Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Gameplay in the PlayStation 2 version of Dark Alliance, showing Vahn fighting his way through the Marsh of Chelimber. His health and mana meters are at the top left of the screen. The empty meter between them is his experience meter.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a real-time hack and slash/action role-playing game presented in a 3D perspective, with a rotatable isometric three-quarter top-down view.[9]

At the beginning of the game, character stats are preset, with the player able to choose from three race/class combinations; a dwarven fighter (Kromlech), a human archer (Vahn) or an elven sorceress (Adrianna).[13] The player can customize their character's stats through gaining experience points from defeating enemies. Every time the character increases in level, points are awarded corresponding to that level; i.e. if a character increases to level twelve, the player will gain twelve experience points to spend on the character's spells and feats.[14] For every four levels which the character increases, the player is given one ability point to spend on one of the six core attributes (strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, charisma).[15]

Each of the three characters have their own unique fighting style and their own specific set of spells and feats. Gameplay strategy is thus different for each character. As Kromlech is a fighter, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing his brute strength and ability to resist damage, as well as granting him powerful abilities to aid in melee combat, such as the ability to swing his weapon in a circle or slam it into the ground to damage groups of nearby enemies. As Vahn relies on ranged attacks, his spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of his bow and granting him the ability to fire special types of arrows, such as exploding arrows, ice arrows or multiple arrows. As Adrianna is a sorceress, her spells and feats tend to focus on increasing the power of her magic and granting her numerous new spells, such as the ability to shoot ice or fire from her fingers, shoot a ball of lightning or call down meteors on her enemies.[16]

Gameplay is linear, and each main quest must be completed in sequence before the story can proceed, although there are some optional side-quests, which do not have to be completed immediately. However, all side-quests must be completed within the act in which they are assigned. There are relatively few NPCs in the game, with whom only those who are part of a quest or side-quest may be interacted. Weapons, armor and items are only available for purchase from one location at a time, and become increasingly expensive and more powerful as the game progresses. The HUD features the option to use either a transparent map that covers most of the screen, or a mini-map, with the player also given the option to turn the map off entirely.[17]

The game also features cooperative gameplay with another player. Both players share the same screen, and are thus limited in how far they can move away from one another. In co-op mode, the player who makes the kill gets 60% of the experience, and the other player gets 40%. Whichever player collects any gold drops gets 100% of the value, with the other player getting nothing.[15]

The game contains four difficulty levels; "Easy", "Normal", "Hard" and "Extreme". Extreme can only be unlocked after the player has beaten "The Gauntlet", a special mini-dungeon unlocked once the player completes the game on any difficulty level. The Gauntlet can only be played with Drizzt Do'Urden.[18] Extreme mode takes the form of a New Game Plus, and can only be played by importing a saved character from another game.[19] Once the player has completed Extreme mode, Drizzt Do'Urden becomes available to use in the main game.[20]

Dark Alliance was first revealed on November 7, 2000, when Interplay confirmed to IGN that a PlayStation 2 game based on Baldur's Gate II had entered production, following the cancellation of the Sega Dreamcast port of the original Baldur's Gate. Little was known at this time other than the fact that Interplay would publish, and BioWare, developers of the original Baldur's Gate, would not develop the game. Instead, the game was to be developed by Snowblind Studios.[23][24] The game was officially confirmed on February 15, 2001. Black Isle Studios' division director Feargus Urquhart stated:

We recognize the tremendous demand for a Baldur's Gate game on PlayStation 2. We're totally committed to making Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance a completely original experience that both console gamers and RPG fans will enjoy.[25]

Ryan Geithman, director of Snowblind, added:

We are developing the game from the ground up to take full advantage of the sophisticated PlayStation 2 technology. Our goal is to push the hardware to its limits thus creating stunning environmental effects and highly detailed characters never before seen on the console.[25]

On April 17, Interplay confirmed that if the game was successful, a sequel would enter development immediately.[26]

The game was first shown at E3 in May 2001, where it gained critical acclaim, with IGN writing "it almost instantly became one of the most wanted games for PlayStation 2 owners across the country. The game's graphics are as good as anything else on the system. It's as simple as that. The lighting, shadows, textures, models, water effects, and reflections are all amazing to look at and are a testament to the power of PlayStation 2 and the skills of the developers over at Snowblind Studios".[27]

The game utilized a new game engine; the Dark Alliance Engine, which was built specifically for Dark Alliance, and would go on to become the foundation for other games on the PlayStation 2, such as Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel[28] and The Bard's Tale.[29] Graphically, the Dark Alliance engine is a major improvement over the engine used by the original PC Baldur's Gate games, the Infinity Engine. Infinity was only able to render 2D sprite characters and static environments. The Dark Alliance engine, on the other hand, made use of the PlayStation 2's advanced GPU, allowing for such improvements as dynamic lighting, real-time shadowing and 3D models of characters and environments. IGN wrote of the E3 presentation, that "none of the problems that are commonly associated with PlayStation 2 games, such as low-res textures, flickering, or aliasing problems, are to be found here. It's hard to think of a game that pulls off the much-fabled anti-aliasing as well as this game does. Dark Alliance uses a technique similar to what a large number of Dreamcast games did to pull off their clean look: they simply render the scene at a much higher resolution, anti-alias it, then drop it down to a more acceptable resolution for TVs. The result is a beautifully anti-aliased game".[30]

