My word, Norrath is a tumultuous place. You don't seem to be able to do a thing without getting embroiled in some kind of war, political intrigue or other such dubious activity. Indeed, if you're not getting bashed on the head and your money stolen, you're doing it to someone else. I'm glad I live in Brighton.

All these shady shenanigans aside, Norrath is a fantastic place with established alliances and equally established rivalries combined with beautiful environments and a rather unnerving roster of freaky baddies, making it one of the most intricately devised worlds ever seen in gaming. Traditionally the preserve of the PC gamer, Everquest and Baldur's Gate have been transposed onto the PS2 with surprising proficiency, adding a little something more with Dark Alliance and Frontiers. So what of Champions of Norrath? It's online, it's got a lot to draw on and it's bigger than ever - is there any way it could be anything but a first class title? I think not.

Opening in the besieged wood elf city of Kelethin, a group of champions are called together in an effort to stem the green tide of orcs and goblins threatening Faydwer. The first of the five segments sees you doing a little proactive defending, as you mercilessly slaughter all manner of beasties from jumbo killer ants to mammoth woolly wargs. One or two objectives spice up the opening acts, but from then on for the most part the NPC's simply act as lily-livered signposts, giving you lip and pointing the way toward enemies that they're too chicken to take on themselves. The story isn't as involved as previously in the Norrath world and by the end of it you feel a little too much like a bloodthirsty mercenary in berserk mode - but lets face it, that's no bad thing.

Sticking with the Baldur's Gate hardcore-hack-and-slash system, a few changes are evident from the off, such as a much wider range of weapons, randomised dungeons, a tweaked spell system and a fuller choice of starting races and classes. More spells and skills would have been a welcome addition but those that are there are solid, old school skills, straight from the D&D world. Of course, the real pleasure of Champions comes from the pure sword-swinging satisfaction of wading through mountains of murderous monsters with a flaming bastard-sword of vengeance or some other such righteous hitting stick - it really is tremendous fun. The multiplayer, both on and offline adds immensely to the enjoyment factor and as long as the players are on a fairly even footing level wise, the difficulty remains spot on throughout the 20-30 hours play time. The characters are nicely customisable and with such a huge range of weapons and armour, each altering their physical appearance, every champion looks different - especially useful for the multiplayer modes.

Indeed, the real depth of such a seemingly repetitive title comes from the customisability of your on-screen persona. Your starting stats are regulated by your race and class, with a little leeway for a few bonus points, but after that you're given full freedom to direct your character's strengths toward your style of play or the particularly nasty poking stick you've nabbed on your travels. The load you're capable of carrying plays a large part in your progression and, for many races, returning to shops via magical scrolls to sell gear forms an all too sizable part of the game, breaking up the intense hacking-and-slashing and taking away from the challenge of making it through a dungeon in one go. That's not to say that the weaker characters are any less devastating in battle, because with a decent war gear set-up and the right balance of spells and strength, every race and class can dominate the battlefield.

Everything about the presentation screams quality and proficiency; the water and lighting effects are stunning, the animation is second to none and the environments are perfect in every detail. It's rare to see such all-round visual flawlessness - even with the close-up viewpoints. The sound, whilst being a touch less spectacular, is by no means less suited to the game; the death gurgles and war cries of baddies all fit nicely and add to the excitement. Probably the least impressive facet of the presentation is the voice acting, which at times gets a touch over-cheesy, even for a fantasy title like this. A couple of bugs can cause problems at points, locking up or slowing down every now and again, but that's easy to overlook as long as you save regularly.

I have to say that I enjoyed Champions of Norrath immensely; it's as perfect a game as you'll see on the PS2. There are plenty of things that could have been added and the spells and skills aren't as numerous as most would like, but what's there is there in stupefying glory. Champions of Norrath melds action and adventure with RPG and although it's not a huge departure from previously, it's definitely worth a stab, or more specifically, a crushing overhead hammer blow.

Reviewed by Tom LeClerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).