Re : Long Live Dungeon Siege - Review & why it isnt all that great. - LONG post.
Welp, ive played a good 14 hours (straight) of Dungeon Siege now, and I feel I am more than qualified to add my thoughts. Here is my first review of anything more important than a pop-tart. Read on.. may contain some spoilers.
Well, After dragging my PC to a friends place, we quickly got down to business. Tearing off the wrapping from my new game, I lurched away in terror with I saw a Microsoft logo on the box. "They did produce Mechwarrior 4.." I told myself. Still, negative 1 point.
I crack open the box, and go to install the game. After selecting my alternative drive to install it, the installer refused to create a folder of its own accord, unless it was in a default location. This is plain dumb, and unforgivable. A further negative 2 points. After manually creating the folder, the install continues without a hitch. I restart, and get ready for an in dept, Diablo-esque treat.
I fire up the game, and prepare to be dazzled. Hang on a minute, wheres the intro? Wheres the involving intro scene, designed to draw me into the fantasy world, and keep me gripped there. It appears to have been lost somewhere. Negative 1 more point for presentation.
Next, my friend creates a game, and the other players (4 of us) begin tinkering with options, and creating characters.
Whats that? When a new player creates a character to join the game, the whole thing pauses, until they have finished? Negative 10 friggin points.
At this stage, I look at the box again, see the Microsoft logo, and remember not to expect too much.
Right, now that everyone has joined, and the game has unpaused itself, we can continue. The first hour of this game sucks. It sucks really, really badly (or does it suck really well?). You wander about aimlessly, while being represented with scrolling text (No voices, negative 2 points) presenting you with vague missions. You must ask for directions, and look out for road signs, in order to get anywhere. Spells are average, to say the least, and I couldnt find anything to really, really keep me playing, except the insistance of my team mates.
To approach each aspect individually :
Graphics : Not too shabby. Although, for an RPG, with low detail settings, I was averaging 14-18 frames per second, on a 64meg Geforce II. I was not impressed. Colision detection absolutely SUCKS. It is truly, truly woeful, especially when the flaws in the clipping allow more than one monster to stand in exactly the same spot.
Sound : The music is loud, brash, and detracts from the action, instead of adding to it. I turned it down, and listened to some CD's instead. The sound effects are average, with the monsters having a distinct lack of aural responces, but there are a few nice 'sword clashing' noises.
Interface : Poorly thought out controls, take some time getting used to, but are not that unpleasant to use after an hour or so. The map feature should really have included an 'overlay' type feature, so you can see what you are doing.
Character Generation : Is different. You must use a weapon, or spell, in order to become proficient at it. I like the idea, but it is pulled off poorly in this game.
Physics : Not brilliant. Ive seen better. In PONG.
Aside from all this, I found myself, enjoying it somewhat, for a good 10 hours. This may have largely been due to the LAN atmosphere, and the good company I keep. I am having great trouble getting interested in the single player game at all, with its cumbersome mission structure, and just ridiculous character control. It is almost possible for the game to play itself, with characters in a party to be autonomous. Diablo II also has a similar setup, where you can have 'pets' and companions following you, but they are infinitly more intelligent, and it works a hell of a lot better than this.
If you insist on buying Dungeon Siege, play it with a group of good friends, and make sure they arent too critical of things like, gameplay, or companies that actually spend time playtesting their crap.
All in all, I give it 4 out of 10.
