is nearly a year old, the detailed environments and dazzling spell effects still impress. The audio is also topnotch with every sword clang against dented armor ringing through your speakers.

One area that isn?t quite up to snuff is the controls, which suffer from a heavy reliance on the analog shoulder buttons. It?s just that much harder to block attacks and quickly switch back to offense. Of course, it?s much easier if you have the Controller S.

Gate to Gates
So how does Baldur?s Gate fare against similar games already on the Xbox? Well, it?s far deeper and prettier than Gauntlet, but it supports only two-player co-op versus Hunter: The Reckoning?s (and Gauntlet?s) four-player simultaneous play. Hunter has a better story, but Baldur?s Gate has lots more variety in its replay value. Plus Baldur?s is the only one of the three that has any real pedigree as an RPG.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a must for every action RPG fan who doesn?t mind sharing the love with only one friend.

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