When Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance was first released, it made more than a few RPG fans uncomfortable. While we were happy to see a new game based on the revered Forgotten Realms universe, we weren't so happy about the choice of genre - unlike the previous games to bear the Baldur's Gate name, Dark Alliance was a straightforward hackandslash. Where 'die' had once been the singular form of 'dice', now it was merely something to scream at hordes of goblin archers...

Yet surprisingly, despite our initial misgivings, Dark Alliance turned out to be a great game. And, in the true spirit of role-playing, was far more fun to play with a friend than alone. So it should surprise no one to see that a sequel has hit the shelves - but does the simplistic gameplay still hold up in the second outing?