Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (PlayStation 2, 2004)

The guys who put together the Baldur's Gate series of games never fail to impress me with their attention to detail and fine-tuned products. This is, like the games in the series that came before it, a wonderful sweeping adventure, full of interesting quests, strange critters, and a large variety of magic items and equipment.

The graphics are very nice, and the play style is exactly what one who had played the previous games would expect. Overall, the only flaw I could possibly find is the way the characters aren't balanced - some are good in the beginning levels, some at the end - but this is a characteristic trait of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons games (the wizard is always a wimp at the beginning and middle levels, and then extremely powerful at the end).

Set in Faerun, in the Forgotten Realms setting, the story is well-situated within the lore of the novels and D&D source books. And as this franchise continues to sell well, you will come to recognize many similarities between this game and the others in the series. However, they still manage to make this game feel fresh, new, and completely original.

I highly recommend this game.