Dungeon Siege 2 Hands-On

After killing tons of dryads and other creatures, Drevin and I fell into an ambush, where we saw the real face of the lord Valdis. After that, Drevin disappeared, leaving me to hope he was still, somehow, alive, and I was taken to an elven prison high in the treetops. There I discovered the fucking tree huggers had placed a magical ring around my neck in order to discourage me from escaping. If you have seen the movie 'Wedlock' starring Rutger Hauer, you will instantly understand what the ring was there for (Picture the cork coming out of a champagne bottle and you'll get the idea). Anyway, the elves seemed to be a little cross with me for killing their kin and fighting on the side of the evil lord, and my sobbing explanations of "I had no choice, I needed the money, and his money is as good as anyone's," did not seem to help. So I got an escort and an order to do the elves' dirty work, which included burning down the enemy war towers and freeing prisoners of war. Of course, I wasn't left with any other option but to accept. Before I ventured out into the jungle, I took care to take a walk around the elven city and see what kind of services could be found there.

I don't know what this voodoo mumbo-jumbo is about, but from the looks of it it does not seem good.

I'm surrounded. I guess I'll just explode and spray the foe with that orange juice I drank a while back.

Disappointed there weren't any elven male hookers (You already had an escort, now you want a hooker as well? Some people are never satisfied! -Ed), I chatted with the local folk, taking up on any quests they were willing to entrust me with. Yeah, I guess you'd never think that, but I'm like that, you know - always willing to help people, especially if I am being paid to do it. Gratitude is fine, but that does not pay the bar tab nor buy the new, mighty bow. Or the hookers. (One track mind -Ed)

Apart from the main quest which needs to be completed before moving on to the next segment of the game, there is a large number of side quests which provide you with extra fun (as well as items and experience), but also serve to make the game look a little less linear. Of course, the quests are very different and vary from Fed Ex runs to discovery quests. One of the quests included finding a certain book and reading its contents in order to instruct the elven smith apprentice on how to construct a rare suit of armor. I couldn't seem to remember the exact words from the book, so I had to check it out for no less than six times. Finding the book was a piece of cake compared to reading the required info. I'm a dumbass. Well, at least I shoot well.

I finally paid my dues to the elves and was granted my freedom. Unfortunately, I found out my adventure through the jungle wasn't without its consequences - the wild animals infected me with a sort of a plague, so I was directed to go and find the elven shrine in the woods and get the cure for the plague there. I didn't fancy going all the way back, so I used a teleporter and walked to the location of the shrine, followed by my former escort, who by then had become my friend. The experience of indoor combat proved to be as painless and enjoyable as the outdoor combat: it was easy to rotate the camera in all directions, thus making it easy to see what I was doing and who I was filling with arrows at any given moment. I finally found the cure and returned to the elven city in dire need of sleep, food, and a quick shag (They have a carpet store there? Sweet! -Ed). First thing tomorrow, I'm visiting the innkeeper in order to increase the number of my party members. I'll enchant my armor and weapons, recruit new members, maybe even buy a stupid pack animal so I can carry more loot. Yes, you can buy pack animals that can carry your loot for you. And then I'll be off on a great adventure again. But first, sleep and a shag.

There are several other things that should be mentioned. The first is the possibility of resurrecting your characters. Your character falls unconscious if they lose their hit points. They may however regain consciousness and continue to fight but, if they lose all of their hit points they eventually die, so they need to be resurrected. If you do not possess a resurrection spell, you may ask the local necromancer or whatever his name is, to restore them to life, and their stuff may be regained by visiting their tombstone. The death of the main character leaves you the option to respawn or load the last saved game, which is saved automatically every time you complete an important quest (although you may also choose to save the game manually). In all, the whole system functions great, making the game very intuitive and playable. If there's anything you're not sure about, you can always consult your journal, which gives you more detailed info this time around, about your main and sidequests, as well as the monsters you've met and important items you've collected.

I must admit that I enjoyed this preview build immensely, so I plan on finding out how far I will go with my journey through the woods. At this stage of development, the game looked pretty much balanced to me, and the game play was infinitely addictive, while the attractively designed environments with lots of secret areas made it even more appealing. I liked the way my character has already evolved from a simple, rough, down-to-earth mercenary to a powerful archer, who understands there is much more to the world then he had ever dreamed of. And that he got much more than he bargained for. And with that thought, I am back to my level 9 archer and his charming elven companion. Let the hack-and-slashing continue! (Hear hear!!! -Ed)