Dungeon Siege II

More Diablo-esque customization and fast-paced gameplay for the next installment to the RPG franchise.

With a bevy of new features and a grand Lord of the Ringsinspired quest, developer Gas Powered Games seem to be doing everything possible in this sequel to please fans of the Dungeon Siege world. Among the additions are a revamped combat system (with new spells and skills), a fresh artistic style, smarter AI and an all-new character customization feature. The action remains fast, bloody and chaotic, but the simple interface belies a pleasantly complex (but not overwhelming) battle system that should be familiar to fans of the series. In creating a personalized character, players choose from four differently skilled races (Human, Elf, Dryad, and Half-Giant) to suit their style of play, and then develop individual skills and tailor their fighter via a branching system of experience-based abilities, not unlike Diablo IIs skill tree system.

Though still incomplete, Dungeon Siege II already boasts an impressive level of crisp visual detail and an appropriate magic-and-monsters style soundtrack. The all-important camera control scheme functions beautifully, and enables you to easily manipulate busy battles by zooming and rotating their perspective via simple and intuitive mouse movements. Plus, the point-and-click style of real-time, team-based combat found in the first Dungeon Siege remains nearly unchanged and is a cinch to pick up, making the action accessible to old pros and newbies alike. Unfortunately, the online-multiplayer feature was disabled in the version we played, but it will obviously be up and running by the time Dungeon Siege II ships in August.

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