We already know that 2003 will offer us a huge amount of exciting titles. It's good to see that as well as having a large amount of games to choose from, there will also be a good variety of styles to please us all. There will be plenty of choice for RPG fans. If you can tear yourself away from Resident Evil Zero and the next installment of Monkey ball in March, it might be worth checking out the GameCube version of the already hugely successful 'Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'.

'Baldur's Gate' originally surfaced on the PC back in 1998. For those of you that aren't role play experts, the 'Baldur's Gate' series have borrowed much of their key ingredients from the fantasy worlds of 'Dungeons and Dragons'. The game is set in the 'D&D' inspired 'Forgotten Realms' territory. You will have the choice of a one player adventure or two player cooperative games. You will also be able to choose from three different characters. The characters are warriors that come in the form of human, dwarf, and elf. There is a huge amount of fighting required in this game. Although the characters all share the ability to run, jump, and attack, they will all possess different magical abilities. These will need to be taken in to consideration before embarking on your journey.

The console ports of this game have been in the hands of small Seattle based company 'Snowblind Studios'. This is not a company that has a huge amount of games under its belt; however they seem to be making all the right moves where business is concerned, recent involvement with successful Publishing companies such as 'Kemco', and 'Interplay' point towards growing success.

The first console to enjoy a port of this game was the PS2 last year. The game sold over 500,000 copies, and was hailed by many as being one of the best RPG's of all time. Naturally, it's a shame that nearly a year later, we are still waiting on GameCube and Xbox versions. Once again this is another title conversion that could be considered to be a bit of an after thought. The release date has been pushed back several times, so you would expect the game to have moved on a little, given the amount of time that has elapsed since the PS2 release, and the extra power of the Cube. Sadly, several reports suggest that the GC version has lost some of the qualities of the PS2 version. Believe it or not, aspects such as the frame rate have apparently suffered in small areas of the game, and it has not become any longer than its 15 hour predecessor. On a more positive note, this is a game that has been credited on all other counts. Graphics, sound, gameplay, and overall structure seem to be near perfection. Even voice acting has been credited, which can often be an easy target for criticism in games such as this.

'Baldurs Gate' seems to be a textbook example of a Fantasy RPG. Personally, it's not the kind of game that I would normally find interesting, but in this case however, it does seem to be a game that has been polished enough to appeal to a wider audience. There aren't many locations excluded, just as there aren't many creatures or forces of evil that are left out of your adventure. The game will see you battle against just about every living creature imaginable, from rats and tarantulas, to snow giants, and all manor of unrecognisable beasts and species. The game may not hold too much replay value, but I guess that depends on how much you enjoy the game initially, and whether you favor the one or two player modes.

Many games such as this can be missed, when shadowed by the higher profile releases, but it's quite evident, that a lot of things have been done right here. I haven't played the game, but most PS2 owners think that 'Baldurs Gate' is the best thing since sliced bread. OK, so it's a gaming concept that is as old as the hills, and dates back quite a few years, but sometimes good formulas can go from strength to strength. Unless 'Baldur's Gate' is riddled with programming faults, or is now lacking the attention to detail that Cube owners have come to expect, it is definitely a title that we should keep an eye on.