Rating: 
Summary: OMG
Review: I hope I can get my money back. I can't believe that so many people gave this game a good review. Mindless clicking. The good graphics and animations can't save it.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey, look, it's Diablo III, er, Dungeon Siege!
Review: Let's start with the bottom line, which will tell those who don't know anything about the game what they need to know, and inflame some of the pro-DS types just for the fun of it:Dungeon Siege is Diablo III. It's Diablo from its basic concept down to the littlest details. If you enjoy Diablo (I did), chances are you'll like this. If you didn't like Diablo, you won't like Dungeon Siege. Sure, there isn't a skill tree, and you control multiple characters at once (well, you turn multiple characters loose at once to do their own thing, which usually involves either stupidly pulling way too much to the group or ignoring a party member getting pasted), but in so many ways, the game doesn't just use the conventions of the genre, it does EXACTLY what was done in Diablo, from the big scale (random magical prefixes and suffixes on found objects) to the ridiculously small scale (regular items have yellowish white labels when the drop on the ground, magical items have blue). And the multiplayer world includes waypoints Diablo II-style that, just like in Diablo II, have to be unlocked by going to the furthest ones first. (The whole multiplayer world revolves around unlocking the big waypoints that connect the cities of the Utraean Penninsula.) For those who haven't played the Diablo series yet (all three of you), that means Dungeon Siege is about running from one horde of monsters to another, stomping them flat, taking all of their loot, doing one or two quests at a flat-out run, then repeating. That's it. And given that you can give your group individual commands that control how they behave, there's not always a lot to do after that. This is the first non-sim game I've been able to "play" while walking to the kitchen and fixing myself a snack. Because, hey, I know they can handle the hordes of spiders in that great hall. The game did not ship with its editor, or the second multiplayer world, which is a pity. Both will extend the life of this game a fair bit. As it is, after the rather long single-player game, and running around the expansive multiplayer world (although most of that map isn't required to complete the multiplayer quest, meaning many people won't see all of it), most players will put it down. Now, the Diablo II players who clawed their way up to level 99 will have a chance to get to level 120 in Dungeon Siege, but for those who don't want to hunt in a given dungeon 50 or 60 times, that's pretty much it for the game. Some positives: The game is breathtakingly beautiful, the 3D camera control is fairly intuitive, the class system is interesting if a bit thin, and pack mules are cute and it's puzzling why no one else has ever put them in a game before to my knowledge. So, once again, that bottom line: Dungeon Siege is Diablo III. If that sounds like a good thing to you, it's a definite buy. If that sounds like something you're not interested in, stay away.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelieveably pretty, but depressingly repetitive
Review: I picked up a copy of Dungeon Siege a couple of days ago. Based on a grand total of 6 hours of gameplay (what do you want? This ain't The Adrenaline Vault), I submit the following observations: The Good: This game is pretty, by which, I mean gorgeous. Sunlight streams through dense foliage, forest creatures scamper about, waves lap at beaches. Screw The Nature Channel, this is unbelieveable. Plus, no level load times, which gets to be kind of unnerving after a while. View controls are simple, and the interface generally leaves very little to be desired. Everything works pretty much the way you'd expect. The skill system is nice in that skills develop with use, as opposed to going up at arbitrary "level up" points. The Bad: The skills are actually kinda limiting. You got your Melee, Ranged, Combat Magic, and Nature magic skills... and that's it. You don't even learn spells, really: you just find scrolls that fit into a spellbook like CDs in a disc changer, and cycle between them. Many items you find in the beginning of the game are totally unusable to you, requiring stats that seem impossibly far away at the outset (stats like Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and - oh, wait, that's it - grow with experience like your skills). Example: many items you find require a minimum attribute of 13. Doesn't sound bad, considering you start at 10, but after completing the first chapter, I'd yet to have a character with a score greater than 11. The Ugly: I've met smarter enemies playing checkers with my cat: their tactics seem pretty much focused on the "pound on you with one or two weapons until you die" school of warfare. After passing the first chapter, the enemies suddenly become signifigantly more difficult: not any smarter, you understand, they just hit you a lot harder. Verdict: this game is cotton candy. Get it for the sweet graphics, look elsewhere if you're looking for satisfying gameplay.
Rating:
Summary: Hollow Beauty
Review: Good Lord, it is beautiful. If immersive atmosphere was the most important factor in a game, "Dungeon Siege" would be fine.
