Dungeons & Dragons Tactics Previews

Both GameSpot and IGN PSP have posted updated previews of Atari’s Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, after checking out the latest alpha build of the handheld tactical RPG. A snip from GameSpot’s article:

Everything about Dungeons & Dragons Tactics is looking great right now, in fact, and the environments that you’ll be questing in are certainly worthy of a mention. We saw two very different environments during our meeting: an outdoor battlefield at Estmanndal (the game’s first level) and a series of underground caves and tunnels. The battlefield counted wide-open spaces with trees, walls, and barricades to provide cover among its features, and all of them looked great and cast realistic shadows. Our goal on that particular mission was to stop an enemy who was carrying a flag from escaping, and after checking out our party’s skills, it quickly became obvious that there were several ways for us to go about achieving that goal. To be perfectly honest, a lot of the skill and spell names didn’t mean an awful lot to us when we saw them appearing in the easy-to-navigate action menus, but with a quick press of the triangle button, we were able to call up brief explanations of each of them–a good example of Kuju going the extra mile to make the game as accessible as possible without bogging down experienced players with details that they already know.

And a snip from IGN PSP’s article:

As you explore the game, you’ll constantly travel through a number of massive maps. In fact, you’ll scroll across multiple screens as you explore the fog of war that disguises enemies on the level. You’ll also discover plenty of nice details, such as dynamic lighting during underground exploratory sequences. Casting light spells or equipping torches causes illumination to spill and bounce off walls and project realistic shadows, which will help you determine if a corner is clear, or happens to be hiding a monster. Creatures in the game will actively use the fog of war and darkness to perform ambushes and flanking maneuvers, so you’ll sometimes need to be on your guard as you explore. You never know if you’re going to simply turn a corner and walk into a troll or a beholder.