Dungeon Siege 3 Demo Review

I'm not going to beat around the bush, I cannot emphasize enough how bad the handling is for a mouse and keyboard setup. If you do plan to play this game on PC, since it is a console port, I would highly recommend a controller. If not, then I'm sure you will find the game play to be less than satisfying.

The graphics are attractive but didn't entirely blow me away. Which doesn't matter all that much since I have gone back and replayed the first two game of the series in the past, just to show how much I did enjoy them. I am glad they kept with the same viewing perspective. There's just something about walking through a forest and branches flowing into my view, call me strange but it is a little addition that draws me further into the game. I do believe that the front viewing angle of the camera is a little too acute, I would much prefer it being able to pan up further for a better line of sight. Not to mention there are only two zoomed view options. It would make more sense to have a free scrolling zoom, leaving that aspect to the players preference.

I gave both offered characters a run through in the demo. My first play through was with Lucas Montbarron, the guardian. This was a class that I honestly can say I disliked mostly due to the controls which did make close quarters combat tolerable, but switching between stances somewhat clumsy. The 2-hand sword special moves will cause a great deal of damage against groups quickly. There is a charging move which basically turns your character into linebacker, smashing through and knocking aside anyone in your way. The other special move allows your character to sling a force of wind that will travel through long stretches of a group. These specials leave the giant sweeping standard combo attacks found in the 2-hand sword stance to make haste of the wounded foes in no time. While the sword/ shield stance has rapid attacks that are great for singular engagements and powerful boss enemies. The only skill I used from this stance is the shield pummel which stuns single enemies. The skill turned out to be somewhat useful at times but the focus drain can overshadow its usefulness in my opinion.

The second play through of course was with Anjali, the Archon. I enjoyed the transition between her stances mostly because she offered an excellent balance between ranged and melee attacks. She is a true support character and I really did like her offerings since she can still kick some butt. In her elemental form she shoots flames for her primary attack, so she can really reach out and touch her enemies. In the elemental form she is much more of a support character, with an immolation skill that burns her enemies while healing herself and party members. Also in her elemental is a minion of hers, a fire jackal, which does a good job pouncing on its' victims and drawing some attention from Anjali. The elemental form skills truly make her a worthy adversary when using her human form. She uses her staff in her human form to, like lucas, make sweeping attacks against multiple foes. Her special moves in her human form also allow her to do somewhat of a bicycle kick multi attack and a flying stun kick as well. Both attacks are very good at dispatching multiple opponents.

On to the skills and attribute menu's, I believe they could have done a better job in diversity. Each skill can go two directions, a 5 part mix of possibilities, to me this seems interesting but leaving the option for the additional skills behind. It seems that was primarily to satisfy the console crowd in their limited flexibility. The attribute menu seemed a little shallow as well in steering the direction of the character's development, and certain directions were obviously more favorable than others.

So all that's left is the story. In my opinion overly dramatic story telling in the chapter break cut scenes with emphasis on every other word. I also tired quickly of hearing "Jayne Kassender" since the name was repeated so frequently. Also, the interactive text cut scenes were a little boring without allowing a real change of direction in your character's path. With this being a game demo review I won't speculate further on the story and leave that for you to decide.

All in all I wouldn't give this game a top notch score, or would I trash it altogether. There are some good elements meeting the terrible which does help tip the scales to make it a little more favorable. It is a far cry from the first two Dungeon Siege games yet I believe to a beginner to hack n' slash rpg gaming it will find its' best audience, that is if you have a controller. Just keep in mind that this is a demo review and I'm only experiencing a taste of the overall game, hence the limited look into story and character development.