In
life, there are only two certainties—taxes and death.
Now add over-hyped, over-priced and over-simplified violent
RPGs to that list. Last year, Chris Taylor’s “Dungeon
Siege” was supposed to be different. It wasn’t
supposed to be like the rest of the RPG splurge. To my
disappointment, it was exactly that.
You might recognize Chris Taylor from his “Total
Annihilation” days. With his newest release, Dungeon
Siege, Taylor shifts 180 degrees with a visually
pleasing, musically satisfying anti-click fest. And to
my delight, Dungeon Siege annihilates the graphically
lagging, story line lacking Total Annihilation,
any day.
But don’t go running to your local video game store
waving $35 dollars just yet.
Contrary to popular belief, this game was originally released
as Diablo 3: The Adventures of a Brave Little Farmer.
However, the overwhelming similarities between Diablo
and Dungeon Siege didn’t affect the overall
essence of the game. It just leads me to believe that
Taylor drugged and tortured the creators of Diablo
into releasing the blueprints for the game.
Following the wishes of a dying old friend, you throw
down your pitchfork, and pick up a mighty dagger.
You embark upon a quest to destroy evil that seemingly
magicians, warriors, and kings could not even complete.
So it makes sense that an unknowing farmer could conjure
the right spell to defeat the mysterious evil. But to
base a game on that is just being picky.
No worries, the linear game play warrants emotional memories
of countless hours simply being guided to the next town.
It seems a shame to have such 3D graphics when the game
required nothing but following markers and NPCs. It’s
almost a blessing in disguise that a dungeon or cave takes
seemingly a lifetime to complete. Which brings me to another
aspect of the game that only merits disappointment.
If anything, this game is titled Dungeon Siege
for all the right reasons. The dungeons or caves are as
in depth and complex as sanely possible. If they were
any longer, more difficult, or time consuming, this game
would quickly be entering the “cave” that
is my backyard. And even though Dungeon Siege
is not a click fest like some of its RPG predecessors,
there is an awful amount of killing.
No, I mean an awful amount of killing. Every
which way you turn, there will be a sword, arrow, or fireball
hurling directly at you. And if I’m correct, all
three usually come side by side. If not for the automatic
and one click attack system, this game might be single
handedly responsible for causing carpel tunnel syndrome.
If not for the breath taking, muscle relaxing, awe-inspiring
graphics, this game might better be classified as cruel
and unusual punishment. But to the customer’s satisfaction,
the graphics, unlike the other components of the game,
live up to the hype. The background scenery of icy caves
and fiery mountains alone will leave your jaw dropping,
eye popping, drool gathering self, mesmerized.
But the graphics alone aren’t enough. Even the relatively
appealing sound effects don’t offer enough to make
this game worth playing. The one most important characteristic
of the game, just so happens to be the worst. If the game
play was as complex as the dungeons, the game would be
a different game. This review would be a different review.
The 25 hours spent playing this game, would have been
appreciated. But in reality, it’s 25 hours of clicking,
drooling, and simple frustration.
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