First Encounter:

Quest This!

You’d think that evil would have learned by now. Baldur’s Gate: off limits. This bustling port city has had more than its share of misfortune, and now in Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II, sequel to the 2002 blockbuster game of the very similar name, big bad mojo trouble is back. Assassins own the night, people are disappearing, and something dark has definitely hooked its claws into the city. Basically, its everything an adventurer could want, and there are always a few more adventurers hanging around the local inns and taverns, ready to make a name for themselves.

Watch out, evil. Here we come … again.

Mongo like candy!

Thanks to Vivendi Universal and Black Isle Studios, the gates to a new adventure are about to be thrown wide open. With five new customizable characters to choose from, you can play solo or in cooperative mode with a friend. Start out on the road to adventure and fortune (and also to Baldur’s Gate itself), and before you know it, you’re hip-deep in goblins bent on raiding a caravan. If you took mighty Dorn, the barbarian, you can wade right in and never mind the splatter. Blood washes off. Vhaidra, the dark elf monk, might need to be a little more cautious. Skulk around the outside, line up a straggler, and then dash in to deliver a crushing blow, laying out the thieving scum.

Black Isle Studios doesn’t believe in letting things get dull. You can take time to boast of your adventures later, after you put the controls down and rub some life back into your cramping fingers. Call it Baldur’s grip. For now, follow the trail, and you’ll get plenty of practice in fighting, spell casting, looting the corpses (always a favorite!), and leveling up. Each character can develop along several different paths, which means awesome replay value, even after you finish the 20-plus hours of gameplay. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II is an adventure you can come back to again and again and again.

Boot to the head!

Player customization doesn’t just end at character choice and skill development or in the weapons galore that can be found and used during gameplay. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II has a branching story line that can lead you in many different directions—even in circles, if you’re not careful. Hack and slash your way to any number of possible endings. Deal with the non-player characters as you see fit. For those who fought their way through the first Dark Alliance adventure, you might recognize a few friendly (and not-so-friendly) faces. History might count for something, but never forget that this is a whole new set of trials being laid out before you. People change …

But, fortunately, the quality of a Baldur’s Gate adventure does not. To unmask the latest villain and spoil his deadly plot—saving Baldur’s Gate from a fate worse than mere destruction—you will visit a ruined city beneath the earth, fight an unholy lord (well, at least one), and visit the mind-bending reaches of a few alternate planes of reality. Discover hidden areas, secret characters, and a bounty of new magical items. Still not enough for you? How about a new item creation system that allows players to forge new magical weapons and armor of your own design?

What more can a growing hero ask for?

Not just another pretty face …

When it comes right down to it, Vivendi Universal could have simply ordered up another story and slapped it into the old game, and it would still be worth playing. But, Vivendi and Black Isle Studios have gone to great lengths to deliver a far superior game, and that should give you some idea of the quality you can expect this time around. Fans were left screaming “more! more!” with the first Dark Alliance, and the developers are giving us exactly that. More. More characters and weapons. More spells and magical items. More enemies, monsters, grand schemes, and deadly traps.

And, let’s face it, more fun.