Introduction

Dungeon Siege 2 is a follow-up to the 2002 hit Dungeon Siege.  The gameplay of the original Dungeon Siege closely mirrored that of Blizzard’s megahit Diablo 2, but Dungeon Siege had enough distinguishing qualities – among them its experience system – to set it apart from its popular predecessor.  Now, the game is getting close to completion, scheduled for an August release date.  Has Dungeon Siege 2 changed enough from its cousin to offer anything exciting?
 

GamePlay

Dungeon Siege 2 is an action RPG set in the fantasy world of Aranna.  The story revolves around a mercenary – i.e., you – that is hired into the army of Valdis, who is trying to acquire a powerful weapon with the potential to destroy the world.  Of course, once you help him get what he wants, Valdis betrays you and kills your best friend, and from there you follow the predictable path of revenge against the now godlike Valdis.  If you haven’t figured out by now, the story is pretty formulaic and doesn’t come with many surprises, and considering that many RPGs rely on their story to keep the player interested, Dungeon Siege 2 is way below the bar on this one.

Like most RPGs, you start by creating a character.  The only option you can really select is your race and appearance.  Not much in the way of customization here.  Gameplay is simple for the most part: select a melee, ranged, nature magic or combat magic spell, click on the first baddie that you see, and watch as your character(s) beat it into submission.  That’s pretty much the whole game.  This may have been a novel concept back when Diablo 2 was released, but now that the action RPG genre has games like Star Wars:  Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire (for Xbox) in it, Dungeon Siege 2 pales to the competition, to say the least. 

As with any RPG, Dungeon Siege 2 throws in a few side quests you can perform for NPCs (non-player characters) to get rewards to assist you in your quest.  The problem, once again, is that the side quests haven’t advanced much over the years.  It still boils down to getting and assignment at point A, retrieving/killing something at point B, and returning to point A to get your reward.  Again, if this game had been released five years ago, that would have been something.  But when you take into account that this type of gameplay has remained essentially unchanged from a game that’s over five years old, you know that’s a problem. 

This is Dungeon Siege 2’s biggest problem.  It’s a 1999 game stuck in a 2005 world.  Maybe we’re a bit spoiled, but as gamers, we’ve come to expect a bit more from a game over the years than simply pointing, clicking, and running errands for NPCs.
 

Graphics And Sound

The graphics, just like the gameplay, are way too primitive for this day and age.  On standard 800x640 resolution, character models are blocky and bland, and the environments don’t fare much better.  The only area where the graphics really excel are in the cutscenes, which stand up pretty well against today’s standards.  The one upside is that the game runs smoothly without any major framerate problems, but with graphics like this I’d expect no less.

Sound is a mixed bag as well.  The orchestral score is pretty good, but the voiceovers are just horrible.  The voice actors range from overdramatic at best, to corny and laughable at worst.  The voice actors talk in a typical medieval language, using fancy words like “alas”, “thy”, etc, to attempt to add a classic medieval feel to the game.  Rather than enhancing the story, this just makes it all the more wooden and predictable.

Final Comments

Had Dungeon Siege 2 been around in the days following Diablo 2, it would have been a great game, perhaps even revolutionary.  But when you’ve got the quality PC experiences we have today – RPG and otherwise – Dungeon Siege 2’s point-click-and-watch gameplay simply doesn’t stack up to the competition.  If you liked the original Dungeon Siege and don’t mind more of the same, the sequel won’t disappoint.  But if you’re like most PC gamers who have experience with other, superior action RPGs and games in general, Dungeon Siege 2 will leave you wanting a bit more.