PC Review Reviews Gaming Dungeon Siege II



Of course, this is not the only improvement. As odd as this sounds, another huge improvement is the fact that your AI controlled team-mates (of which you can have up to three on your first play through: more once you have played the game once) are a fair bit dumber than they were last time around. As fantastic as the original Dungeon Siege was, you did get the un-nerving sense that the game was merely playing itself for your visual pleasure at times, as your AI controlled team mates hacked away at the oncoming hordes with amazing precision and guile. This time around, however, you need to do a great deal more hand-holding, since a loss of concentration can cause the odd death to at least one member of your squad. Those who might see this as a little bit of a worry, fear not: extensive play-testing has proven that it is a choice well made. There is still a fair amount of automation involved however. You can now set two spells per character to be auto-cast as and when the AI sees fit, and it is done with aplomb. Setting a healing spell, for example, means that you’re less worried about which of your characters is going to perish next, and more worried about battle strategy.

As for the story itself that drags you through the game, it’s barely worth mentioning. Just like the vast majority of fantasy based RPG titles, it’s neither particularly interesting, nor involving. At best, it serves its purpose as to give you a reason for all this killing.

And a lot of killing you’ll be performing that’s for sure. Right from the outset, it it made perfectly clear to you that you will be slaughtering thousands upon thousands of enemies by the time you have played through the entire game. Enemies themselves are quite varied in their attacks and visual appearance, if not their attack strategies. The rush-at-your-opponent-flailing-wildly technique is used petty much through the entire length of the game, although to be fair, it suits the game playing style absolutely perfectly. If your enemies had even the slightest bit of strategic intelligence, this simply wouldn’t be a Dungeon Siege game.

While its arcade leanings haven’t changed (and therefore will not convert any of those who were put off by the original game's simplicity), Dungeon Siege cant help but be praised in most ways. Everything is as polished as a particularly bright button, and anyone craving another helping of elf-slaying action will be more than happy to pick up this game.