bit-tech Shopping: Interplay Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II PS2

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Months

Strengths: Like the first, a great two-player game. Game play is challenging but not impossible. There are more characters than the first.

Weaknesses: No really spectacular differences from the first game

Summary: Anyone looking for a Baldur?s Gate/Champions of Norrath RPG will be pleased and entertained by this sequel. It?s longer than the first, and hard to put down. There are more weaponry choices than in the first, and hot buttons to make weapon and spell changing easier, but overall the magic spells aren?t as good. The character choices offer something for everyone from a hack and slash strength-driven character to the magic-driven and the great-aim ranger. The coolest difference from the first is that this game allows you to add stones to your weapons to boost your stats. A great game, but not very different from the first.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 5 Days

Strengths: good multiplayer, good customizable

Weaknesses: can get Repetitive

Summary: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II is similar to your hack and slash. You can get far by just doing the same thing over and over. However there are lots of things you can customizable, and you can play this with a friend. Those things make the game a cut above the other games in the same gene.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 7

Strengths: Great multiplayer, characters.

Weaknesses: Dated Graphics

Summary: This game is longer than the first game, which is a plus in my opinion. Basically, just like any other hack and slash rpg, you go around talking to people and getting quests to go on. These quests usually consist of finding something in dungeons or finding and defeating someone. The game also offers sidequests that you can try out, too. It?s a pretty fun game, especially with another person. You and a friend can fight as 5 distinct characters, which include a dwarven rogue and dark elf monk. Each character has magic attacks and projectile attacks if you?re not too keen on getting up-close for melee combat. It?s a great game for multiplayer, has great music, and you can customize some of your own weapons. However there are probably better choices out there like Champions of Norrath, which has better graphics and has more options.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 7

Strengths: Fun

Weaknesses: Repetitive

Summary: Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance for the Play Station 2 is a fun hack and slash game. However, it lacks depth and most of your battles will consist of you tapping the X button. The voice overs are all right and I like the music, but the graphics could be better. With so many good games similar to this out, I just don't think it's worth the $20-40 to get it.

Rating: 6

Time with product:

Strengths: New character classes, customizable weapons

Weaknesses: Very repetitive, not much of an upgrade from the original

Summary: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 is yet another hack & slash game to come out recently. Bearing no resemblance to the wildly popular Baldur's Gate for the PC, BG:DA2 is a chance to destroy the forces of evil by killing hordes of enemies at a time using your weapon of choice. Different character classes have different weapons that they are proficient with and some weapons even give you the ability to upgrade them using various gems.Besides the gameplay, the rest of the game is silghtly above average. The sounds and graphics are pretty good and make looking at what you are about to obliterate quite appealing. Unfortunately there are a few other games out there that look and play almost exactly the same as this, so there is nothing too unique about this title that would make it stand out from the rest.If you are looking for a stress reliever, this is a good one. You can pick it up and play for a few minutes or hours on end. The onlylimiting factor is how much mindless gameplay you can tolerate.