The first time I played Dark Alliance was in a Wal-Mart store while waiting for my car's oil to be changed. I didn't expect to be seriously impressed by anything I sampled for that short while, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a game that suited my fancy.

Sound

The sound in Dark Alliance plays a large part in making an impression on the game. Sound effects in the game are done well. The most subtle details of the game have quality sound effects and it successfully adds to the overall realness of the game. In Dark Alliance there are plenty of sound effects ranging from the pitter patter of your character's feet to the clatter of dropped weapons. They are a definite plus here. The background music in Dark Alliance impressed me very much. The game features a completely original soundtrack by acclaimed composer Jeremy Soule. It has all the basic adventurous elements that adds a great feel to the game. However well done the music may be, I still noticed a somewhat large flaw. While playing the game the music will start, and play, and then stop in the middle of nowhere. The tracks are clearly too short and aren't looped very well. It makes the gameplay awkward and works against the overall theme of the game. The voiceovers in the game are of fantastic quality. Each character's voice in Dark Alliance was original and fit their graphics well. They were also very clearly spoken and masterfully dubbed into the game. The voice recordings are an immediate plus to the game that carries on from start to finish.

Gameplay

A long long time ago in a galaxy, well... this same galaxy, there was once a game series called Diablo. You might remember these pieces created by Blizzard Entertainment for the PC. As soon as I picked up the controller and started to play Dark Alliance I was reminded of Diablo. For fans of the series, you'll definitely be in for a sweet remembrance of the style of gameplay. As soon as you start a new game you get to choose between three different types of characters which ads a nice variety to the game. The camera's angle is used very well for this style of game. Also, the constant swatting of batties and looting them of their booty comes into good favor. Unfortunately, you might like Diablo's gameplay system better than Dark Alliance's. First off, the menus work a little strangely. To get into your inventory you have to pause the game, and then choose the inventory option. Simply put, it becomes tedious and frustrating while trying to maintain fast-paced play. At the same time though the inventory itself is innovative and fresh. The number of goods you can hold or wear is all controlled by the amount of weight your character can carry. A character can up the amount of weight he can carry by gaining more levels. Speaking of leveling, it works alright for the game, but it didn't impress me at all. The leveling system doesn't really make your character yours. In a game like Diablo there were a whole lot of ways you could develop your character and make him unique. Here the leveling system is basically there to help you along in the game. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have help getting along in the game, but none of the options for putting your skill points on are really unique or stand out. Also, the constant fighting with monsters becomes a bore. At least in Diablo you had special enemies that were immune or super strong, but in Dark Alliance they're basically all the same and it gets really boring. The only thing that sets itself apart from the Diablo series is the jump feature. In this game you can jump around from platform to platform or box to box in order to add more difficulty in navigating the dungeons. The story is nothing to be too excited about. I don't want to give anything away but it basically follows the usual guidelines of a good vs. evil plot. After playing through it I decided I hadn't made a real connection with any of the characters, including my own, and a good game with a solid plot requires that you begin to love or hate the characters in it. It just doesn't happen here. Gameplay could definitely be better with a little more effort, because it certainly has potential. The entire game looks and feels so rushed.

Graphics

The graphics in Dark Alliance hit a brick wall. I don't know who played through this game and said it was OK to go to sale, but it's certainly not. The graphics of the game can perform decently at first but then start to glitch so much that it's embarrassing. For instance, in the game there is a second player load feature that will let you load players of another game file to join your game. It's a great and innovative feature but can have horrible effects on your game. If you try to load a second player into your game while you are in a narrow hallway, about 70% of the time the character you're loading will load within the walls of the dungeon where he is uncontrollable and thereby makes your game impossible to play because both playing characters must be within a certain proximity of one another. The game has no idea it can't load a character into the walls! It's disgusting to see a game that looks so rushed. Also, sometimes out of the blue, when you're trying to load another character into your game the graphics go haywire and all you see is crystals of color on your screen, so you have to restart. Lastly, the frame rate of the game is deplorable. It's bad in easily run scenarios (dungeons) and even worse in hard to run scenarios (where there are weather effects). There must have been a serious deadline rush on this game.

Replayability

The replayability of the game seems to start off with good marks, since you can choose to play through the game as three different types of players. The fact of the matter is, however, that each of the characters are much too similar to make the impact it could have. Granted, each of the characters has a few of their own special techniques they can use. Also they look and sound different. But nevertheless the game is exactly the same because you fight the same bosses, complete the same quests, and complete the exact same game. As for the character-special techniques, there really aren't enough to call them separate characters. In a game like Diablo you had three categories of all unique skills you could use on your character. Here in Dark Alliance there are very few skills that you can switch around when creating a character.

Overall

This game does nothing but make me wonder about how a company could rush production so much. The game has enormous potential, if only they had put a little more time into thinking it out and playing their own game. The good parts of the game are drastically outweighed by the bad and this game is barely good enough to rent. If you like games like Diablo I recommend you check this game out on a rent. Otherwise, leave your money in your pocket.