FamousFive

I’ll be honest by stating that I’m not a huge fan of Role Playing Games.  In fact I tended to avoid them like the plague.  I was more of a Motor Racing or First Person Shooter kind of gamer.  Not some-one who spent hours building up a character from scratch, collecting hidden loot and making my character more and more powerful.  That was until Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 changed everything for me.  It was an RPG that focused on weapons  rather than magic, and had a really cool, post apocalyptic setting.  It was my kind of game.

Then Fallout New Vegas came along, and whilst it has some issues, I was in heaven again.

So when Dungeon Siege III came along, bearing the developed by Obsidian Entertainment claim, I decided to jump in.

Whilst there is a lot to praise Dungeon Siege III for, it is not a game I can recommend for gamers like me, who decided to wet their feet in the RPG genre through Fallout.  For one, Dungeon Siege III is more of a dungeon crawl game.  Rather than the fast, explore-able expanses of the nuclear wastelands in the Fallout series, Dungeon Siege III comes with a seemingly linear path.  YOu have to chose to go left or right, there is no forging your own path.

Then there are the characters – fortunately there was one who liked to play with guns – though to play that character I had to become a hot woman with not much in the way of clothing.  The problem however, is that whilst there are a number of different guns to collect, most of them are just variations of each other.

Then there’s the POV.  In Fallout you had two options, third person and first person.  I’ve played Fallout exclusively in first person – it’s just how I see the world.  With Dungeon Siege III, you also have two options, but they are both third person and disable you from really seeing what’s ahead.  For a FPS junkie like myself, this was a huge barrier to the game.

On the plus side, Dungeon Siege III looks good and plays surprisingly well within it’s constraints.  It comes with a story-line that engages you and drives the game along and a combat system, that once you master it, works like a charm.

Of course being a FPS, combat was initially messy. with my character shooting in the opposite direction from her enemies most of the time.  BUt once I’d found (what seems to be) the three main types of gun, and figured out the combat mechanics and the third person restraints, I was able to switch between my long range rifle, my close combat pistols and my bad-ass shot gun with ease, whilst dodging attacks left and right.

Like Fallout, Dungeon Siege III has the main mission, but also gives you plenty of options to do side quests,  These quests of course help you level up quicker and discover more treasure.  Though to be honest, treasure hunting wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been, with the rewards mostly seeming un-worthy of encouraging more hunting.

As a sub-genre, I don’t think I’ll return to the dungeon crawl style of gaming – it just doesn’t quite do it for me.  I like forging my own path and discovering new things.  That’s not to say that I haven’t had fun with Dungeon Siege III however, as I have.  It’s always good to step outside of your comfort zone, and Dungeon Siege III, I got used to the mechanics and style of game, was a blast.

It is however, not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.  But if you are a RPG fan and you like the dungeon crawl mentality, then you’ll find that Obsidian have done a bang up job with this third installment of the Dungeon Siege franchise.