Snowblind Studios

Game Description: Published by the creators of EverQuest and developed by the team behind Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath is an Action RPG like none other on the PlayStation 2. Create your own champion, each with unique powers, appearances and skills. Experience an epic adventure filled with powerful action and ominous intrigue. Battle vicious monsters where your mastery of weaponry and spells is the only thing between you and supreme evil. Champions of Norrath allows gamers to create their own unique hero to journey from the city of Faydwer into the wilds of Norrath to save the land from a gathering army of evil orcs and goblins. Players can adventure alone or with a band of up to three other players either over the Internet or on a single PlayStation 2 with a Multitap. Import player characters into friends' games using a memory card and then take them home to play solo-the play options offer console gamers the freedom to play anytime and from any location. Champions of Norrath offers players more than 100 hours of gameplay per player character, unlimited battles, deadly missions and unmatched character customization in an enthralling fantasy world.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Violence

Usually we identify good videogames by the time that we spend with them. After all, if we spend loads of time playing a game, then it follows that the game is quality, right? Right? I'm not so sure. Even if a game compels us to play it, that doesn't necessarily means that the game is compelling. Spending hours reading Harlequin romances or watching old Transformers episodes is hardly an indication that the media involved is noteworthy. The human mind is easily entrapped.

The ESRB reports that this game contains: Blood, Use of Alcohol, Violence

The release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the PlayStation 2—a high-profile PC franchise appearing on a console—is something unusual. This is not entirely new, as the Ultima series made appearances on consoles in addition to its original PC releases. But Dark Alliance differs from the console versions of Ultima in that its gameplay deviates heavily from its franchise-mates on the PC. The other Baldur's Gate games were an excellent example of the PC style of role-playing games—open-ended strategic games based heavily on rules from pencil-and-paper RPGs. Instead, Dark Alliance is a fast-paced, real-time action game where one player controls one character; any attached rules are mainly flavoring for the main course of arcade-style action. Given the incredible difference in gameplay, it's no surprise that rather than attempt to build Dark Alliance itself, franchise studio Black Isle contracted Snowblind Studios to develop it.

Game Description: Experience the massively popular world of Baldur's Gate as never before! Dark Alliance thrusts you into an epic adventure filled with intense action, intricate puzzles and sinister intrigue: where your mastery of cold steel and devastating spells is the only thing between you and ultimate evil. Play as one of three amazing heroes, each with unique powers, appearances and skills and hack and slash your way through more than 40 action-packed levels and battle over 35 vicious creatures including Gelatinous Cubes, Frost Giants and Dragons.

I don't know why developers are so averted to bringing computer-style role-playing games (RPG) to home videogame consoles. The Baldur's Gate series is a critically acclaimed, popular title in the PC gaming world. While Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the PlayStation 2 brings gamers closer to the Dungeons And Dragons RPG setting, the title proves that sometimes the apple falls a bit too far from the tree. In short, Dark Alliance doesn't represent the same caliber game to which PC gamers are treated.