The installation is pretty simple. Select where you want it installed, and let the installer run.

Many people call this a blend of Diablo, Baulder's Gate, and Myth; let me tell you, they are correct. It has the hack and slash aspects of Diablo, multiple characters like Baulder's Gate, and 360° camera angles like Myth. This makes for a unique game with many fun aspects.

One of the coolest things about Dungeon Siege is the ability to have up to eight characters in your party at once. You control these characters all at the same time, trying to manage them in battle, and manage their inventories out of battle. While you may be turned off by the aspect of having to manage up to eight inventories at the same time, don't be. There is an extra cool button in the inventory view that will automatically arrange your items to make the most available free space in one contiguous block as possible. Therefore, you don't have to do all the inventory juggling yourself.

To help you further with your inventory management is the ability to have a pack mule. Possibly the most unparalleled aspect of this game, the pack mule follows your party around, happily storing twice as many items as anyone else in your party. And since he does not have any was of defending himself, the pack mule will run away from danger, but come back to your party when you have cleared away the enemies.

All this talk about the inventories may get you wondering what kinds of items you can store in them. Well, there are all sorts of interesting items you can pick up. Melee weapons include swords, axes, clubs, table legs, staffs, knifes, and many more. Ranged weapons include bows, cross bows, flame throwers, grenade launchers, electricity guns, etc. You can also pick up different armor, helmets, shields, boots, gloves, rings, amulets, potions, spells, and more. You will never be at a loss of cool new items.

Enough with the inventory, let's get to the characters themselves. The experience gaining in this game is done a little different than with Diablo. Here, various aspects (strength, intelligence, melee skill, etc.) get experience added to them depending on your fighting style. For instance, if you like to use ranged weapons, your ranged attack and dexterity will grow faster than any other skill. This way, you can mold your characters to compliment your fighting style(s).

The same experience system is used for spell casters. In Dungeon Siege, there are two types of spells: combat spells and nature spells. Combat spells include fire, bombs, and an array of monsters to summon. Nature spells fall into the category of lighting, cold, and various other monsters. The only way to increase your characters' spell abilities is by using them often. Personally, I like to have one character experienced in nature magic, one in combat magic, and then various other characters.

The rest of the review is more of an overall look at the game, starting with the graphics. The graphics in this game are spectacular. A lot of hard work went into the visual aspect of the game. Various items light up with magical powers, your characters take on the look of the weapons and armor they are equipped with, objects in the way of the camera become transparent so you can still see your characters, spells looks fantastic, and the game as a whole just looks good. Unfortunately, this attention to detail can take its toll on your system. There were times when even my Dual 2GHz G5 lagged, and that was with graphics settings down from the highest level.

To go along with the good looking graphics, cameras ala Myth have been integrated well into this game. You can move the camera all over the place, zooming, orbiting, rotating, etc. No matter where your characters are in the world, you can get a good look at what they are up to. This is a great change over the normal third-person view that normally accompanies this type of game.

There are some other niceties to this game. First, you can pause the action like in Baulder's gate. While paused, you can change weapons, drink potions, move inventory items around, all without the fear of getting attacked. This will come in handy for sure. Another welcomed feature is the one button drinking of potions. While in battle, if one or more characters goes below 50% health, just hit the 'h' key, and whomever needs it will drink a potion. This is a handy way to keep from dying all the time. Also, potions are only drank as much as needed. If a character needs 200 hit points, and drinks from a potion that has 500 hit points, that potion will still have liquid in it equaling 300 hit points. This way, you don't have to worry about wasting those extra hit points by drinking the potion early.

While all of this is great, there are a couple weaknesses to this game. First, the storyline. I was not aware of the main goal of the game until approximately the 6th chapter (there are 7 total chapters). In role playing games, you normally have a well thought out goal that you are trying to achieve from the very beginning. In Dungeon Siege, I felt like I was running around, killing monsters for the fun of it until very late in the game. There are extra side quests you can complete, but these provide no glimpse into what you are really out there to do. A stronger storyline would have made this game even better than it already is.

The other drawback is the multiplayer aspect. This game does have a multiplayer system, however, it is 100% incompatible with PC users. The only way to find games is to use Game Ranger. Sadly, there normally aren't any games available, and starting one can be difficult. A strong multiplayer system would have improved this game dramatically.

Dungeon Siege did freeze up on me a couple times, requiring a force quit to get back to the Finder. Also, it did unexpectedly crash here and there, so be sure to save early, and save often.

I really enjoy this game. It takes Diablo style play to the next level. The graphics look good, the camera angles are cool, and that pack mule is just the greatest. If only it could be played against/with PC users, it would probably be my game of the year.

Pros	Cons
Great looking graphics Camera angels a plenty Up to eight characters in your group A pack mule to hold all your extra stuff Experience gains based on what your characters do Many items of all types A lot of cool spells An inventory button to automatically move items around, so you don't have to The using of potions has been simplified	Cannot play multiplayer with PC users Somewhat short, weak storyline Would like the possibility to keep playing on harder difficultly levels using same characters (ala Diablo 2) Crashes more frequently that other games
8/10 stars