Sat 27 Aug 2011
Playstation
Dungeon Siege 3 Review
Dungeon Siege 3 by Microsoft....I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if you weren’t already familiar with Dungeon Siege. I had a brief stint with Dungeon Siege 2 some time ago, needless to say it didn’t last. During the dawn of the millennium Dungeon Siege was an attempt by Microsoft to capitalize on the Success of the hack and slash style RPG games, most prominently the inventor of it Diablo and Baldur’s Gate which were highly successful and very popular at the time. Dungeon Siege was kind of the third wheel in this fierce competition (by this I mean it wasn’t any competition and kind of just went unnoticed while Diablo and Baldur’s Gate battled it out). The problem with Dungeon Siege is it’s no secret that it was initiated as an attempt to capitalize on the success of Diablo and Baldur’s gate (two of the most successful computer games of all time), it saw the impact that these games were making, the sales and their popularity and ultimately thought it could do the same, unfortunately it didn’t have what it took to contend with these two masterpieces, and still doesn’t.
Baldur’s Gate and Diablo were almost indisputably the top 2 RPG games of the 90’s, Dungeon’s Siege was hardly even considered within the same league as these two majestic works of arts which sat comfortably in a league of their own miles away from Dungeon Siege or any other game at the time. Dungeon Siege 3 is just like Dungeon Siege 2 except with next gen graphics but suffers from many of the same ails that the two suffered from. For starters the story is just too simple and childish, what made Diablo and Baldur’s Gate such great games was they were morally ambiguous, laced with philosophy, poetry and ideas which were such prominent aspect of these games. Baldur’s Gate began with a quote from Nietzsche, “when you gaze onto the abyss the abyss gazes back into you.....” These games were intelligently designed epics that immersed the player into a colossal world with sheer depth and scale. Dungeon Siege feels like it was designed for children based on the oldest cliché of all, you are a hero who is destined to save humanity because you were chosen by some higher power, there’s nothing to it. It tries too hard to be epic and puts forth timeless absolutes and just doesn’t challenge you. The story is just stupid, one of the missions consisted of me killing rats in someone’s basement for a reward.
Aside from the linear and stupid storyline, the gameplay is ugh....it’s just not good. For one you can’t even play the game offline with friends, I mean you have to be kidding me, for a game not to have offline multiplayer support, even during the time of the PS1 would have been a red flag, most games even then had 4 player support. Secondly there’s only 16 hours of gameplay here, for an RPG game this is unforgivably short, I mean this is a joke. The original Baldur’s Gate made way back in 1998 consisted of over 200 hours of gameplay, 200 hours! A game made 13 years later can’t even produce a quarter of this? That’s just not acceptable.
It’s a good thing Dungeon Siege 3 beat Diablo 3 to punch because if Diablo 3 were to be released at the same time as Dungeon Siege 3 or even before it, it would go unnoticed just likes its previous instalments did. The bottom line is this game is an insult to the RPG genre and doesn’t even come close to Diablo or Baldur’s Gate despite following much of the same formula. Microsoft fails to redeem itself after its last two hack and slash attempts. Dungeon Siege 3 feels like its falling further and further behind and just doesn’t contend with other RPG games in the 2011 and it certainly won’t be able to contend with Diablo 3 when it’s released, in fact the original Baldur’s Gate is better than this game. Don’t waste your time with Dungeon Siege 3, aside from an updated graphics engine this game hasn’t changed much, if at all from its last two outings, it remains a black mark on the face of Microsoft. Wait for Diablo 3 or pick up one of the gazillion other next-gen games that do the RPG hack and slash formula much better.
Rating – 72%
Pros:
Updated graphics Engine
Cons:
Terribly linear Story Line
Only 15 odd hours of gameplay
Baldur’s Gate and Diablo were almost indisputably the top 2 RPG games of the 90’s, Dungeon’s Siege was hardly even considered within the same league as these two majestic works of arts which sat comfortably in a league of their own miles away from Dungeon Siege or any other game at the time. Dungeon Siege 3 is just like Dungeon Siege 2 except with next gen graphics but suffers from many of the same ails that the two suffered from. For starters the story is just too simple and childish, what made Diablo and Baldur’s Gate such great games was they were morally ambiguous, laced with philosophy, poetry and ideas which were such prominent aspect of these games. Baldur’s Gate began with a quote from Nietzsche, “when you gaze onto the abyss the abyss gazes back into you.....” These games were intelligently designed epics that immersed the player into a colossal world with sheer depth and scale. Dungeon Siege feels like it was designed for children based on the oldest cliché of all, you are a hero who is destined to save humanity because you were chosen by some higher power, there’s nothing to it. It tries too hard to be epic and puts forth timeless absolutes and just doesn’t challenge you. The story is just stupid, one of the missions consisted of me killing rats in someone’s basement for a reward.
Aside from the linear and stupid storyline, the gameplay is ugh....it’s just not good. For one you can’t even play the game offline with friends, I mean you have to be kidding me, for a game not to have offline multiplayer support, even during the time of the PS1 would have been a red flag, most games even then had 4 player support. Secondly there’s only 16 hours of gameplay here, for an RPG game this is unforgivably short, I mean this is a joke. The original Baldur’s Gate made way back in 1998 consisted of over 200 hours of gameplay, 200 hours! A game made 13 years later can’t even produce a quarter of this? That’s just not acceptable.
It’s a good thing Dungeon Siege 3 beat Diablo 3 to punch because if Diablo 3 were to be released at the same time as Dungeon Siege 3 or even before it, it would go unnoticed just likes its previous instalments did. The bottom line is this game is an insult to the RPG genre and doesn’t even come close to Diablo or Baldur’s Gate despite following much of the same formula. Microsoft fails to redeem itself after its last two hack and slash attempts. Dungeon Siege 3 feels like its falling further and further behind and just doesn’t contend with other RPG games in the 2011 and it certainly won’t be able to contend with Diablo 3 when it’s released, in fact the original Baldur’s Gate is better than this game. Don’t waste your time with Dungeon Siege 3, aside from an updated graphics engine this game hasn’t changed much, if at all from its last two outings, it remains a black mark on the face of Microsoft. Wait for Diablo 3 or pick up one of the gazillion other next-gen games that do the RPG hack and slash formula much better.
Rating – 72%
Pros:
Updated graphics Engine
Cons:
Terribly linear Story Line
Only 15 odd hours of gameplay
