Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a little quirky, but it's an undeniably addictive monster bash. It was probably most notable for its main characters, a small cast of neophyte adventurers who you could design according to your gameplay preference, choosing weapons, special attacks, spells, armor, and capabilities as you saw fit, over the course of their leveling.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II takes its predecessor's gameplay, and gives you more of everything.

Each of these five characters, as with the three before them, start at first level with no equipment, walking towards Baldur's Gate to seek their fortune. A chance encounter with the aftermath of a goblin raid sets the pace for what turns out to be an ultraviolent adventuring career, taking your crew all over the face of Faerun in order to thwart the schemes of another unified force for evil.

Right now, our game's focusing on an Allessia who wildly abuses Flame Strike and Ysuran as a summoner, with occasional guest shots by a Vhaidra who is monomaniacally obsessed with being able to kill things with a stick, preferably things that are somewhere within a two-hundred-seventy-degree angle of her back. We could've just as easily focused on Allessia as a complete tank, stacking on the heavy armor, investing in more hit points via Toughness, and charging into the middle of the fray; spent all Ysuran's feat points on his direct-damage spells like Contagion or Enervation; or saved money on equipment by concentrating on Vhaidra's unarmed combat skills. If you play as Borador, you can use him as an archer or a thief or a trapper; Redbear can be an armored attacker, a lightly-armored berserker, or a warrior who lives and dies by his arsenal of special moves.

You'll find that Dark Alliance II is, cosmetically, not much different from the original. You'll still be entering intricate, top-down dungeons with the intent of extinguishing all sapient life within, with the possible exception of the occasional hostage. Puzzles must be solved, keys must be found, treasure chests must be opened, and sharp things must be driven at high velocities into soft things that bleed and scream.

Those sharp things are a little different, though. In the original, you could buy items from handy stores, or find magical equipment in treasure chests as you progressed through dungeons. The specific qualities of that equipment were randomly generated, so you were rolling the dice every time you found a new item. In Dark Alliance II, the random factor has been mitigated somewhat by the fact that now, you're the one who designs and commissions your own magical items.

The same goes for armor; if you find Fine or better breastplates, gloves, helmets, or boots, you can create special items that protect against more than just damage. A helmet may cut down on or eliminate the time you spend stunned or paralyzed; a pair of boots may grant you the Sprint feat or protect you against ground hazards.

To generate that bank, you'll be sent on missions by the townsfolk, into some of the most wretched holes the Realms has to offer. Dark alchemy laboratories, haunted catacombs, old-school dungeons packed with traps, the headquarters of thieves, formerly peaceful villages, and more will all be stops along your trip, each of which is packed to the rafters with dozens of monsters who need to be put in the ground.