Champions of Norrath confirms that developer Snowblind Studios has its finger on the pulse of the console dungeon hack genre - no matter what universe it takes place in. In this case, Norrath, the fabled land popularized in Sony Online Entertainment's online role-playing game EverQuest, serves as a great backdrop for Snowblind's creativity, delivering a nice multiplayer experience that can be played on the couch or across the world. Other companies have tried to break into the niche that Snowblind revitalized with Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance but have failed miserably. Black Isle Studios sequel, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 didn't go far enough as the first game and lacked a cohesive design and Atari's D&D Heroes didn't offer as much depth as BGDA. Champions of Norrath is the only game that is worthy of taking the throne from BGDA, offering four player multiplayer cooperative play at home and online play via the PS2 Network Adapter and SOE.net. Champions of Norrath may not be perfect (it's pretty darn close) but it it's the best bet to date on the console for pure unadulterated hack 'n slash fun.