Game Name : Dungeon Siege System : PC - Windows Date Added : 2002-07-09 01:04:54
Written By : Daniel Crabtree
Dungeon Siege is no ordinary game; it is one of the most anticipated
releases in the past year and is undoubtedly one of the best releases in the
past year.
The
unrelenting fast paced action and slick game play combined with the state of
the art 3d graphics engine and seamless level design allow for on
unforgettable experience. When you first enter the game world you are
surrounded by what is possibly some of the most detailed graphics seen in a
real-time game to date. The trees are truly amazing and the entire
atmosphere is mind boggling.
The interface design it to be commended, true free form 3d designed games
have usually failed in the past due to clumsy interfaces that are difficult
to use. But Dungeon Siege is the exception to the rule and allows the player
to zoom and rotate the 3d world in what seems like a natural way and helps
build the atmosphere of the game. The entire interface is well designed with
little more than a few clicks here and there to get what you want
accomplished. To exchange an item between two of your characters and return
to the game required 3 or 4 clicks at most and the drag and click method
adopted from the real time strategy games allows for control of what can
become a large party of 8 adventurers with ease.
The game employs a unique skill system, unlike other role playing games
where you are forced into playing a single style throughout in Dungeon Siege
you are encouraged to swap and change between different styles as you see
fit. By just putting a sword or close combat based weapon in the hands of
one of your characters, he or she will get better at hand to hand combat and
will slowly advance in this area and will also advance in the associated
attribute strength. If you give a character a bow then likewise they will
learn to hit more accurately increasing in archery skill and in dexterity.
The other 2 types of skills to master are the two types of magic, nature and
combat magic your intelligence attribute will go up quickest with the
magic’s. With up to 8 adventurers you can have characters in your party that
cover all skills at any one type so you can come to battle well equipped.
Another type of character that you can have that is different to the normal
ones is the pack mule, which you can buy from vendors in towns. They are
basically characters that can carry a large amount of your battle treasures
and basically act as a porter. With 8 characters it’s less likely you will
need to reload a saved game due to death as when one character dies another
can resurrect him/her, if they do die that is. As before a character dies
they sometimes become unconscious and will recover automatically after some
time.
Throughout Dungeon Siege you will be pleased to know that the battles are
constant, no sooner than you vanquish one large pack of fantasy type evils
than you are onto battling an even larger and more powerful pack of evils
and big monsters that look like bosses are also frequented and add even more
fun and diversity to the game.
I must again congratulate the developers on the excellent graphics in
Dungeon Siege, they really are awe inspiring the first time you load the
game up. Dungeon Siege really pushes graphics cards to their limits as was
demonstrated by the frame rate that sat around 30 frames per second most of
the time. But the game is adaptive reducing detail and allowing full
configuration of resolution and shadow detail etc, so that slower computer
can still cope and render some still impressive visuals at playable speeds.
The scenery is also diverse, with the landscapes changing drastically as you
move from area to area, from woody grass land with occasional rain, to snowy
covered slippery slopes, fog and snow to icicle type structures.
You start
off as a single cowboy or cowgirl seeking vengeance and set out to complete
your mission. The story overall is quite bland and does not have too much
depth to it, there are a lot of quests that can be completed along the way
and a lot of little stories that can add to the excitement but none are
really essential and never seem to pan out to too much reward for your
trouble. But can provide a distraction and a good time to save so you can
get some much needed rest, as this game is addictive and you’ll find it hard
to drag yourself away until you at least have finished it the first time
through. You can expect to play for between 30 and 50 hours depending on how
many of the quests you do and whether you read all the little story pieces
or not. But there is still a totally new online world to play through at
this point, higher difficulty levels, the siege editor and more to keep you
playing for many months to come.
There is little time to organise your inventory amongst the battles which
are intense and frequent so for those of you who need a little time out to
organise your inventory or just take a break, there is a handy pause feature
included.
Throughout the game you will experience superb sound effects, everything
from the clanging and whooshing of your weapon through the air to doors
slamming shut and creaking open have been recorded and sound authentic and
realistic. The voice acting when do talk to some of the friendlier folk is
well done and the accents add diversity and can be fun to listen to. The
music is again great and sets the almost continually combat ready mood of
the game.
Multiplayer is very similar to Diablo 2, you control just a single character
and can party with up to 7 others to battle through either the Kingdom of
Ehb which is the single player story and world or across the Utraean
Peninsula which is a completely different multiplayer only story and world.
Graphics: 10 / 10
I have
one word Outstanding. Dungeon Siege sets a new standard of excellence for
role playing games and games in general.
Sound: 10
/ 10
Excellent
all round, with interesting accents in the voice acting and well selected
sound effects
Game
Play: 10 / 10
Combat
driven game play. With an excellent user interface that allows the player
quick and versatile control, allowing intense and exciting battles time and
time again.
Multiplayer: 9 / 10
Gives a
whole new world to explore and adds the depth of greater control than
available in single player as each character manages a single character.
Overall:
98%
An
excellent game overall, with the graphics set new standards of excellence.
Minimum System Requirements
Memory: 64MB Ram for Windows 98 / Me 128MB Ram for Windows 2000 / XP
Hard Drive Space: 1 GB
Processor: 333Mhz
Optical Drives: 4x CD-ROM Drive
Graphics Card: 3D Video Card with 8 MB Ram
Operating System: Windows 98 / Me / 2000 / XP
Online Requirements: 56 kbs Modem for 1 – 4 Players, Broadband or LAN for 5+
Players
Peripheral: Compatible sound card with speakers or headphones required for
sound. Windows compatible mouse required.
Review Test Systems
Full
Install of Game
CPU: Dual
Athlon MP 1.2Ghz (Running in Single Processor Mode)
