Review (XBox)

Let me set the stage for my experience with BGDA2. Miserable head cold. Fever. Unable to concentrate for any extended period. Exhibiting both poor cognitive and dextrous skills. Home from work. But I'll be damned if I was going to let my diseased state keep me from playing a game. What to play, then? Something on the console, obviously, as my departure from the couch was unthinkable. Something that could be consumed in many small portions, allowing for the frequent interruptions associated with my condition, such as sneezing, coughing, whining, passing out, liquid input, liquid output, etc.. Certainly nothing too stressful, or complicated. A review of the candidates in my 'library' yields one clear frontrunner: an action/RPG. All of the characteristics that have in the past made me say mean things about the genre made it seem like a suitable activity for anyone nearly incapacitated.

Unfortunately, even with the minuscule expectations that accompanied my infirm condition, BGDA2 came up short.

Even though the dozen or so hours it took to get through the campaign weren't entirely unpleasant, I came away feeling angry; angry that Black Isle had apparently mailed this one in. In their defense, I think that by the time they'd been assigned the project, they were but a ghost of their former selves. But that doesn't make it any less shameful that BGDA2 is as underachieving as it is.

BGDA2 is really just an expansion pack to BGDA. I don't know which is worse, that Black Isle did almost nothing with a mature engine, a full budget and a full development cycle, or that Interplay/Microsoft subsequently pawned off the thing as a legitimate sequel.

If you read my BGDA review, you'll see that while I continued my fine tradition of bashing the genre, I didn't think that the game was entirely without merit.

The problem is that the differences between BGDA and BGDA2 are, well, almost nonexistent. When you get a fully functional codebase, replete with art assets, dropped in your lap, you'd better do something to earn your paycheck besides fart out some new levels. I went fairly easy on BGDA, content to point out its flaws without really harping. But I'm not going to cut BGDA2 any slack. The game is as flaccid as its predecessor. It's as riddled with useless junky items. The level loads are as inexplicably frequent. The city of Baldur's Gate itself is as inexcusably dull and non-interactive. The quests are as mind-numbingly unimaginative, as are the boss fights.

Which isn't to say that there aren't *any* differences between the two games. For one thing, the story is, incredibly, even less interesting than the original. So that's bad. Other differences, albeit few, are thankfully more positive in nature. They fixed the money issue in co-op - i.e. the party now shares a purse. That was an inexcusable flaw the first time around, so Black Isle gets no points for that. There is a broader choice of character archetypes. Instead of a strictly linear progression through the levels, BGDA2 occasionally lets you choose their order, though the lack of significant consequences lends an air of irrelevance to the choices. The most identifiable difference is the addition of an item-crafting system, in which you can add different types of gems to items in order to produce combinations of effects. It's nice, since it provides better exposure to the elemental weapon effects, which was and is the coolest part of the franchise, but it doesn't acquit the game.

However, BGDA2's gravest sin isn't the paucity of its 'innovations', it's the nearly unaltered inheritance of BGDA's gravest sin - a poor UI.

As with the original, the inventory lists aren't circular (i.e. they don't wrap-around to the top/bottom), which is just as excruciatingly frustrating as it was before. The camera control hasn't been improved at all. You still can't play co-operatively with two characters of the same type. Last and definitely worst, your characters are still locked up in savegame slots with totally inadequate descriptions. A notable exception to this criticism is the improved spell/feat mappings, now allowing you to overload all 4 face buttons with a spell/feat when holding the left trigger.

I've got one more gripe. It's going to sound petty, but it's precisely the kind of little thing that can make someone hate your game. Someone like me, anyway. Right there in the back of the manual under 'Hints & Tips' is the following: "Smash and break everything you can." Ok, duly noted. Makes sense, the game is rife with the proverbial crates, so why shouldn't I destroy them with reckless abandonment? I mean, the manual itself is firmly instructing me to smash and/or break not just some of them, but all of them. In fact, it goes so far as to say that *everything* that can be smashed and/or broken should be fucking smashed and/or broken. Smash and/or break 'em all, let God sort 'em out! The game and I are right there, man, right on the same page. So imagine my chagrin when I find an area within the first few levels that I can't access. I can see it, but I can't get to it. After many minutes of fruitless and futile jumping, I hit the walkthrough for an explanation of my ineptitude. What does it say? It says, quote:

"Be careful not to destroy all the barrels in the nearby area. Push one of the barrels close to the crates, jump atop the barrel and then jump over the crates to access the chests and weapons racks in the cavern".

Um... 'be careful NOT to destroy all the barrels'?! No! Bad developer! No!

Like I said, petty. But when I'm already feeling peevish, this kind of thing just pushes me over the edge.

Summary

These niggling issues all exist in the shadow of the game's fundamental flaws: horrible AI, anemic combat, degenerate skill trees. It all conspires to deliver a soulless experience.

But is it fun? It beats going to the dentist. Ultimately, though, like a visit to the dentist, the experience was dominated by the desire to be doing something else, nearly anything else. And in the case of BGDA2, 'anything else' includes playing its predecessor, which is probably the most damning criticism of all, for a 'sequel'. Like BGDA, the only thing really working in favor of BGDA2 is the co-operative play, and then only if you're evaluating the game in a vacuum. When forced to mingle with its contemporaries, it distinguishes itself only by it's unwavering commitment to mediocrity.

Go play D&D Heroes, if you need an action/RPG co-op fix on the console.