Snowblind Studios crafted the original Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance into a game that many people thoroughly enjoyed. They have since signed on with Sony Online Entertainment to develop Champions of Norrath that will be releasing next month. So when it came time to cash in on the popularity of the original, Black Isle stepped up to the plate. What they've created is in essence the same game all over again. Not a bad thing, but certainly a bit lacking.

Dark Alliance II starts off right where the first game leaves off. The adventurers from the original title come through the final portal and are met with a slew of evil monsters and a new adversary bent on taking over Baldur's Gate. However, they seemingly put up no fight and are tossed into the dungeons. Now if you've played through the first game, you know that you had to power up your character quite a bit to make it to the last level and take out the final boss. So it was somewhat saddening when your character is captured without a struggle and you start the game with all new characters.

Once you get beyond this minor set back, your outlook improves as you are given a choice of five unique characters. There's a character for nearly every type of gamer here, and the differences between the characters runs deeper than simply magic users or melee user. The cleric, Allessia Faithhammer, has the ability to heal party members as well as use gloves as weapons in hand to hand combat. Borador, the Dwarf can disarm traps and gather more treasure from chests that you'll find throughout your adventures. Dorn is your standard hack and slash barbarian that will appeal to the close combat players. Vhaidra is a monk who has a good mix of melee and magic combat abilities. She works well for players who like multiple options when taking on enemies. Finally, you have Ysuran who is your standard magic user, and can summon an undead or shadow ally to assist in combat.

In addition to these differences, each character has special side quests that will only be available if that specific character is in your party. This means that in order to play through every quest in Dark Alliance II, you have to go through the game at least three times. It's a nice way to add replay value to the title, but it also gets a bit repetitive even with the additional side quests.

As you play through the game, you'll come across some familiar faces from the first title, as well as some of the same levels you went through in the original. However, the levels have been revamped a bit (and in some cases drastically shortened), so it's not an identical experience. In addition, you now have the ability to customize and upgrade your weapons and armor using rune stones and gems. This is actually where the first real downfall of the game comes into play.

Upgrading your weapons and armor won't come cheap. Depending on your character of choice, you may be able to lower the cost by increasing a certain attribute as you level up, but it will still cost you a pretty penny to customize. That said, the local shop only gets new weapons three times throughout the game, and enemies drop more than enough loot and items that it shouldn't take you long to build up enough cash. Once you have the necessary funds and pick up your customized weapons and armor, you can get through the entire game without ever needing to change again. You heard correctly; this game is so easy, you can get through it without having to change from weapons and armor you upgraded three hours in.

Even if this wasn't the case, the game can become quite boring as you work your way through it. Many of the quests you will partake in are simple fetching runs. You'll be asked to get a certain item from a certain place. Then on your way to said place you will be ambushed and asked to help out in another town. You won't soon run out of quests, but they're all very similar, and with very little story backing them. This lack of variety combined with the ease of the game means that you'll likely be rushing to get through the game simply to say that you beat it. I won't ruin the end for you, but it's not worth the agony.

Dark Alliance II isn't a bad game though. The levels get repetitive after a while, and the game is far too easy, but it's still quite fun to hack up all the baddies thrown your way. In addition, upgrading your weapons and armor is a fun task that will have you spending some time at the local shop just figuring out what attributes you want to give yourself. This becomes especially meaningful when you realize it's not necessary to upgrade a second time.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II would be a fantastic first effort, but as a sequel it lacks some necessary advancements. These shortcomings become even more apparent when you compare Dark Alliance II to its rightful successor, Champions of Norrath. If you own an Xbox and not a PS2, then Dark Alliance II is your best bet for a solid Action-RPG. In fact, if you've never played the original Dark Alliance, you'll have quite a bit of fun with the sequel. However, if you own a PlayStation 2, you owe it to yourself to pick up Champions of Norrath instead of Dark Alliance II, as it takes the genre to new heights with online play and four player combat.