Dungeon Siege (Mac)

Rating:
Summary: Fun but not Baldur's Gate
Review: This game ran ok for me on an iMAC 400DV G3with 320RAM even though the box says you need a 450. The game was to linear for me. It was fun but not enough interaction between players and NPCs. There was one particular way of doing everything with no alternatives. The Baldur's Gate series was much more to my liking.

Rating:
Summary: Good But Not Great
Review: This is a very solid RPG game and I would reccomend it to anyone (such as myslelf) who is frustrated with the lack of quality games on the mac. However, if you've been reading a lot of stellar reviews of this game, then don't believe the hype. First of all, DS does have a lot of great things going on, technology wise it's one of the best RPGs i've ever seen. The graphics and effect are awesome, the character animation is good, and even though the game is relatively complex it ran very smoothly on my humble system (g4 imac 700mhz) - which is a testimony to the programmers at macsoft who obviously have a little bit of know-how compiling code for PPC. Perhaps the best thing about the game is it's spirit of inovation, most of the current computer RPG conventions have been turned on their head (although the game borrows heavily, or should i say HEAVILY, from Diablo II) and this means that the game play is streamlined and effecient with more time spent on exploring and battling than managing stats/spells and equipment. Two of the stand out achievments of this game are the inclusion of a packmule (a donkey that follows your party around to carry your loot) and the fact that there are no predetermined character classes (characters simply excel at what they do most so for example if you want to train an archer, just give that character some quality bow time and his/her stats will be on the rise in no time). Okay, well as for the faults, there are way too many to list, but 3 of the main downsides are: 1. a very ackward point and click interface that is hard to control and responds erratically, sometimes it's impossible to know where you are going, or to get where you want to go without clicking all over the place, especailly in some of the tighter areas where characters are often hidden by walls or disappear completely because they are standing on a flight of stairs slightly above you (you can still get shot by characters you can't see!, or even click on to alert your guys to fight back) The worst part about moving around is that the game will only allow you to move onto certain areas and the rest of the time the cursor turns into this ENORMOUS red NO (cirlce with line) icon, for instance if you click on a tree instead of just walking to the tree and standing next to it you get flashed with this hideous icon which looks like something from a construction site, not a fantasy game. This especially sucks in the heat of battle when you are trying to organize your characters but they just stand ther while you click wildly around looking for some ground that the game will let you stand on. 2. complete lack of a coherent or compelling story (you develop no attachment to any of the characters, it could even be said that the characters have no character) and 3. lack of details within the design of the game, overall it feels like the product of a huge team of people who really didn't communicate with each other to create a wholistic vision, the look and feel of the game changes erratically throughout your adventure, some characters speak audibly, others you have to read though bubbles in silence (not that there is anything wrong with that, think of the orignal Zelda, I just think it shuould be consisnent and the lack of voice acting in some parts make the game feel unfinished) some of the enemy's look cool and menacing while others are silly, rainbow colored, and impossible to take serioulsy, the quest system is completely redundant (the game guides you along very narrow path to completion (your chances of getting lost are about the same as the original Donkey Kong), i stopped reading my "quest journal" after the first 20 minutes and never skipped a beat. I could go on and on with all of the tiny detail that irk me, but the end result is that these little annoyances kept me from becoming immersed in the game. I spent most of my time playing thinking "oh that would be so cool if..." and then basically feelig let down. So if you are looking for the next Diablo II, i wouldn't waste your time with DS, i mean come on could MicroSoft ever be as cool as Blizzard? And I mention MicroSoft cos I really do think that the blandness of the game must have something to do with the fact that it was generated by this huge bland corporation. But if you are the kind of person who is wooed by fancy graphics and don't really get off on fantastic gameplay or interesting plot twist, or you are just bored to tears with all of your shareware puzzle games that you downloaded from Ambrosia and never paid for, the perhaps Dungeon Siege can scratch that itch until you get Frozen Throne or WOWC comes out.

Rating:
Summary: Great game
Review: This is the best game that I've ever played on the Mac. It has stunning, fluid 3D graphics; a nice sound score; and a short learning-curve to master the controls.
Also, the publisher encourages fans, enthusiasts and would-be programmers to create their own adventures, and share them with others. There are some commercial-grade adventures available online, for free; and all adventure modules written on a PC will run on a Mac, as well.
A quality piece of software with a number of InterNet communities. A good value for the amount of money to the amount of time you will spend playing the game.
I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A Higher Degree of Fun
Review: This is the best game that I've ever played on the Mac. It has stunning, fluid 3D graphics; a nice sound score; and a short learning-curve to master the controls.
Also, the publisher encourages fans, enthusiasts and would-be programmers to create their own adventures, and share them with others. There are some commercial-grade adventures available online, for free; and all adventure modules written on a PC will run on a Mac, as well.
A quality piece of software with a number of InterNet communities. A good value for the amount of money to the amount of time you will spend playing the game.
I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Fun while it lasted
Review: With a enjoyable single player campaign, Dungeon Siege is a solid game, but sadly is rather hadicapped. The campaign is far too short, rather simple, and not very replayable. Multiplayer is extremely lacking, needing a centralized server to be of any use.

Rating:
Summary: Fun while it lasted
Review: With a enjoyable single player campaign, Dungeon Siege is a solid game, but sadly is rather hadicapped. The campaign is far too short, rather simple, and not very replayable. Multiplayer is extremely lacking, needing a centralized server to be of any use.

Rating:
Summary: Very good game, but disappointing for me.
Review: Yes, there's a lot that's good and impressive about this game. The graphics and sound are excellent. The gameplay is intuitive and easy to master. Comparing this game to the older game Diablo II, it certainly has some enhancements compared to Diablo II. The graphics are better, and you can move the camera angle around. You can command several characters, and build their skills however you like. But its hack and slash, minimal-strategy gameplay is equivalent to that of Diablo II. I've played it for several hours, and have not been impressed. I was hoping for and expecting a game that would take this type of game to a new level. But it doesn't achieve that. There's nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary here. Very linear storyline and gameplay.