  KLuWolF's Den
Soft BYTEs
Dungeon Crawling for Teens!
Obsidian Entertainment took over where Gas Powered Games left off, with simple plot lines in this third chapter of the Dungeon Siege saga. The quest engine is one track, which leaves you with not much desire to repeat play it. Several Character Classes are offered that do affect the story line by popping items that are probability matched to your class. The story line, however dull, remains the same. Eventually you do end up meeting with all the characters you didn't pick in at the start and making them a companion when they are needed for certain quests. As a member of the Legion you must find out what happened and gather the allied forces you'll need to defeat the enemy. The enemy is elusive and leaves a path of destruction and dead bodies in their wake. This provides for a limited selection of unexciting items to salvage. Half of them are just trade goods that don't work on your character.
It allows you to trade in on-the-fly to make room for other items, which doesn't seem necessary since their seem to be a lot of merchants willing to take things off your hands and then sell you bigger and better. The dialog is easy to navigate with a lack in studio quality for the voices, making them sound a bit like your sitting in a large theatre, not standing next to the character speaking, which is where it should be. With such a simple equipment interface, it's not surprising that there is very little change to your character's portrait when you swap out different items. There is two stances for use when needed, however, each character is limited to what they can equip in each stance.
Along the way you get to battle some real tough bosses that may or may not be related to the enemy your chasing. It's best you keep moving around and make good use of the dodge feature. Some bosses may even become your allies if you talk to them nicely or defeat them in a one-on-one fair fight. Finally levelling up, you'll get a point or two as a reward that can be spent on key skills, abilities and auras. These upgrades seem to have a significant effect on game play.
 Starting a game fresh out of the box with limited tutorials, gives credit to how user-friendly the control interface is designed. Also available on Playstation or Xbox 360, this one is best played on a gamepad.
Graphics look awesome in 2D and 3D with obvious attention to detail in the terrain, wildlife and other environmentals. Parents can take comfort knowing that their kids can have a great time wandering around a mythical and magical world, completing quests, killing beasties, gathering coin and items in an easy to navigate interface that won't frustrate them. There is very little blood and gore, abusive language or steamy sexuality. The artwork is generous, elegant and tasteful for both genders.
The truth here is this game has a Teen rating and does nothing to push the envelope of that rating. Whereas, the Mature rated Dragon Age, is intended for a more adult skilled audience. Still this game would provide many hours of great adventure without a need to memorize gobs of detail or get caught up in a never ending story. It still pays to read the books and parchments as they may contain clues to where and how things can be done. Either way you'd still probably find the quest items, without any reading, because of the one track plot. If your already a fan of the popular Dragon Age franchise, then this one is definitely not for you.
Grrr   |
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 Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
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Genre: RPG, Release Date: 21 June 2011
Published by: Square Enix
Developed by: Obsidian Entertainment
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