Product Description

MODEL- 72021 VENDOR- VIVENDI FEATURES- Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance II The anticipated sequel has arrived. Embark on a new adventure in Baldurs Gate and brave terrible dangers in search of fortune glory and power. Face a multitude of sinister enemies while traveling through many spectacular environments in this action- packed fantasy game. Rid the lands of chaos mastering skills spells and deadly weapons .. the fate of thousands hangs in the balance. * Fast paced addictive hack n slash combat with over 40+ levels of thrilling action spread over 4 acts. * Five new customizable characters each with distinctive powers appearances and abilities that develop throughout the game. * New amazingly detailed environments and monsters with even more explosive spell effects than before. * A new inventive item creation system that allows players to forge their own unique magical weapons and armor from raw components. * Hidden areas secret characters and hundreds of items to discover customize and use from enchanted potions and scrolls to wands. * Sequel to the highly acclaimed 2002 Console RPG of the Year from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. * Branching storyline allows the player to choose how he or she wants to the play the game making each game experience unique. * Two-player cooperative mode that allows both players to play the game on a full screen. -- SPECIFICATIONS -------------------ESRB Rating : T for TeenGenre/Category : Action/AdventureSystem : Playstation2Number of Players : Compatible Peripherals:MANUFACTURER WARRANTY: 90 DAYS

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4323 in Video Games
• Brand: Interplay
• Released on: 2004-01-20
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Features

• Rid the land of chaos and monsters as you face a new threat to the legendary city of Baldur's Gate
• Five new characters with unique powers and abilities -- they'll accompany you through 40 levels of thrilling action, spread over 4 acts
• Master new skills, weapons and magic spells -- all-new spell effects and more detailed environments will bring the combat to life
• New item creation system lets players create their own unique magical weapons
• Discover hidden areas, secret characters, and hundreds of new items -- from magic potions to magic wands

Amazon.com Review
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance took co-operative action role-playing to new heights on the Playstation 2 console. Alone, or with a friend, you could tackle giant rats, undead monsters, dark elves, and even a white dragon, as you uncovered a plot against the good city of Baldur's Gate. But the ending indicated there was more adventure to come. Fans were worried that the sequel wouldn't live up to original's promise when the original design team jumped ship to work on Sony's Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest. They need not have worried; Dark Alliance 2 is a worthy successor, retaining the weapons, monsters, Dungeons and Dragons action and rules, sharp graphics, responsive controls, and high adventure of its predecessor.

The plot is a bit darker this time, but you're given a wider range of character classes to help face the elevated threats. There's the mighty barbarian, a dwarf rogue, a cleric, the monk (a martial artist), and a necromancer. The quest is huge and there are character-class specific side quests you can embark on--an extra incentive to play again as a different character. The level design tends to be a little too maze-like, and there's lots of boring backtracking, but the annoying jumping puzzles from the first game are gone.

The biggest problem with Dark Alliance 2 is that it doesn't measure up to the competition. It's a 2-player game, while Dungeons & Dragons Heroes (on the Xbox) and Champions of Norrath (on the PS2 and Xbox) allow four-player play. Then again if you plan to play solo, or with a single friend, that shouldn't keep you from coming to the city of Baldur's Gate's aid once again. --Andrew Bub

Game Informer Review

Approximately eight hours into this quest, I ran into a merchant who had an assortment of weapon enhancement gems for sale. After perusing his inventory, I decided to spend my hard-earned gold on a Moonstone and a Ruby. Applying both of these jewels to my reliable blade resulted in the creation of a +1 Fine Stirge's Bastard Sword. Curious as to how my concoction would fare, I returned to the battlefield with haste. In no time flat, I confronted a goblin rider mounted atop a wolf. Just as I engaged this foe, I noticed that fluids began oozing from my sword. With much bewilderment, I suddenly realized that it was bleeding…and not just a droplet or two, either. It was gushing buckets of blood. With each swing that this steel abomination would make, a brilliant crimson trail would follow. It was at this point that I mirthfully marched through the remainder of this game with an ear-to-ear smile on my face.

This is just a small taste of the role-playing bliss that can be found in Dark Alliance II. With roughly 90 levels spread across four expansive acts, this sequel absolutely shatters any fears that you may have had about this game being as short as the original. Although the development responsibilities have changed hands from Snowblind Studios to Black Isle Studios, significant enhancements accompany every inch of this game's coding.

Characters can now dual-wield armaments, sprint, and switch between three fighting styles on the fly. Missions are introduced in a non-linear fashion, with players having two to three path choices at any given time. Item customization can be tapped to create an unbelievable number of unique weapons and armors. Black Isle also did a great job of diversifying the experience that players have. You never spend too much time in the same environment, and different enemy types are interspersed with great frequency.

If anything, this is a much deeper play with a higher level of interaction. As notable as these improvements may be, I don't agree with all of the changes that Black Isle has instituted. In the original game's co-op play, the player who defeated a foe would get 60 percent of the experience from a kill. The other player would get 40 percent. Whoever touched the gold that dropped got it. This time round, both gold and EXP are equally divided. Because of this, the game no longer has such a high level of competitiveness amongst players. I was also hoping that the camera system would have been upgraded. Every minute or so, I found myself rotating the camera to reveal blanketed corners.

As much as I enjoy the online play and random dungeon generation in Champions of Norrath, Dark Alliance II's quest has a better flow to it, the stages show more variety, and the hack n' slash gameplay is more dynamic. That said, Dark Alliance II is the better playing game of the two, but it doesn't have the longevity of its rival.

