Greetings one and all!

Before we review this game, we need a little backstory as to how this game came to be.


Today we will take a trip back in time. To the Monolith that was Diablo 2. Never had any other game captured the heart and soul of gamers and non gamers alike, with its easy to pick up and play system. yet difficult to master skill set.

Now fast forward to 2002. Many games have tried the Diablo 2 formula, and failed. However, one developer took the Diablo formula and added on minions with their own backstories and quests. This game was called Dungeon Siege. The game itself was fun, but had a very unforgiving leveling system.

3 years later, Dungeon Siege 2 was released, and it improved upon all the aspects of the original.

And this my friends is where the review itself starts.

So let's begin!

Story

The story itself is a post apocalyptic setting. It is 700 years after the events of Dungeon Siege 1 and a war has occured between Zaramoth the destroyer and the human populace. Cities crumbled and kings and queens were dismantled as the merciless reign of the destroyer conquered all. At his side was a poweful sword created by the Dark Agallans. A sword so mercilessly evil, that it conquers all that stand before it. Not only did he have this all powerfull sword, but he also had the Dark Wizards, a set of wizards so powerful that any of them could bring down fire and meteors to destroy towns off the face of Aranna.

However, humanity had one last hope. The brave warrior Azunai, a human who was willing to risk his own life to ensure that the world survive. The Agallans the non violent and non evil versions of their counterparts the Dark Agallans, created a shield emblazoned with all the magic and hope the world possessed. This shield became known as the shield of Azunai.
A few months later, both the armies of Azunai and Zaramoth met at the Plain of Tears. The battle that ensued was tremendous and soldiers on either side met their demise.

However, a pivotal moment came in the battle. A moment where the power of the Dark Wizards meant naught, and the entire world shook to her foundations.
The shield of Azunai met the sword of Zaramoth. The ensuing contact sent waves of power rippling through the earth and the entire world was cracked in two. The armies of both parties were instantly incinerated and the Dark Wizards swiftly vanished.

Now we fast forward to the future. And this is where our game will take place.
A lone prince named Valdis had dreams about a sword of power, located in Zaramoth's horns, a mountain range of indescribable evil. No one knows how, but Valdis traveled there, and when he came back, he wielded a certain sword.....

You start off with your friend Drevin, as soldiers in Valdis's army. Your goal is to search for a mysterious artifact known as an Aegis. After finding it, Drevin is killed and you are knocked out and captured by the dryads.
You awake in a prison learning a mysterious elf has asked the warden to spare your life. Now it is up to you to find a way to return back to your home in Aman'lu, but along the way you learn of what your true destiny is and that you are meant for so much more.

The story itself is very engaging. It throws in a few WTF moments that leave you speechless as you embark on your journey back home.

Story 10/10

Gameplay

Now this is the meat and bones of the game. It follows the simple point and click gameplay of Diablo 2, but adds in 2 new features which add a whole new element to the gameplay. Companions and Powers. Now before we get to those, lets talk about the gameplay itself.
First of all you have three difficulty levels. Mercenary, Elite, Veteran. To play Elite you need to beat Mercenary, and to play Veteran you need to beat Elite. A fairly simple system that works so you are not too outclassed.

Mercenary levels range from 0-39
Elite ranges from 40- 80
Veteran from 80-100

Similar to Diablo fashion, higher level enemies give you better loot. However, the experience system itself is a little weird getting used to. Lets use a level 10 character as an example. If you kill a level 8 character you will gain 80% of the experience. If you kill a level 10, you gain 100%. Simple enough?
Now this is where it gets confusing. If you kill a level 20, you will only gain 10% of the experience. If you kill a level 11, you gain 90% of the experience. So if you are a level 10, then rushing against a level 20, has no advatange, as you gain little if any experience.

Now that we have that out of the way. lets talk about the classes.

