Graphics and Interface

The graphics in Dungeon Siege are awesome. For starters, the models are very well done. The creatures, like the giant insects and the Droog, have an original style. The level designs never ceased to amaze me – every time I walked into a new environment I was impressed. The first few sections are average, but then you hit the snowfields and it keeps getting better. I really liked the ice caves and the goblin warrens, and found myself stopping and looking around every now and again just to take it all in. I hope you get the same chance to experience the levels as I did – you may want to avoid looking too many of the screenshots.

Big ass bug

Mine worm

Snowy terrain

Animations in Dungeon Siege put the engine over the top. There’s not one thing that I noticed with a poor animation. Every creature moved like Gas Powered genetically engineered them to life and put them through motion capture. The attack animations are all very smooth, my favorite is from one of the wraith creatures – it’s a floating skeleton wearing a horned helmet. He whips off his head and whacks you with it in one fell swoop. The best animations are on the magical weapons. They don’t just glimmer and shine, some actually rain sparks down like an arc welder, while others have flowing parabolas reaching up towards the tip of the blades. Very cool.

One thing that’s always bugged me in past RPGs is the lack of models/skins for equipment. I like to see my character’s appearance change whenever I change anything they’re using. If they go from a wooden shield to a metal buckler, I want to see an obvious difference. There should be a different model for rapiers and scimitars. In Dungeon Siege I have nothing to complain about. All equipment has its own model and skin, and it’s very obvious when you change equipment since you can zoom in and see it. Even if an item is the same shape as another, they have different skins. This relatively minor graphical enhancement makes the game even more enjoyable than it already is.

One dead drake

Crystal caverns

Trudging through water

Interface

Not only does Dungeon Siege’s engine look good, it also has a good interface. The point and click interface is just as good as in Diablo II, and the camera controls are precise and easy to learn. Hotkeys make a big impact in this game – you can set configurations for your entire party with them. For example, my “1” was bound to have three melee, two ranged, and two magic attackers; “2” was bound to three melee, 1 ranged, and 3 healers. So you see you can customize your party for whatever situation you’re in, and switch on the fly if it starts hitting the fan. The interface windows are also entirely configurable, with the player able to move them anywhere around the screen or have them on or off at all times. Other useful functions include being able to pick up all dropped treasure on screen (no more hunting around for that tiny ring), and drinking partial potions.

I like Dungeon Siege’s engine so much that I really hope Gas Powered Games makes more games using it, and licenses it out to other developers. Squad-based, solo, role-playing, tactical, real-time, turn-based – any of these games could use this engine. I’d love to see a new Syndicate, X-Com, or Crusader: No Remorse game (to name a few) based on the Dungeon Siege engine. They wouldn’t even have to use the “no loading screen” feature; the rest of the engine is flexible enough. I hope to hear some announcements by E3.