Dungeon Siege 3 Review!

9 years ago the first Dungeon Siege game was released and it was a household favorite, well, it was in mine. 3 years after the first Dungeon Siege was released, they came out with a second one, a successful sequel. 6 years after that and Dungeon Siege 3 is released, if you are like me you got on board immediately, tried out the demo when it was announced at E3 and became a fan of the style, art, and gameplay instantly. That is of course until I got the full game.

There aren't many glitches in Dungeon Siege 3, in fact, other than a few collision issues; I didn't find any bugs at all which is fairly uncommon. So, needless to say, the game is well made. Dungeon Siege 3 looks good on a big TV with an HDMI cable but it feels a little cramped on a TV that is only of moderate size so I don't recommend this one for someone with poor vision and/or a small TV. Even though it is a very linear style the art looks fine but the developers certainly missed the key when it came to the way the characters look. In recent years video game players more and more like to be able to customize the look of their character even if it is only something as little as changing the weapon. Well, in Dungeon Siege 3, you can change the weapon! BUT it is barely noticeable so you basically are stuck with the same model throughout the game, that isn't to say the characters don't look good, you just don't get to control all the flashy parts of the character and make it your own. The sound of the game is fine, there really isn't anything standing out about the music or character fighting noises. Dungeon Siege 3 does use voice-overs for all of its communication between player and npc and they sound good but beyond that, there's not much to say about them.

The gameplay of the game is solid, there are 4 characters to choose from, the class melee 2 hander wielding/sword and board character, the ranged gunslinger, 1 purely magic based character and a character that morphs between human form and a fire like demon lady. Each character gets two forms, if you are the sword wielding character you get a 2 hander form and a sword and board form, switching between the two is as easy as press the left bumper button (we played it on Xbox360). Beyond being able to change stances/forms with each character you also get 9 skills (+2 that don't really count) 6 offensive skills, 3 for each form, and 3 defensive skills used in either stance. Every character ends up with every skill so that isn't where the customization comes in, it comes in when you pick the proficiencies for the skills. Each of the 9 skills has two proficiencies in which you can place a total of 5 points but because you can only place a total of those 5 points in any skill, you either fill one proficiency out completely or mix it up, but you can never max out both proficiencies. The game also has a talent system used to enhance your character. Unfortunately for all of this, I found that with exception to healing based skills/gear the weapon was way more important than any customization you make to your character.

Because of the dependence on your gear, you will notice times in the game where you just got a cool new weapon or something that the game is very easy, but as it takes time to find a new weapon or piece of armor that the game becomes more difficult as enemies basically out level your equipment. This draws away from the game because it then becomes a monotonous grind to find that new piece of armor unless you can get into the story, but you likely won't. The developers of Dungeon Siege 3 went to great lengths for voice-overs and animation for interaction with npcs but the story/plot is so weak it is very difficult to get behind. It doesn't grab you like you wished it did and I think if it had grabbed me I would have enjoyed the game a lot more than I did. Because of the weak story it is difficult (for me at least) to play the game for extended periods of time or even focus on it at all, I quickly find myself getting on Youtube watching some lamb being morphed into a ton of different grotesque looking things with far simpler animations instead of playing the game the developers of Dungeon Siege 3 clearly put so much effort into.

I have played the offline multiplayer a number of different times in Dungeon Siege 3, but I haven't played the online one, my understanding is that it is similar to the offline except your not sitting next to the player your playing with and that you can change who you're co-playing with from time to time. However, I wouldn't take my word on this aspect of the game since it is only what I've heard from friends.

Dungeon Siege 3 is a hack and slash, if that is what you want then this is the game for you, but if you are looking for a story and some sort of attachment with the game, you are probably better off waiting for something else to come around (SWTOR anyone?). It looks good on a big TV but because it is so far away so you can see everything it is difficult to play on a smaller TV. The plot is weak and never grabs you which made the game significantly less enjoyable and despite all the customization of each classes skills available to the players, the grind for gear wins the day as far as effectiveness is concerned.

Dungeon Siege 3 Rating: 71/100

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