More Hacking and Slashing than an Iron Chef Preparing Stir Fry.

The Premise

You are an adventurer, seeking fame and fortune. You have come to the city of Baldur’s Gate. Upon reaching the town, you are mugged by thieves. The city watch chases off the thieves before they can kill you, but not before they steal your weapons and armor, leaving you with only the clothes on your back. Disheartened, you head to the nearby Inn. There you learn of terrible rats plaguing the Innkeepers cellar. A man provides you with a rusty dagger and the key to the cellar. Thus starts your adventure.

The Characters

You can chose from three characters. There is a Elven Sorceress, obviously skilled in magic. The next character is a Human Arcane Archer, with a proclivity towards ranged weapons such as bows. His arcane powers let him add magic to his arrows, such as lightning or fire. The final choice is a Dwarven Fighter, skilled at short-range combat.

Gameplay

This is a basic hack and slash type action game. You see evil creatures such as kobolds, thieves, ogres, or dark Elves. You destroy the evil creatures using weapons and/or magic. Eventually, you will come to an evil boss character. Beat the boss, and it's off to the next level. Fans of Diablo 2 should enjoy this one. The camera angle is from slightly above your character. You move around with the left analog stick. You can rotate the camera angle with the right analog stick. This is an option in most, but not all, of the levels. There are buttons for attack(X), feat or spell(O), jump(triangle), and use(square.) There are also hotkeys to drink rejuvenation potion(L2) and drink health potion(R2.)

Most of the game will be fought in various levels, most of them dungeon type environments. In each main area there is a shopkeeper, with a variety of weapons, armor, potions, rings, amulets, etc. If you use a recall potion during one of the levels (an option when you press start), you will be recalled to the area near the shopkeeper. This will allow you to sell items you don’t need and buy new items with the gold.

Graphics

The folks at Black Isle Studios really did a nice job here. Your character is very intricately detailed. Change a piece of armor or your weapon, and you will notice the change on your character. Side note: If you unequip the main piece of armor, your character will appear wearing only their underwear. This might be entertaining, but is dangerous, as evil creatures have no love for scantily clad adventurers. Walking across a puddle of water causes very realistic ripples. Fire enchanted weapons develop a fiery glow when enemies approach. The enemies are very detailed, from the lowly Kobolds to the mighty Frost Giants. My heart raced a bit the first time I saw one of the Frost Giants, standing at least three times as high as my character. There is also blood when you attack an enemy, and their body will remain in place when they are dead. A fair amount of attention was also spent on the environments. Many of the dungeon type levels are particularly impressive.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack has a dark, neo-classical sound. There are moments of quiet, and gradual buildups that make you wonder just what is going to jump out at you next. Should the music become too foreboding, a boss character almost certainly lurks ahead. There are also a nice variety of environmental sounds, like birds in the forest, the splash of water as you walk through a puddle, explosions, and the unmistakable sound of a sword being unsheathed as you change from bow to sword.

Role Playing

The role-playing in this game is fairly limited. You do get to choose your character. When your character gains enough experience, you will level up. You will get a certain number of points, which can be spent to gain new abilities. You can also pick and choose the best armor and weapons for you character, either winning it in battle or buying it at the shop. Diehard fans of the original Baldur’s Gate games might be pretty disappointed in the lack of complexity here.

Extras

Vibrations were incorporated nicely into the game. When you are hit, the controller will vibrate. When something explodes near you, or a large enemy hits the ground, the controller vibrates strongly. If your health gets low, there will be a heartbeat-like pulsation. As you get weaker, the pulsation gets more urgent. This really draws you into the game.

Once you beat the game once on any difficulty level, a new option called Gauntlet will appear when you start a new game. If you chose Gauntlet, you will be put in control of a Dark Elf ranger. I read that this character played a role in previous Baldur’s Gate games. Anyway, the Gauntlet is a series of rooms full of enemies and treasure chests. The treasure chests contain rejuvenation and health potions, as well as gold. You must kill all the enemies in the Gauntlet in a certain amount of time. This is fairly difficult. When this is accomplished, you may save this Dark Elf Ranger. However, when you try to load this character into a game, it will tell you that you can’t do this until the game is completed on Extreme Difficulty. Extreme Difficulty only appears after you beat the Gauntlet.

Extreme Difficulty is very tough. Enemies will take many hits before they die. You will start the game with an established character. Choose your most advanced character. While the enemies are far tougher in extreme difficulty, the weapons and armor are a lot better too. I haven’t beaten the game on extreme yet.

There is a cheat menu accessible by pressing and holding: R2 + L1 + triangle + d-pad left and hit start. This menu gives you the option to turn invulnerability on. (But what fun is that?) You can also warp to many different levels. When you warp to a level, the enemies will usually regenerate, so this is a good way to earn experience. You can also warp to the Gauntlet, beat the Onyx Golem, and obtain the coveted Onyx sword.


Overall

This is a fun hack and slash type game for the Playstation 2. The graphics are superb and the play control is pretty easy. People looking for a hardcore role-playing game will probably be disappointed. However, if you just want to destroy some incredibly detailed evil creatures (who are just as intent on destroying you), this would be a worthy addition to your PS2 game collection.