60 Second Review of…

Dungeon Siege

Mark's review: You see these commercials on late night TV for devices designed to make your life simpler - robotic potato peelers, juicers that will mash carrots, oranges, beans, and even bricks into healthy life-reviving juice, rotisseries that can cook anything from a tiny cornish hen up to a wild boar speared just this afternoon in the dense underbrush, and self-cooking, self-cleaning woks, crock pots, and toaster ovens. Dungeon Siege can stand right among these wonders of the modern era, hawked by the energetically earnest middle-aged man in the bad toupee and shiny suit along with the rest of the miracle devices. Just let your finger lay lightly on the mouse (think Michelangelo's God giving the divine spark to Adam) and click on the healing or mana potions now and then. That's all it takes. What can we expect in Dungeon Siege 2? You start the game and go to dinner and a movie and come back to see the ending credits? Someone tell Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games that what works for RTS isn't always a good idea for RPGs, even action-oriented ones.

Tom's review: It's probably not a good thing when a game makes you appreciate how good its direct competitor is. This is what happened while I was playing Dungeon Siege. It made me appreicate Diablo II for being a flexible game that constantly presents interesting decisions at a brisk pace with compelling multiplayer support and nearly limitless replay value. Dungeon Siege does none of this, opting instead to streamline gameplay so much as to nearly eliminate it.

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer:
Gas Powered Games
Genre:
post-Diablo RPG
Requirements:
policy of non-interference when it comes to gameplay

June 19, 2002

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