I swear this game has the biggest copyright information I have ever seen. It starts with one big page of legalese followed by not one, but two screens of six logos and trademarks. The game reflects its high corporate backing by feeling more like a manufactured product and less like a created game. In fact, lots of aspects and components of this game reflect poorly on each other. So I guess the theme of this review is reflection.

This might be the most difficult review I ever have to write. The game is totally unremarkable, in both good and bad points. For every polished, shining spot, there is an ugly, rusty dent right under it. But above all, I believe I was the more bored with this title than I have ever been with any other game I have ever played, and that reflects poorly on its GameCube counterpart.

It seems that in Baldur’s Gate, my mission is to kill things in sewers and pick stuff up. Rats, Spiders, weird goblin-things, more rats, different colored weird goblin things, until I eventually find a bigger version of a rat for a boss. All in the sewers under the city. Now to be fair, there are times where I fought things in the city like zombies and skeletons, but it was essentially the same boring kill/take key/pick stuff up routine. I would mention the missions that townsfolk send you on, but they always involve killing things as well, so nothing is different. There are the occasional bigger monsters like minotaurs, and they may seem imposing, but as long as you run to the other side of a door, they stop and wonder why their AI broken, as you flay them senseless. That even works on bosses. In fact the most difficult task to accomplish in this game is chasing down these spear-throwing goblin-things as they run from you. You often miss them, and that means more chasing. Is this fun for anybody?

The blandness of the gameplay is reflected in its graphics. They are quite good for a GBA game, with your character being polygonal (albeit pixelated), and the maps having a good bit of detail, and the animation is fluid. Despite the overall above-average graphics, they are dull, mundane, generic… pick a synonym for bland, that describes it. The maps colors and layout get reused a lot in the sewers, and the inside of the Tavern in which you start is pretty much what every building looks like. Nothing stands out, and this makes it a hotbed for confusion. They look good, but the overall commonness of the graphical part cheapens the effort of the visual designers.

The unfortunate dichotomy of the graphics is reflected in the sound department. The sound appears to be well-recorded, and of high production value. The problem here lies and both scarcity and repetition. Despite the ever droning silence of the game, there is music at certain events, like boss fights, and in certain buildings. It’s just too bad that it isn’t used more, because I rather like it. I can’t say the same thing about the sound effects. The effects I most hear are an annoying grunt by your character, stuff breaking/dying, and the sound of you picking stuff up. And I don’t like any of it. And that is all you will hear for a long time. Such repetitiveness gets old and you’ll beg for the silence I mentioned earlier.

To be honest, I did not play Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance all the way through to the end, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t think a change in locale means a change in gameplay. I did not play all of it, but I did play enough to find AI flaws, get bored, and generally not like it at all. You do not have to play all of this game to experience all it has to offer. And that reflects poorly on the designers.

To be honest, I did not play Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance all the way through to the end, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t think a change in locale means a change in gameplay. I did not play all of it, but I did play enough to find AI flaws, get bored, and generally not like it at all. You do not have to play all of this game to experience all it has to offer. And that reflects poorly on the designers.