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Thumbs up for Dungeon Siege 3

I have just completed  Dungeon Siege 3 and I am giving the game a very strong thumbs up. As long as you don't approach the game with set expectations of what a hack and slash adventure should be then you will find a very enjoyable action adventure game with one of the best stories I have ever seen in a dungeon crawler. Mind you that is isn't saying much but it is refreshing to have some kind of coherent wrapper for your spree of rampant monster killing.

Yes the game has flaws even if you set aside the prejudice that "it isn't a real Hack and Slash". The biggest complaint for single player is that the itemisation and stat systems are somewhat random and generally confusing. Nevertheless it is still a great single player experience.

Multi-player has come in for criticism because it is a lot less flexible than it should be. You can help out another player by "driving" a character in their game but you cannot bring your own character. I can see the disadvantages of this system but I am  having a lot of fun playing co-op with my daughter. She is playing through on easy setting and I drop in to give her a hand whenever I am around. It literally is drop in / drop out. I pick up a second controller press a button and I get into the game.  If I drop the controller then after a few seconds my character reverts to AI control. Overall I think this system is great for local co-op where you are helping out a friend or family member but I can see why it seems rather pointless for internet play. Why would you want to jump into a strangers game and just help them out with no lasting benefit to your own character?

Warning to PC players: As with most 3rd person action games these days an Xbox 360 controller is strongly recommended and that means two are needed for local co-op.


Comments

Jayedub said…
Dungeon Siege 3's problem was the expectations put upon it by fans of the older games. I personally think DS3 is a great game that wasn't given a fair chance.
mbp said…
I agree JD. Personally I prefer DS3 to the original Dungeon Siege but really they aren't the same type of game at all and really don't warrant comparison.

That being said however I do think that Obsidian's implementation of multi-player in DS3 was a tactical mistake. By not allowing people to bring their own character into online matches they killed the attraction of internet play for many folks and that didn't help sales one bit.

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