6.7 from Gamespot? See, this is why PC gamers can't have nice things.
After years of playing Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights to even Indie games like Fate, I finally get to play the game using Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine (it was released in consoles only, bastards).
Guess what? It rocks.
- It's funny, no questions asked. It has tons of 'sarcastic' humor and amazingly all the elements it makes fun of are still used in all RPG's, pretty shameful for these AAA developers that after years they are still stuck with same old formulae in quests and dialogues (Oblivion).
- Gameplay is simply, to the point click and hit adventure/RPG affari like Dark Alliance. It's fun, get's repititive but other elements make up for it. You block, you attack, you summon. It's that simple.
- Enemy AI is bloody brilliant for a top-down game. All enemies do something unique. All enemies know how to block and when to block your attacks and counter-attack at the same time. Ranged units rely on melee units to block you while they attack you from distance. You have to be quick and take them out fast before the horde of enemies surround you and beat you to pulp.. a dead pulp that is.
- Traps. Lots and lots of traps. Love that.
- BEST PART. The Bard summons different warriors or adventurers to help him in the battle (I got upto 3 summons later on, don't know if there are more slots). From a crazy witch that heals you in battle to a sexy rogue assassin that leaves the enemy clueless and literally stabs them in the back. Then there is a drunk merc that passes lewd comments at women, a knight that fights for king and country... list goes on.
They all have their personality and you will have to find the correct group for different levels and enemies you face (traps heavy levels calls for the Adventurer that just loves to jump on the nearest trap disabling others as well).
- The other stuff this game does right is how the useless loot is automatically converted to gold leaving you no need to manage useless items in inventory. There is NO inventory.
- The game automtically replaces your weak weapon with the powerful weapon, leaving no need to manage this stuff again wasting time reading stats for weapons you pick. Love that.
- BEST SHOPS EVER. Every shop keeper has it's own character and dialogues. Love it. Items are few but have detailed descriptions/histories (all voiced by shop keepers) and give the shop more authentic look instead of usual random generated item crap found in other RPG's. Love this.
IN THE END:
9.0 (-1 cause it could have used even better textures and even longer SP campaign. But of well, can't have everything.)
If you find it, buy it. Gamespot is the last site on the earth you'd wanna bother reading reviews from and then actually take them seriously.