The newest Dungeon Siege III slices its way onto the XBox 360 thanks to developers Obsidian Entertainment that returns gamers to the intricate world of Ehb in this hack and slash role-playing game. Given that the game is more hack and slash than true RPG, this game is quite top heavy in terms of action as you kill your way to become a true powerhouse.

The story of Dungeon Siege III revolves around the repercussions of Jeyne Kassynder who has literally torn Ehb apart and destroyed the 10th legion. However as a legacy of the 11th Legion, it is up to the player to rebuild this Legion in order to save Ehb from plunging into further darkness. It's clichéd, it's over the top, it's a classic RPG tale of good versus evil.

Although the story has its own merits, the downside to the story is that NPC interaction that is quite bland, both graphically and in terms of content as the person just stands there and talks. However just like Mass Effect, your decisions do influence how certain parts of the story will be directed which does allow you to play the game maybe one more time, if you can stomach it. This is not to say that Dungeon Siege III is a bad game, it's just rests a little on its laurels and doesn't offer this genre anything new.

Before embarking on your RPG adventure, you must first select your character and there are four characters to choose, each with their pros and cons. The characters include Lucas Montbarron, descendent of the first protagonist in Dungeon Siege and is the fighter of the group. Next is Anjali, my favourite character who was a member of the servant race for the lost creator god and has the ability to switch from human to flame elemental... very cool.

You also have Reinhart Manx, another descent of the 11th Legion who has magic abilities and becomes quite powerful later on in the game. Finally you have Katarina, the illegitimate daughter of Hugh Montbarron and uses guns to fight her enemies and could be considered the "rogue" of the group.

The characters also have three defensive and six offensive abilities and fortunately, they all play differently as opposed to just different skins on their characters. As you do progress, these core abilities can be upgraded by grinding your way through the game and you can specialise which way your character is going to fight in this world.

One highlight that has not been used by other titles is that your character has two different fighting stances and depending on which stance you are using in battle, this will help in accessing certain abilities better than the others, including movement on the battlefield, dodging and magic.

The combat of the game flows quite well as you have access to blocks, dodges and a variety of attacks from melee to ranged plus special abilities like spells. The combat reminds of Diablo because of how fluid it is and changing between abilities on the battlefield is quite simple and flawless.

Enemies in the game range from your stock standard archetype of humans to monsters plus a touch of Steampunk. I'm really confused as to why there are robot police in a certain part of the game but they were actually quite cool and comedic at times. In terms of RPG, different weapons and statistics do influence your combat skills and certain weapons add additional bonuses like stun which does give you incentive to continue your search for weapons. The problem is that there is so much loot to find in Dungeon Siege III that it becomes a chore, just sifting through what is good and what is not.

Obsidian Entertainment have also dome something quite unique when it comes to healing as this game does not contain any healing potions. Yes, this is quite unusual for an RPG and you need to rely on healers or green orbs. Other orbs are used for power ups and can sometimes change the tide of battles. The single-player game is quite sturdy and most veteran RPG players will easily be able to knock this game over without any real difficulties... except for a few key bosses.

There is a multiplayer aspect to Dungeon Siege III, however if someone joins your game, they are only their to offer assistance as the "hoster" gets to keep all the loot and experience points which is a little strange. Another issue with online play is that you cannot use your main character and you are given one of the other AI players in the hosters party. The two player mode for Dungeon Siege III works, however when additional players join (up to four), the game does become too constructive, especially with the camera angle. It's an interesting attempt but unfortunately didn't work too well.

Graphically, the title is a nice looking game on the XBox 360 with some great virtual environments and a variety of interesting looking enemies. The only downside to the graphics are the relatively dull interactions with NPC's that looks quite dated when compared to the rest of the game. I must admit that the stylised introduction of Dungeon Siege III looks awesome and helps introduce or re-introduce the universe to all gamers. One issue with the graphics that is more a gameplay problem is the camera angle and although you only get two different levels of zoom, sometimes the camera angle plays havoc in certain levels. Frustrating at times.

In the end, Dungeon Siege III is an interesting game and works on most of its basic levels. It may not change the genre dramatically but it still provides a sturdy gaming engine with a relatively interesting story. It's a shame that the multiplayer aspect of the game is severely hampered by its limitations but as a single-player, Dungeon Siege III thankfully works.