Overview

Developer: Snowblind Studios
Publisher: Interplay
Estimated Release Date: Fall, 2001

When Interplay first told me about the premiere of their upcoming PS2 title, I nearly turned down the offer, since FS doesn't focus on consoles. However, prudence behooved me to get more information. What I got back was "it's a Black Isle game." Every PC RPG fan knows the Black Isle label's affiliation with Baldur's Gate (even though Bioware is the company responsible for the Infinity engine and all the development behind the BG1 and BG2). But Baldur's Gate for the Playstation 2? This I would have to see. The party was held at the Metreon anyway, which is just a short drive from the FS offices.

It's mah boy Ethon

Rat attack

Was he right?

Yes and no. My prediction came true, but in a strange way, almost like a genie granting your wishes, or the way Elizabeth Hurley/Satan granted wishes for Brendan Fraser in "Bedazzled." It wasn't quite what I expected. The announced title for the game is Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. So I was right that it is a Baldur's Gate game. However, this isn't a straight port of the party-based, Infinity engine powered RPG that you've come to know and love over the past two years. It isn't even the same game with a new campaign. In fact, Dark Alliance bears little resemblance to any BG game that's been released on PC.

Magic Missile

Arachnophobia

So what is it?

Dark Alliance's play mechanics more closely approximate Blizzard's Diablo than they do Baldur's Gate. It's a classic hack 'n slash dungeon romp, with some elements of character interaction but a heavy emphasis on the hacking and slashing. Like single player Diablo, you enter dungeons solo, taking on hordes of monsters and relieving them of the gold and goodies they carry. The difference is that Dark Alliance is a fully 3D game, and utilizes a steeper overhead view of the player, and a closer vantage point for the camera. You can choose from three different races - Human Ranger, Elven Sorceress, and Dwarven Fighter. Each race has their own strengths and weaknesses. The Ranger is more adept with ranged weapons like bows, the Dwarf is stronger at melee combat, while the Sorceress relies on spells more than the other two classes.

It's not a magic bow. It just glows

Stylish

I can already hear all the moans and groans from you hardcore Baldur's Gate fans out there - so I might as well lay down one final bit of bad news. Being an action game, Dark Alliance only loosely affiliates itself with AD&D and its rules. A lot of familiar monsters and spells make an appearance in the game, but again, their stats and behaviors don't fully match the stats found in the pen and paper rules.

So now that all the bad news is out of the way, what's the good news? The good news is that I had an opportunity to play Dark Alliance, and it's actually quite a fun game. If you can set aside the obvious marketing ploy of naming it after Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance promises to be one of the PS2's better titles when it's released this fall.