But after playing it for no more than one hour, most players will emerge from the wonderful world of fantasy and realize they are utterly bored.
In that one hour they will have slain hordes of monsters and they will have seen some nice views. But they will have made only one choice: Which way to kill them.
And what kind of choice is that? Could be interesting to develop a character, who starts as a farmer and changes according to his actions. But it is not.
The changes are marginal and their effects on the game are absolutely restricted to the graphics. This game has nothig to excite after the first hour. Nothing can be done other than killing monsters, there is exactly one way to go, there is no dialogue, only the occasional monologue of some stationary "character", the story is utterly predictable and even in combat no variety exists, which is especially sad for a game which offers only combat. Combat oriented roleplaying games can be fun. This one is not. Strictly speaking "Dungeon Siege" simply is no roleplaying game, as the only "role" one plays is completely predesigned. So, instead of buying this game, watch a fantasy movie. Or, if you look for a real rpg, wait for later this year, when two of them hopefully will be released. ("Morrowind", which might provide the other extreme of character freedom, and "Neverwinter Nights"). Did I mention the graphics? It makes the game beautiful. But like a succubus, it makes one hot, but does not deliver satisfaction.
Rating: 
Summary: Breathtaking - 5 Star Plus!
Review: This RPG is FUN and very addictive! The music and environment are so emmersive I get cold when I walk into the Northern towns and ichy when I run through the swamps. I have started to dream in DS, when I actually sleep that is. The gameplay is accessable you don't need to read a manual to figure it out. There are tons of hidden areas to explore on and off the path--forests, ice caverns, swamps, towns and of coarse dungeons and if you want to stay alive you will have to have a stratigy and develop your melee, archor, nature or combat magic skills. It gets harder as you get stronger. Im addicted, gotta go!
Cheers
Rating:
Summary: Nice graphics, little gameplay
Review: The first ten minutes of Dungeon Siege was great! Decent graphics, smooth animation, great soundtrack - and then the tedium sets in. A lot of little annoying user-interface problems. Sound effects for creatures that grow increasingly obnoxious. NO story or plot. Gameplay that couldn't get any less linear. Click-click-click-click. Calling this game an RPG is a misnomer at best. I'm extremely disappointed in Gas Powered Games and Microsoft, they could have done so much more. The opening and menu sequences feel quite unpolished. Pushed out the door too soon to beat NWN? I think so.
Rating:
Summary: Dungeon Siege Review
Review: Graphics
10/10! This game has some of the best graphics I have seen in a long time. The outside areas are a sight to behold. The dungeons look great. One of the great things about the graphics is not only are they bright and colorful but they are very diverse. Chris Taylor and GPS did a great job of making a world where you really feel like you are really moving forward through a living-breathing world that has so many huge diverse environments. The only bad thing I can say about the graphics and I am not sure if they are even the problem. The game seems to have huge system requirements on my p3 700 with 512 ram and a geforce 2 gts I get about 15 to 20 fps outside and 20 to 30 in dungeons. Now you have to remember that this is an action RPG so 20 fps is not that bad and you really don't see any choppiness it is just that in some areas that seem to slow down quite a bit. At some points I had only 5 to 10 fps. I am not sure this is a graphics issue though because no matter what resolution I choose or what color depth I use it does not make a difference. Now on my Dads computer. Witch is a XP 1800 with 512 ram and a geforce 3 500 he gets anywhere from 30-40 fps outside and about 60 in dungeons so it runs great on his system but most people obviously don't have that kind of system.
Sound
9.8/10: The in game music is just awesome. Some the best I have ever heard. Very ambient and really set the mode for where you are at and really helps get the juices runnin. The sound effect are great and fit each monster. The only one flaw with the sound is the in game voices. There is nothing wrong with the ones that are actually there. The problem is that there aren't very many of them. The only voices in game are from a few select NPC's I would have rather had them skip the NPC voices and had them give voices to some of the monsters like the bandits or the swamp witch.
Plot/Story
5/10: This is the only place this game doesn't shine. The story in the single player game is pretty non-existent. Now this is not a bad thing. There is tons of action and plenty of things to do it is just there is no real back-story. Now this is the only place I will mention Diablo in this review. The storyline in this game is pretty much the same as Diablo All the quest I have seen pretty much consist of going somewhere and killing some big monster and getting new treasure. Like I said pretty much the same as Diablo. While I am talking about the plot I will tell you that I have pretty much given up on single player right now. The multiplayer is just too much fun. The single player reminds me too much of playing Baldur's Gate. You end up pushing the pause button way too much and that just ruins the experience for me.
