Video Game Reviews & Ratings

Champions of Norrath Review

Even though it uses the same engine as the Dark Alliance games, Champions of Norrath lacks the ambition to stand out. Still, it does feature a neat item upgrade system, some beautiful locations, and character classes actually differ from each other. Unfortunately, its voice acting could have been better, its ranged weapon system is quite awkward, and its programming is too easily exploited.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II Review

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II builds upon the foundation of the original title in order to make it appealing not merely to console gamers itching to mash some buttons, but also to those looking for a genuine RPG experience. As such, it improves the ranged weapons system and offers a better variety of character classes. It's still way too linear and lacks any involved quests.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Review

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance may be light on RPG elements and a completely different beast compared to the games that came before it, but even though its quests are secondary to looting, it still offers plenty of goblin-bashing fun and some beautiful scenery. The game's ranged weapon system is a bit lacking and some of its levels are pretty repetitive, but hey, at least you can import a higher level character at any point and breeze right through it.

Final Fantasy XI Online Review

An MMORPG that preserves the spirit of the single-player series that spawned it, Final Fantasy XI Online offers good character development, great animation, a player-driven economy, and quests and dungeons galore. It is a bit of a time sink and can prove tricky to learn for keyboard users, but its biggest flaw is that it's a solved two-year-old game and the North American players are all late to the party.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Review

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is a console-centric action RPG set in the Fallout universe. And if that alone isn't enough to drive you away, you'll be able to discover a solid action RPG with addictive gameplay, huge arsenal of weapons, and good level design. Sadly, it suffers from the same static camera angle as Dark Alliance and has very little music. At the end of the day, it may not be Fallout as we know it, but is still fun in its own right.

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Review

The second Neverwinter Nights expansion – Hordes of the Underdark – offers a well-designed campaign featuring both new and returning characters, great picks for prestige classes, epic levels, and a much better story than SoU. If you already have Neverwinter Nights, owning Hordes is pretty much a must. Just keep in mind that you probably won't hit the level cap of 40 just by playing the expansion alone.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic PC Review

A brilliantly executed RPG and an instant classic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is both a great RPG and a great Star Wars game. And if you consider its unique balance between story, RPG & adventure that's highly replayable and well-balanced for both the light and dark side, diverse worlds, and an interface that's easy to navigate, it becomes hard not to call it a masterpiece. Just be aware of some possible framerate stutters and painfully long FMV transitions.

Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna Review

The fact the Legends of Aranna expansion comes pre-packaged with the base Dungeon Siege game makes it a worthwhile purchase for anyone who hasn't yet experienced this particular hack-and-slash RPG. At its core, it's a fun yet mindless dungeon romp that can serve as a great way to relax after a stressful day. But if you're looking for complexity, you'd better look elsewhere.

The Temple of Elemental Evil Review

For all its cool ideas, excellent combat system, detailed character development via feats and skills, and fine graphics, The Temple of Elemental Evil is simply too raw and buggy to be considered a decent, not to mention good, RPG. Especially if you consider all its FedX quests and minimalist roleplaying. If the idea of playing through a classic D&D adventure in a neat digital engine excites you, then you should at least wait for some patches before picking this one up.