Dungeon Siege 2

Logan Booker didn't think it was possible to take the 'playing' out of 'RPG'.

What am I about to tell you is going to make you cry. You’re going to cry harder, longer and louder than all the kids in the audience of the first screening of Disney’s Old Yeller. Racked by a depression more crippling than a taser to the nipple, you’re going to plead – nay beg – for me to stop and talk about something else. Are you ready?

Dungeon Siege 2 is a Diablo 2 clone. And it’s not a very good one at that.

This observation is synonymous with that of the entire gaming community. As much as I wanted to not believe it, the similarities are more obvious than a lump of black pubic hair in a Big Mac. The taste both leave in your mouth is unfortunately just as similar.

For those who have never played Gas Powered Games’ Dungeon Siege, DS2 returns you to the world of Aranna, a place filled with magic, combat and adventure, where even a pack mule can become a legendary hero. The original’s most publicised features were its seamless loading, modding capabilities, innovative gameplay and awesome co-op. While the first two claims were fulfilled in style, the second two and admittedly the most important were – if we are to be kind – mediocre.

DS2, the sequel, promised to be different. The game leads in with a cut-scene that starts well, telling the story of a magical sword and shield with intertwined fates. However, it quickly descends into a bizarre fantasy comedy, something I believe was unintentional.

Accidental humour aside, one of the more noticeable things is the low-poly count on the cut-scenes. This quality issue becomes even more apparent once the game proper starts. The models, frankly, contain only a few more polys than a 3D RTS unit. This completely flies in the face of the texturing, which is quite rich and detailed. DS2’s graphics however are just the tip of a rather nasty iceberg.

The NPC voices have to be some of the worst ever in an RPG, and I mean the worst. Troika’s Temple of Elemental Evil previously held this glamorous title, and I’m sad to say the wooden spoon has been passed on to DS2. The mercenaries, with their gravelly yet pubescent growl, and the dryads with their distinctly bimbo-esqe tones totally destroy any immersion the environment delicately tries to nurture. Add to this the limited dialog options and the linear storyline, and the ‘role-playing’ element of DS2 comes off as disappointingly lacklustre.

To top off the average story is some unimaginative character progression. Although DS2 retains the innovative levelling system present in the first, which increases your skills (and determines your class) depending on what abilities you use, the special powers system is copied verbatim from Blizzard’s Diablo 2. The system works by starting off with a tree of abilities, whereby spending points in the leftmost, weaker talents gives you access to the rightmost, strong talents. There are four such trees – melee, ranged, combat magic and nature magic – and focusing in just one or two is recommended to get the most from the game.

While arguably a solid levelling mechanic, no effort has been made to improve or tweak it, and if there wasn’t labelling to suggest otherwise you’d swear it was Diablo 3. Even the mechanics behind potion-quaffing and ‘town-portalling’ are identical.

Fortunately for fans, there is a bright fireball at the end of the tunnel. DS2 has some great particle effects that add immensely to the atmosphere of a combat encounter, and the party system has been improved to allow for party members beyond the norm. All sorts of wonderful creatures await enlistment, giving your group some terrifi c depth that’s absent from most other RPGs. There’s also some great variety in the enemies and situations you’ll encounter, even if they’ll be the same the second, third and forth time round.

Dungeon Siege 2 is not as innovative as it could have been. It plays very much like a tweaked DS with some parts of Diablo 2 strapped on. This isn’t bad, per se, but disappointing from a developer as respected as Gas Powered. Add to this the fl at plot and claustrophobic linearity of the game and DS2 has little chance against Bethesda’s soon-to-be-released Oblivion, let alone the older Knights of the Old Republic II, which I’d recommend over this.