Development
The game was first announced by Titus Software in early November, 2000 following the cancellation of the Sega Dreamcast port of the original Baldur's Gate. The game was featured at the Electronic Entertainment Expo where it gained critical acclaim and was was released in December, 2001.
While the GBA version used its own graphics engine, the console versions used a graphically superior one; the Dark Alliance Engine, which was built specifically for the game, and would go to become the foundation for other games on the PS2, such as Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and The Bard's Tale. Graphically, the Dark Alliance engine is a drastic improvement over the Baldur's Gate series that debuted on the PC in 1998, which utilized the Infinity Engine. Earlier versions were only able to render 2D sprite characters and static environments. The Dark Alliance engine, on the other hand, made use of Sony's PS2 platform, allowing for such improvements as dynamic lighting, real-time shadowing and 3D models of characters and environments. The graphics, in particular, were considered a highlight of the game by many critics.
Read more about this topic: Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
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