Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance [GBA] Review

Developer	Ubi Soft
Publisher	Magic Packets
Genre	Action Role-Playing

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance was one of the most well-received dungeon hackers this side of Diablo. With the newly-released Dark Alliance II on PS2 and Xbox, it’s only fair that the GameBoy Advance be privileged to a version of the original game, and thanks to Magic Pockets and Ubisoft, players can take their Dark Alliance with them wherever they may go.

Just like the original Dark Alliance that landed on PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, the Gameboy Advance version is a phenomenal game in it’s own right, and though not quite as addictive as it’s older console brethren, the game offers some compelling hack n’ slash action and even a few GBA-exclusive side quests and design improvements.

Gameplay – Just like the more advanced technology-based Dark Alliance games on the big boy consoles, the GBA Dark Alliance is still basically the same kind of isometric dungeon crawler. There have been some cuts in levels, and on the gameplay front, but that’s to be expected. What’s not expected is that the developers, Magic Pockets, has added a few things that players don’t see in the original game, adding some freshness to a game that debuted on in PS2 in 2001.

You still travel the lands of the Forgotten Realms as a fighter, wizard, or archer, and you still fight your way through hordes of D&D’s meanest in an attempt to save the world. You still get to level up your avatar, and equip him with numerous weapons and armor sets. But there have actually been a few design advancements, and in no other place than the city of Baldur’s Gate itself is it most evident. Instead of having one single location inside the city in which you can go to, the GBA version allows the player to enter multiple buildings, and even talk to several new denizens of the city. For example, Bartley the shop owner no longer is set up inside the Elfsong Tavern, but instead has his own shop across town that players can visit separately. In addition, there are other places the player can wander off to as well, including citizens’ homes and different sewer passages.

Another addition in the GBA version of Dark Alliance that the console installments never saw much of are side quests, mostly by townsfolk of Baldur’s Gate. Whether it’s doing some but spider exterminating, or handing some thugs their asses, the player is much more immersed in the city of Baldur’s Gate, even if these small additions don’t seem like a big deal at first. Unlike the original version of the game, this GBA iteration makes the player feel as if he/she is more a part of the city, rather than just using the tavern as a base of operations. Other than these changes, the game still stays faithful to the original game and its story. The controls are a snap to get into, despite the fact that the GBA only has four buttons in which to handle everything. It’s actually very intuitive, and takes but a few minutes of play to get the hang of.

With the nice additions that fans of the original will appreciate, they will also notice a number of snags, some of which are fairly significant. There is no map feature, so exploring every nook and cranny of a level is much harder to do. Now it’s more a matter of survival; you’ll want to get to the end of the level without dying because if you die, you must start over from the beginning of the map. The game has a save anywhere feature, but this can be either a blessing or a curse. While you can save at anytime, you’ll save too often in fear of what you’re about to face next. You may even forget all about it, altogether. During a save of this type, your character gets saved, but not your location. With each entrance to a level, creatures respawn, which wouldn’t be so bad if you had recall potions. But sadly, there are none, meaning you have to fight your way back to town each time you need to buy, sell, or restock on healing items. Another quirk is the uncontrollable camera. Most of the time, you have a great field of vision, but because the camera can’t be rotated, there will be times where you can’t see what you’re doing, which allows the enemy a few free hits.

Still, the game is a great dungeon hacker, sporting lots of levels and enough monster variety to satisfy any fan of the original game. Unfortunately, the dialog of the story has been stripped down. There are no response trees, and instead, the characters just tell you a bit of story, and then send you on your way to your next objective. This, combined with the lack of voiceovers takes a bit from the interaction you have in the console versions, but this is more than enough to satisfy overall.

Graphics – One of Dark Alliance’s most appealing elements are the graphics. Not only do the character models and environments look great, but all of your weapon and armor choices are shown on your avatar. Thankfully, these all make an appearance on the GBA too. Every time you change something on your character, the model displays it. The animations are excellent, and much better than the Lord of the Rings GBA games. In fact, the animations here are as good as the console versions in some respects. Character models even cast their own real-time shadow.

Sadly, character choices don’t matter. You play the same race no matter what class you are, and therefore, the game uses the same character model. Since you get to somewhat alter your looks with the weapon and armor changes, this isn’t a big deal, but don’t count on playing as a dwarf or elf; no matter what class you choose, you will be that of the human archer.

Sound – The sound here doesn’t impress, simply because there isn’t much to be impressed by. You hear a severely compromised version of the melody sang at the Elfsong Tavern, or rather a piece of it, but everything else is really no more than battle grunts by the characters and monsters. Still, each character and monster sport its own sounds and the rest of the sound effects are pretty good. It’s just that the whole audio package here is a bit tinny, even by GBA standards. What little music there is, while not bad, certainly doesn’t help to make the audio stand out.

Bottom Line - This kind of game is perfect for the GBA, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is one of the top representations of the genre. This pocket-sized adventure stays remarkably faithful to the console versions of the game, and even adds a few sprinkles of good ideas that the full-blown console installments could’ve benefited from. While the story isn’t as captivating and some changes have been made (including stripping away multiplayer), Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is still more than worthy of the handheld hacker crown.

Review by Brendon Hivner