Classes

You can choose between 3 classes. Mage, Fighter and Ranger. However, those classes have more subclasses.
For mage you can be a : Combat mage or Nature. The combat mage can be divided in to more classes such as Lighting. Fire and Death, while the Nature can be divided in to Earthen, Ice and Summoned.
Next we have the Fighter class. This can also be divided into sub classes. The tank, the dual wielder, the battle axe/hammer wielder and the regular shield and sword barbarian.

Finally we have the ranged. There are three subclasses to this class. The Crossbow/heavy bow wielder. the traditional bow and arrow ranger and the thrown weapon wielder.
Whenver you use a class enough, you gain a level in taht class. IE, using a bow repeatedly will eventually gain you a level in ranged, while using firestorm enough, will gain you a level in combat magic.

Companions

Companions are characters you pick up to join you in your quest, and they all have background stories and quests that accompany them. Some quests can only be accomplished by having the companion in your party. Each companion has their own dialogue and interacts differntly with the player and other members of the party, with some converstations being humourous to read.

Powers.
This is a new concept that wasn't in Dungeon Siege 1. Powers are well exactly that. They are attacks which are accessible depending on the prerequisites, and the level on the charge meter. What is the charge meter? It is a meter that fills up everytime you kill an enemy. When the meter is full, you can access a power, then kill more enemies to recharge the meter.
Each sub class has 2 power plus a generic power for that class. for a maximum of 7 powers.
These powers deal MASSIVE amounts of damage, or provide buffs to your party members. For example, a fully charged Flurry at level 80, with range 80 will deal about 1000 per hit, for 20 hits, for a max of 20, 000 damage.

Gameplay 10/10

Sound
Regrettably this is where the game falters. While the soundtrack is a delight to behold, the sound effects are not. The voices and dialogue are done wonderfully with variety abound, however, the sound effects are not.
When you die in this game ( and you will die a LOT) it gets very repetitve to hear the same death sounds coming from your character. I'm sorry but to me being knocked unconcious should not sound like a woman orgasming, but perhaps a death scream or a scream of pain instead? The male is no different. They sound like they are sighing slowly...
It's a shame really because otherwise the sound would be brilliant.

Sound 8/10

Graphics

Oh my... The graphics in this are gorgeous. For it's time the graphics and scenery are simply breathtaking. Take for example the falls in Erulan. The water is fluid, the sky is realistic and the trees sway. it is simply breath taking. There has also been detail poured into the items themselves. As soon as you equip the item, your character will be wearing it. Some of the robes look beautiful while some of the armor explains why it has a name such as Black armor of searing hatred. The characters themselves are fairly well done as well. You can see detail in them and you can see them when they fight. Not to mention the graphic explosions. In this game when you kill something, it doesn't go down slowly. It will either explode, get an arrow stuck in its head. or a combination of the two. The scenery and maps themselves are done fairly well, with almost no similarity in the design.

The only downside is that the cutscenes aren't that great. but seeing as they are rendered in game, this is a forgivable offense.

Graphics 9/10

Entertainment value

This game is VERY entertaining. With the 3 levels of difficulty, it provides phenomenal replay value. Also if you have had a bad day nothign beats coming home and laying waste to some ha'ku.

Parents may want to keep an eye on this one however, because of the graphic depictions of violence and blood. Although this option is toggable in the gameplay options menu, complete with a parental lock.

The game is playable via single player campaign mode, with some friends via lan and over the net via gamespy or a private game. An interesting feature is that your single player characters can be used in multiplayer and vice versa. This makes trading items fairly easy and lets you power level a character in single player and bring them in to multiplayer and vice versa.

The replay value is very high as you have different subclasses to experiment with and 3 difficulty levels in order to find that perfect match between party members and your own skills.

Entertainment value 10/10



Overall

This game is a gem. While many overlook it for other games such as Diablo 2, and Half Life 2, this game stands tall in its own right. With the addition of the expansion Broken World, you get 2 more classes, 1 new race, an entire campaign that commences right where Dungeon Siege 2 left off, and 14 new powers. 200 new enemies and more items and loot to collect.

Overall 9/10

I will add screenies and such as soon as I get a chance to take them. I'm getting a new HD next week, so I am putting off installing games and such till then.