Game play
9.5/10: The Game play is just awesome. The automation that they added is really nice. can set your player to auto fire and just let him go. He will find an enemy based off of what you tell him (weakest, strongest, closest) and start fighting that monster. The auto loot is nice too but I don't use it much. I will explain why later. The action is great. It is fast and furious. you are constantly killing monsters. You will never be bored because the game doesn't allow you to be.
Multiplayer
9/10: The multiplayer game is the best way to play. I love the multiplayer. You can have up to 8 people playing at the same time in multiplayer. There are a few problems in multiplayer right now though. For one the game pauses every time someone joins the game. This has to be the biggest problem right now. Every time someone joins the game pauses for about 30 seconds while a player joins and if you in the middle of a dungeon there is no way for them to get to where you are unless they run all the way there. Now this is the reason why I don't use the auto loot and one of the big debates on the forums right now. Once you head out of town you are pretty much out there till you get to the next rest area where you can sell your stuff and buy more potions. Now some complain and want to have a way to port back to town to sell their stuff. For me I like it this way because it makes you selective on what you pick up. Some people want to be able to have pack mules in multiplayer but I think that would be the worse way to handle it. can you imagine 8 players all running around with their own pack mule. What I think would be a better way to handle it would be to have everyone a backpack about half the size of your normal inventory that you could use in multiplayer to allow you to carry a little more stuff. As far as teleport it would be nice to have waypoints that were on the main path and maybe in the dungeons. If GPG wants to stop people for using them to make loot runs constantly they could make them one way only so that you could only get on one in the town and teleport to where the rest of the people playing are.
Final comments: Right now I am having an awesome time with this game and plan on playing it for a long time to come. There are allot of really great games coming out this year but I can see this game taking up space on the little hardrive space that I have for a long time. Although there are some issues with the game right now. The fun factor is so huge that I just look past those few issue and know that Chris Taylor will get them fixed.
Final Score
Graphics 10/10
Sound 9.8/10
Plot/Story 5/10
Game play 9.5/10
Multiplay 9/10
Value 9.5/10
Overall (not an average) 9.5/10
Rating: 
Summary: Mmm great graphics BUT typical MS programming
Review: OK so after my first session playing... the graphics are astounding, the game play is a little realxing but fun, its sort of Nox meets Unreal and pretends to be Diablo. But its crashes about once an hour (on a 1ghz Athlon, raid, 32MB ATI, 128MB CAS 2) irregardless of settings. And when I say crash, I mean crash, its brings not only the game but also my usually impervious win2k system to its knees. No task manger, no reset, hard power cycle only!! I dont remeber any of the Diablos crashing ever, or the Baldur's Gates... typical Microsoft, releasing something late and expensive and unfinished! There are tons of cool ideas in this game but its a bit like the original arcade Dragon's Lair once the wow factor is over you have to live with the limitations... Everyone should see this game but I wouldn't reccomend anyone actually buy it. If you're short of cash (or sensible about such things) then wait for Neverwinter Nights - most likely a much better investment...
Rating:
Summary: Good idea...horrible execution
Review: Considering everyone else gave it four or five stars, I feel odd giving this game a poor rating...however, I have to be honest. I thought the game lacked in many areas: 1. You have to save your game (did the developers play Diablo II?). This is in single player. 2. If all of your party members die, you don't have the option to respawn in a town. Again in single player. 3. I felt the game play was slow. 4. The quest log in multiplayer gets erased everytime you log off. 5. the game view can get dizzying after a while 6. The mapping feature was basically useless 7. Multiplayer mode seemed like it lacked a lot I would like to hear other people's opinion, but didn't it seem like this game ignored all of the great things that RPG's have been developing over the years? I like the approach to a classless system. I also like the mule concept. The game can also be entertaining if you play with friends over the Internet. All in all though, this game will have zero play time after some of the other RPG's scheduled for release this year hit the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Dungeon Siege or Bust...
Review: I've played numerous Fantasy RPG's, and few have fired my imagination and awe right out of the box like Dungeon Siege has. I tip my hat to you folks at GPG.
The graphics are THE BEST to date. The seamless travel between areas is both refreshing and at the same time totally unnoticed.
I've only played the single person game so far, but I'm looking forward to trying the online multiplayer game.
I have to give 'em TWO THUMB'S UP!!!...
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