Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics

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Stab monsters in turns as D&D returns to its roots

This winter, fans of Dungeons & Dragons will have yet another way to avoid actually playing their favoritetabletop game. Unlike Neverwinter Nights or D&D Online, though, Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics is a no-nonsense, combat-centric adventure that lets players fight monsters the way they were meant to be fought: on a grid, in turns.

It may not look too pretty from the screens we have here, but Tactics has a few interesting things going for it. For starters, players won't be shoehorned into a completely linear quest; instead, thequests offered the playerwill change depending on the alignments - lawful good, chaotic evil and so on - ofyour six adventurers.

Like in other D&D games, those adventurers will beplayer-created and fully customizable, and you'll have 10 or moredifferent classes to choose from (including two with psionic powers). And when one of your characters dies, you'll be able to replace him or her with a character of the same level - there's no wasting time trying to build up a disproportionately weak adventurer here.

So far, we've only seen one of the game's (admittedly dreary-looking) dungeon levels, but Tactics will also feature outdoor battles and trips to the astral planes. Those who get sick of adventuring alone can try out at least four different multiplayer modes, letting you battle or join forces with up to three friends. You'll also be able to trade characters if you somehow get bored with the ones you made.

Downloadable content is planned as well, and if new quests and battles (or even new classes) are part of that package, then Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics might even rival the pen-and-paper version for sheer longevity.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.