Preview of Dungeons & Dragons Tactics

There have been many video games over the years that have attempted to emulate pen and paper RPGs with some degree of success. With western-style video game RPGs as a rarity, fans of the Dungeons and Dragons game should sit up and take notice of the new Atari title coming out. Dungeons & Dragons Tactics promises to integrate D&D 3.5 rules faithfully into an RPG with tactical turn based combat.

The locale of the game is based on traditional D&D settings, but will be a unique land. The premise is the main character is caught within the machinations of two warring dragons who are attempting to ascend to godhood. As tactics suggests, the game will be combat heavy. There will be an ad-hoc multiplayer modes with competitive as well as cooperative play. Alignment plays a big part in the story. The characters actions will affect the outcome of the game, lending replay value to the title.

For more information on Dungeons & Dragons Tactics, RPG Watch has all the specifics to date as well as an interview with Lawrence Liberty, the Senior Producer of D&D Tactics.

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics is targeted for release in North America at the end of July. The European release is planned for late August.

As a pen and paper role player myself, I’m looking forward to seeing how well the D&D 3.5 combat rules are implemented in this game. It’s just a shame there will be no strictly non-combat areas which leads me to wonder exactly how the storytelling will unfold. Obviously soft skills such as Diplomacy won’t be of much use. However I’m looking forward to the multiplayer modes with Last Man Standing, Treasure Hunt and Dragonkill. Working together to slay a dragon while backstabbing your buddies; now that’s a challenge.