I've read the online reviews, but I was hoping to get some input from users here.

Thanks.

stoolie

The Dark Alliance one? I have it. It's pretty fun, especially with two players. But....it's very short. There is an extreme mode for the next level in difficulty but people might grow tired of the same terrain. I don't regret purchasing it; I'll probably go back to it now and then. The graphics and gameplay and everything is where it's at; the game's just pretty short.

Not a review, but Xbox and Gamecube owners interested in this title should note that it will be coming out this fall for those systems. Whether or not it will be enhanced in any way is unknown.

It's an excellent game, but may be only worth a rental if you're the type of person, like me, who will only play through a game once, even if it does offer higher difficulty levels once you play through it.

It has gorgeous graphics, it's a lot of fun... it's just really short. I think it took about 11 or 12 hours for me to play through on medium difficulty. The end boss is also really easy to kill. Probably the easiest boss in the game.

Brian

http://www.outer-edge.net/reviews/ps...sgate/da.shtml
Here's my review I wrote on it.
Basically, I think it is VERY fun, a great hack-n-slash. As everyone said, it is short, but if you ever were a Diablo player and got addicted to that, then Dark Alliance will addict you too. I have already started my second time through and my wife and I have a multiplayer game going.

I would say that if you liked Diablo, it's a no-brainer. I liked it a lot. It's a bit short (beat it in co-op mode in 17+ hours), but I'll probably export one of the characters from the co-op game and go through again in single player mode (just to continue to develop my magic user).

Great graphics too, but don't expect a great plot. There are 3 'acts' in the game but they don't really tie together too well. It's a fun dungeon hacking game.

One of my all-time favorite PS2 games. Yeah, some people have said it's short, but for someone who can only put in about an hour of gaming at a time (what with a full-time job, wife, and a 20-month old son), it was fine. 3 different character classes do allow you to go back and play the game with different strategy, which I found enjoyable. I played it on Extreme difficulty (available after you finish The Gauntlet mode), and WOW--I got my butt handed to me over and over. It requires a lot of patience and strategy, moreso than even the expert/hard difficulty required.

Graphics and sound are top-notch (still the best water effects I've seen in any game), and there are little touches here and there that show the work put into this game. If you're even remotely a fan of Diablo, D&D, or the hack-and-slash genre, you won't go wrong with this.

I hope a sequel is definitely in the works.

it's a rental game, but a damn_good rental. the game itself will not take long at all, but it's fun just to run around and level up your character (esp. mage). the last dungeon level is painfully long though. it's best played with two-players.

So did anyone complete the gauntlet?
I tried, but didn't get very far.
any tips on it?

The Gauntlet is tough, no doubt about that. Took me about a dozen tries (each time I got just a little further) before I beat it.

The key for me was patience. You need to conserve health potions until the later, more lethal creatures. If you've wiped out the creatures but you've taken considerable damage, WAIT. Let time naturally restore your health. Yeah, it takes patience, but it's the only way to really conserve those health potions for when you really need them.

I've found that this is really the key to beating the game on the Extreme difficulty level as well.

So the time limit isn't that much of a factor? It sounds like the trick is to not worry about finishing in time, but worry about surviving and keeping your potions.