Concept:
A straight-up sequel with the same great hack n' slash play and tons of new features

Graphics:
Same quality…yet still beautiful by today's standards. The lighting effects, water, and detail in the models are very impressive

Sound:
Not much of a soundtrack, but it does a nice job of creating realistic ambience for its stages

Playability:
The high level of interaction really brings you in and makes you want to tinker with everything

Entertainment:
Lacking online play, but longer and more dynamic than the original

Replay:
High

Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Andrew Reiner
Issue: February 2004

2nd Opinion:
With all of the dungeon crawlers coming out of the woodwork at the same time you would think that the quality of at least one of them would be poor, but nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, Dark Alliance II looks a little dated, but that doesn't stop the game from delivering top-notch action. It's so good, in fact, that I'd be hard-pressed to pick between this title and Champions of Norrath, as they both deliver great gameplay. Obviously, the lack of online action hurts this one, but the item creation angle in Alliance II is so absolutely brilliant, it would be a shame to miss it. In the end, I have to give the slight nod to Champions of Norrath, but if you don't plan to adventure online I would give Alliance II a serious look. ANDY

Rated: 8.5 out of 10
Editor: Andy McNamara


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From the Manufacturer
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a breakthrough product that infuses eye-popping technology into a thrilling action-adventure game that immerses the player in a rich, compelling storyline. Set in the most popular Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, The Forgotten Realms, and maintaining the appeal of the original franchise, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance will be an entirely new, action-packed experience that opens the Baldur's Gate fiction to a new, wider audience. Faithful adaptation of the new Dungeons & Dragons rules, set, customizable player characters, rich character development and dramatic new spells and abilities combine to create an engrossing experience that will captivate console gamers hungry for a dynamic and rewarding action game for the PlayStation 2 that takes full advantage of the console's capabilities.

Customer Reviews

Pretty good, but with some reservations...
I adored Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, so when the sequel came out, we immediately snatched it up and raced home to see how much better they made the game.

While I wouldn't rate it better then the first one, there are some big positives that I'll share first. One of them is the ability to tweak armor and weapons, customizing them to do different things and help out in various ways. You may still find awesome treasure on your adventures, but with this feature, you don't have to rely on pure chance anymore! A two-player game is advantageous for this feature, since you can use either the dwarf or the necromancer to drive the price down on the item creation (otherwise, you are somewhat limited with the amount of gold you have).

You get more characters that you get to play with-- who all have unique abilities and feats. My fiance and I play together usually; and we tend to use fighter and spellcaster combinations. It seems to work well for us. For each character, there is a special quest that they must go on-- which helps keep the main story fresh as you go on the specialized side quests. After completing each quest, you get some nice abilities added into your list. While some might feel that it makes the playing a little confusing, we found it gave us some options to go on, as well as some nice gains in XP as opposed to following one thread.

Now for the bad: Unfortunately, the main arc of the story felt like a retread from the first. Oh look! Spiders! Ho hum.... A maze we have to work through! The side quests for the individual characters did help, but it wasn't enough to change the whole. The three characters from the first game are there, but there's very limited interaction with them.

But on the whole, this was a very enjoyable game, and we liked to play the different characters. The graphics are like the first-- superb and much better then a good portion of RPGs out. So I would recommend this to any fantasy RPG player who has a Playstation 2. Or an XBox. Or any type of equipment to play this game! Have fun, and remember: Rune stones are your friend!

Now this is a Sequel!!!
Clearly, Black Isle coded this puppy for the fans of BGDA1. There are hundreds of subtle hardcore additions to this sequel. Gameplay has been extended to an average of 14 hours per character getting your characters to level 27. Each character can reach level 40(ie play through game twice on harder difficulty levels) to maximize feats. Any Diablo-style player can easily squeeze 100+ hours out of this game by maxing all your characters stats, feats, weapons, and amour. They added the left-trigger mapping option. This allows you to map 4 feats to your face buttons like Xbox's D&D heroes. Each of the 5 main character classes have hidden quests that allow them to level an extra 3 levels and unlock hidden feats. Gameplay even with 2-player coop is a blazing 60fps without a single drop. You can switch between 2 melee & 1 ranged weapon on the fly. Their is a 2x zoom option for single player. There are now 2 hidden characters from RA Salvatore's Forgotton Realms novels. These include the Drow-elf Drizzt Do'Urden and his assassin arch-nemesis. Each of these characters start at level 16 max at level 40(giving you at least 2 plays through the game with each). Multiplayer options are killer(like BGDA1). You can import or delete characters in the middle of any game. So if your friend leaves...delete his character out of your 2-player game and keep playing single player. There are now 80 levels instead of 40. Usually you have 3 paths to choose from instead of the old linear level-by-level design. There in an overworld map that provides optional side-quests(7 side quests). Item creation system is like that found in Diablo2. This gives you 10,000 possibilities for armour and weapons, thus eliminating the #1 problem with the original game...no new items to discover with each successive play. Each character class plays completely different. Think Diablo2 vs Diablo. Baldurs Gate DA 2 WILL OWN YOU!!!!!

Better than BG1
If you loved Baldur's Gate 1...you'll love BG2. They made several improvements in the game that make it more customizable than the last version. First, the levels seem to be longer and there is a wider variety of nearly everything. More enemies, more weapons (which are can be customized for more and different powers),more characters and more missions. You can also choose to play the game in a less linear fashion than the previous one. While the levels load, tips are displayed to help with the game. Players can also hold two weapons at a time and no longer have to hold a quantity of arrows. There are also many more magical spells that the 5 characters can cast. The bottom line is that this game is great.. 5 stars easily.