Quick Look: Dungeon Siege III

I am fond of the work that Obsidian does when it comes to taking franchises (some forgotten, some not) and then putting their own spin on it, and so I will be spending some time with Dunegon Siege III, published by Square Enix, in the coming days.

The initial stages of the game reveal a possibly deep, really frantic and potentially very replayable action role-playing game although there are also some issues that could make the experience less than enjoyable in the long term.

The initial variety of characters is pleasing, although no actual changes can be made to skills or abilities, and I chose to go with the long-range firepower of Katarina before jumping right into the game.

One of the first things that hits anyone playing on the PC, as I am doing, is that the interface has been specifically designed with the home consoles in mind and that the PC port is a bit lazy, not bothering to link the movement of the game camera with the mouse.

The second problem is the placement of the said camera, which seems to hang at a weird angle behind the character, too close and to steep to allow the player to see exactly what's coming up ahead, a big problem during the longer and tougher combat sections.

So far the battles are enjoyable and quick, with my character firing off rounds while dancing and plunging in order to stay as far away from the enemies as possible.

There are some magical abilities thrown in for good measure and the combat seems poised to open up in the coming hours, as more characters interact with Katarina and more abilities are unlocked.

Dungeon Siege III is good looking, although not impressive and so far the story is only basic, but I trust Obsidian's narrative chops will come through at some point.

Here's a look at Dungeon Siege III in action: