Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna

               Demo from many places including
    www.microsoft.com/games/dungeonsiegeloa/downloads.asp

                      Reviewed by Sue

I haven't played Dungeon Siege but from adding the solution to
SynTax I thought it looked like my kind of game. But the test with
me and RPGs is whether or not I can handle the combat. I had lots
of problems with Baldur's Gate ... would Dungeon Siege be as
problematic? I decided to test it out playing the demo for their
new game.

There are single or multiplayer options - I chose single and a new
game. The avatar I was shown had to be dressed and configured in
paper doll fashion but unusually this one was slightly animated.
She posed as I decided how I wanted to look.  Kitted out with long
silver hair, a green top and purple trousers, I was ready for
action. There were three difficulty levels ... yes, I chose easy.
You can change it while you're playing.

"Aranna, said the intro, is an ancient land, ravaged by war and
fallen into ruin. The evil creature who terrorised the land has
been defeated. But in his place, a new dark force has arisen - the
Shadowjumper. You are the next in a line of heroes, unaware of
what is to come, as you practice your skills with a bow." I liked
the way my character appeared in the introduction.  This makes you
feel that the game is very personally geared to your character.

The game started in the village of Arhok. A world map can be
displayed, showing the known world so far. More areas are revealed
as you play. A 'megamap' does the same for the local area. My
journal showed I must speak to the Mayor, Hardison Dhon. Trying to
find him I met Moht. He told me that several caravans had been
attacked and dark creatures were approaching the town walls. The
Mayor had shut the gates. It's time to prove myself! He told me to
get my equipment from the basement and go to the Mages' guild in
the centre of town. I did as he told me. As well as some parts of
a set of armour, I found a book that told me about the Ancient
Utraeans. These mysterious people play a big part in the game.

I found the Mayor. He told me monsters had taken over the storage
cave and were guarding something called the Displacer.  He said
he'd unlocked the north gate for me so I could clear out the
monsters who had been attacking the caravans. I'd get a reward
when I came back.

I went out, hacking and slashing. Fighting my way past ice worms,
wargs and ice moths, I crossed a bridge and found Jondar. He told
me he had been travelling with a caravan that was ambushed and
destroyed by an army of creatures, led by a giant. He had been
guarding a magical staff but this had been stolen by a dark
skeletal creature. He asked to join me to recover the staff.

I agreed and off we went. He was a good fighter and had a two
spells ready, Zap and Healing Hands. We found the caravan and
several dead bodies. Nearby we found the storage cave.  There were
more wolves inside and ... a yeti! Soon I found that was the least
of our problems. Having picked off a few yetis we found a group of
four yetis and a giant. Lots of health potions were needed to get
through THAT battle and recover the staff. A nearby teleport,
which turned out to be the mysterious Displacer, let us travel
back to town. That was some trip! Going back to the Mayor with the
staff completed the demo - I was really disappointed to see the
end of it.

How does the game play? Very well. I found it very controllable.
Movement uses the mouse, both for travel and rotating the view.
Even on my 800mhz PC it was very smooth. Arhok was deep in snow
and the falling snowflakes gave a great atmosphere.

There's no risk of forgetting what you're meant to be doing.
Everything you do is recorded in your journal so you can re-read
your quests.

Attacking uses a left click of the mouse. I went for a repeating
action but found a single click meant my character just kept
fighting. In fact she did better when I left her alone! If a
monster appeared, she dashed in - hack, slash - done. Maybe this
is part of the easy setting though I think it's to do with the
basic combat settings. These allow you to Engage, Attack Freely or
Target Closest. Whatever caused it, this set-up suited me fine.

Once you get outside the town there are barrels to break into to
get their contents, usually healing potions. Two icons on the
screen let you quickly drink a mana or health potion or distribute
all the ones you have between your players. Playing tips pop up at
regular intervals. One of these explained that you can set up 10
spell and skill configurations that can be recalled using a hotkey
- a great time saver.

There are other nice touches. Items you find are identified with a
title. This makes it easy to see what's lying on the ground after
you open a chest or search a bookshelf. Less risk of leaving
behind any goodies! There are certainly lots to collect including
cool sets of armour.

This is a massive 240+ meg demo but well worth the download time.
The full game has over 20 hours of play. Even I should be able to
complete it in a month! Compared to the original game there are 70
new monsters and 50 new spells. The party has better AI, backpacks
are larger and there are many other enhancements including a pack
animal that will not only carry your treasure but fight to the
death to defend it.

I loved this demo! Definitely one for my 'must get' list and my
'demo of the month'. And if that wasn't tempting enough, the
original Dungeon Siege comes with it - free!










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