Some games focus on innovation, other's take already amazing formulas and take them to the next step of their evolution.
Simply put; at first glance, it's hard to play through the early areas of Gas Powered's "Dungeon Siege" without getting the nagging feeling that you've both done this scenario a thousand times over before, and that the game's seamlessly vast open - world is pulling you in faster than a twilight zone television set, all simultaneously.
Yet, with some efficient and patient time put in to this addictively masterful action - rpg, the epic tale of wizardry and massive - scale war, will inevitably consume every last particle of your ultimate focus and mental capacity.
Starting out as a poor farmer during a war between mythical beasts and the nation's royals in the kingdom of ehb, isn't a very sound life at all - and when the krug, a beastly race of barbaric brutes invade your farmland, slaying and burning all in their malevolent path of destruction, the words of a dying friend concerning your first mission are all you have to go on in your path of revenge and ultimate conquest of the kingdom itself.
To say that the primary quest of Dungeon Siege is a situation all too familiar in fantasy games of the modern day, is a sometimes painfully true factor that pops up around pretty much every corner, during both cinematics and dialogue alike. Still, saying that it's also a mission of epic proportions, pretty much sums up the dangerous tasks you will be undertaking in a nutshell. On the other hand, however, many of the side - quests and objectives required for completion of the game stick mainly to the basic formula's of "kill this monster, loot this item from corpse and so forth" structure, and may come across as quite underwhelming to most all seasoned veterans of action RPG's such as Sacred and the Diablo series.
So what makes Dungeon Siege such a unique and immersive experience, is both the execution plan from which the game was created and the resulting gigantic and immensely detailed world in which the player can freely roam...[as well as loot and kill].
Beyond the lush and distinctively open environments, comes the specifically refined party gameplay mechanics, which transform a seemingly ordinary action role-playing-game into more a party - based tactical RPG, adding some much needed variety to the somewhat washed out current action RPG market.
In slightly more detail, the player is given the option to control a number of party members at once, and possibly replace some along the way, picking from a vast selection of possibly over - eccentric characters. Additionally, at any given moment the game can be paused and separate party members can be given combat and/or formation changing orders, helping players get through otherwise seemlingly impossibly encounters with legions of the world of Aranna's minions.
Add to the previously stated bonuses Dungeon Siege has to offer, there are also hundreds upon thousands of unique items [i.e. armor, swords, amulets - etc.] to collect throughout the course of the game, giving players a very near variation overload.
Overall, Dungeon Siege is a pretty standard action RPG at it's core, with many innovative features and a magnificent presentation - all from the mind of Chris Taylor, the man responsible for many other successful franchises such as the "Total Annihilation" Franchise. Despite some of it's shortcomings, such as the many times repetitious missions and quest objectives, with some solid gameplay and fantastic immersion, Dungeon Siege scores an 8.5...