Dungeon Siege II

Dungeon crawlers have been a popular gaming experience really since the dawn of video/PC games.  We read books and see movies where the hero is slaying creatures in a dungeon and want to escape to that world.  Dungeon Siege was a great dungeon crawler for the PC and now the sequel is coming soon.  At E3 2005 Dungeon Siege II was on display to allow gamers the opportunity to see how the sequel has improved from the first game.

The basic gameplay revolves around your character and up to five different party members.  The party members can be composed of different NPCs that can also include a pet.  Instead of being limited to just one pet, gamers will now have several different pets available.  The pack mule is still in the game but the demo on display had a scorpion running around with the party. 

The storyline of the game seems simple enough where your party is trying to stop a vicious marauder from taking over the land.  The party members will have their own unique stories that can involve each other and different locations throughout the game.  For example one member of your party might not enjoy going to a specific land because of some bad problems he had years ago.  The characters might even fight among themselves during the game to create a tense storyline. 

The game looked very impressive with a steady frame rate that never stuttered regardless of the action on the screen.  There were a ton of different spells being used during the game that looked spectacular as well.  All of the characters in the game looked great with smooth animation during combat.  The same loading system from the first game is back as well which keeps the game streaming.  This means that when you go inside a dungeon the game doesn’t have to load the dungeon.  You walk in and are ready to start exploring right away instead of having to wait until the game loads.  The only loading I noticed during the demo was when the characters would warp back into town.  The game would then show a screen that looked similar to the space scenes from Star Trek or Star Wars.  This scene only lasted a few moments and then the game was back up and running. 

Fans looking for another classic dungeon crawler should definitely check out Dungeon Siege II.  The game will offer online multiplayer along with the single player mode.  The great looking graphics and interesting storyline should offer gamers another classic game.  Look for the game in August 2005.

For All E3 2005 Previews