On September 27, Interplay announced an exclusive North American distribution deal with Vivendi Universal Games, with Dark Alliance being one of the first two titles released under the new agreement.[31] On November 2, Interplay announced the game had been finalized and was ready for manufacture, with a release date set for November 12.[32] The game entered the manufacturing stage on November 5.[33] On November 8, IGN gave a full preview, again praising the graphics, and writing: "This game is running on a rock-solid 3D engine with completely rotatable dungeons, brilliant animation for nearly every interactive element (of which there are many), and first-rate lighting effects of all different kinds [...] In the beginning, simple refined touches are impressive, amid the generally sharp atmosphere of the game (while there is no visible aliasing, the graphics aren't heavily filtered, either). Even when all you have to fight are rats, and all you have to fight with is a dagger, you can admire how barrels come apart when you smash them, in realistically shaded pieces and a puff of dust, or all the different limbs you can bloodily excise from your foes".[30] The game was shipped by Black Isle Studios on December 3.[34][35]

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was well received on all four platforms. Metacritic records all versions as receiving "generally favorable reviews", with the PlayStation 2 version holding an aggregate score of 87 out of 100, based on twenty-nine reviews;[53] the Xbox version 83 out of 100, based on twenty-five reviews,[54] the GameCube version 79 out of 100, based on ten reviews,[52] and the Game Boy Advance version 76 out of 100, based on seventeen reviews.[51]

IGN reviewed all four versions of the game. David Smith scored the PlayStation 2 version 9.4 out of 10, giving it an "Editor's Award" and calling the Dark Alliance engine "one of the best 3D engines yet devised". He dismissed criticisms of the game as a "Diablo clone", arguing the gameplay is much deeper than such a comparison suggests. His only criticisms were some anticlimactic boss fights and repetitive music. He concluded: "There is honestly not a great deal to complain about here [...] Snowblind has put together one of the best engines on PS2 and one of the best hacks in the business, certainly the best a console has ever seen".[60] Kaiser Hwang scored the Xbox version 8.5 out of 10. He praised the graphics, but wrote: "What hurts this game's score is the fact that it is almost exactly the same game that was released last year, not that that's a bad thing. The game is a fine example of exceptional game-making. But an extra level or character, or really any added extras would've been great".[9] Fran Mirabella III scored the GameCube version 7.5 out of 10, calling it "a downgrade from the PS2 version". He criticized the "bafflingly destroyed frame rate" and commented: "When it was released on the PS2 a year ago, few could believe what Snowblind had pulled off on Sony's stubborn console. A year later, and quite magically, High Voltage couldn't get the engine running smoothly on GameCube".[59] Craig Harris scored the Game Boy Advance version 8 out of 10, arguing that "even though it's missing a few key elements from the original design it's based upon, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance works out very well in portable form".[21]

GameSpot also reviewed all four versions. Gerald Villoria scored the PlayStation 2 version 8.8 out of 10, praising the differences between the fighting styles of the three characters, the controls, the range of enemies and weaponry, and the lip syncing. He concluded: "You can really appreciate all the work that went into making sure that all of the little things came together so nicely".[17] Greg Kasavin scored the Xbox version 8.5 out of 10, calling it "one of the finest action RPGs ever made" and lauding it as "a perfect port".[56] Kasavin scored the GameCube version 7.6 out of 10, finding similar faults to IGN's Mirabella. He called it "technically deficient" and argued "the visuals [...] just don't measure up, mostly because it suffers from frame rate issues that are nonexistent in the PS2 version (or the new Xbox version)". He concluded "the game just wasn't optimized for the system".[55] Frank Provo scored the Game Boy Advance version 8 out of 10, praising the enemy AI, the sound and the graphics. He concluded: "If you're looking for a hack-and-slash game on the go, this is the one to get".[22]

GameSpy reviewed the Xbox and GameCube versions. Raymond Padilla scored the Xbox version 4 out of 5: "With the Xbox, the developers had a significantly more powerful tool to retell the story of Dark Alliance. Unfortunately, they didn't take advantage of it. There are minor visual and aural enhancements in this version. They're very slight and I'm sure many gamers wouldn't notice the differences". He criticized the lack of Xbox Live compatibility or any kind of downloadable content, arguing "the only improvements are superficial". However, he also wrote: "Compared to competing titles, this is one of the best games available for the Xbox [...] I wholeheartedly recommend Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the Xbox. It's not serving up anything new, but it's still a grand adventure".[58] Christian Nutt scored the GameCube version 3.5 out of 5, calling it "a wonderfully entertaining game that doesn't quite live up to the technical quality of the PS2 original or its Xbox incarnation". He wrote "the graphics have taken a subtle but damaging hit" and criticized "the game's frame rate, which is passable if slightly sluggish most of the time, but chunks up quite perceptibly when you rotate the dungeon". He praised the gameplay, but wrote "for a gamer with a choice between platforms, the GameCube version is the one to avoid".[57]

In the mainstream press, Victor Godinez of The Dallas Morning News called the game "a blast to play".[66] Billy O'Keefe, of the Knight Ridder Tribune wrote Dark Alliance is "all about action", opining that a pure RPG would not work on a console, and the additional action elements in Dark Alliance improved playability.[67] John Breeden II of The Washington Post praised "the smaller number of more straightforward quests".[68] Bob Low of the Daily Record called the graphics "flawless".[69] Godinez also lauded the graphics, calling them "breathtaking".[66] Breeden agreed, saying that "the graphics on the PS2 version are eons ahead of the PC series".[68] Low's one complaint was that the game was too short.[70] Breeden echoed this sentiment, arguing that players used to the longer PC games in the series might find Dark Alliance too brief.[68]

IGN ranked Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance No. 7 on their list of "The Top 11 Dungeons & Dragons Games of All Time" in 2014.[71]