Dungeon Siege II: Broken World Review

More of the same, but less entertaining.

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World is an expansion to last year's Microsoft Game Studios title. No longer under Microsoft's wing, Broken World is published by 2K Games, but has been developed by Gas Powered games, and not a newcomer to the series. Broken World follows on from the previous game and offers a new adventure for high-level characters, plus some new classes and a new race. It doesn't really feel like enough though.

The game starts a year on from the conclusion of Dungeon Siege II, and although you thought peace had been brought to the world, you were wrong. It seems that no one living at the outpost likes you and, worse still, the people in the surrounding area have been infected by a plague, turning them into deformed creatures. To make things worse, a dark mage that survived your previous quest is trying to summon lord Zaramoth - a dark lord who will destroy the world.

Before you start you can import your party from your old Dungeon Siege II game or simply choose a readymade high-level character. The pre-made characters on offer all start at level 39, so if you've got a previous character that has had a lot of time and effort put into it in order to reach a higher level, it's worth importing. This does mean that you can't try out the new dwarf race or the blood assassin and fist of stone classes, but you won't be missing too much. The only downside to importing an exceedingly high-level character is that items found early on in the expansion are rarely of any use, as you're likely to be equipped with better already.

Dungeon Siege II featured quite an epic quest, but Broken World isn't nearly as expansive.

Dungeon Siege II featured quite an epic quest, but Broken World isn't nearly as expansive. The main quest can be completed in around ten hours, and only a few more if you tackle the side quests. The adventure doesn't compare with the original game's either, with what are mostly generic dungeons and repetitive attacks on mobs of enemies. Dungeon Siege II featured plenty of variety, but that simply isn't the case in the expansion. It is a trickier game though, and staying alive proves to be a real challenge when a lot of enemies are attacking.

Along the way you'll encounter a small number of bosses (who each crop up a few times), but they're nothing extraordinary. The main villain, too, is hardly anything to get excited about. This is symptomatic of the game in general. The story is fairly inconsequential, offering little to the overall Dungeon Siege II storyline, and everything else is pretty by the book.

The visuals are horribly dated

Gameplay remains as it was, so fans of Dungeon Siege II will be able to play more of the same, including the ability to play cooperatively over the internet. It's essentially a point and click action RPG, so you'll spend a lot of time clicking on enemies, levelling up, and managing you party. It's the kind of gameplay most recently seen in THQ's Titan Quest, but with none of the high quality visuals that push modern PCs.

To say the game engine has dated would be somewhat of an understatement. Last year's game wasn't cutting edge, but it looked nice, but one year on things aren't nearly as rosy. The environments are about passable, with some competent design work, but character models simply don't cut in by today's standards. Enemies actually look a little more impressive, but they're by no means impressive - they also tend to get lost amongst everything else on screen, making combat a little tricky. The overall look is saved slightly by some impressive magic and blood effects, but there's nothing here that will tax a powerful system. Some impressive audio, including plenty of voice work, helps counter the dated visuals, but a new engine can't come soon enough.

Dungeon Siege II: Broken World isn't a standalone game, so can't be judged as one, but even diehard Dungeon Siege fans will be disappointed by the new content that's on offer. The main quest is totally underwhelming and can be completed in a fraction of the time it took to complete last year's full game. When combined with some severely dated visuals and an almost thrown together storyline, there's little reason to pick this up.