Following up on the superlative smash of 2002, Dungeon Siege II takes the frantic pacing of its action/RPG predecessor and kicks it up a notch.

It's a similar fantasy bash & smash game, but instead of starting out as a lowly farm girl with a shovel, you begin as a low-rent mercenary thrown into a battle that isn't yours and probably isn't even just.

Following that, you're just a confused soul set off on a series of missions and elective quests to destroy this, find that, rescue her, kill them then come back for more, pick up some playable/manageable sidekicks, make it a party, go again.

The game's propensity for manic micro management on-the-fly remains; expanded, in fact, but with a streamlined interface, better hotkey options, more obvious mix-match tools and, best of all, magical teleporters and a universal Summoners to resurrect you, your party and your entire inventory when you die (and you will) and get you back to avenge yourself tout de suite, allowing you to play at full throttle mostly in real time--though there are a also many moments of static conversation to propel the story, such that it is, plus you can pause the adventure at anytime to house-clean your tickle trunk, thankfully.

Still, if you don't have ADD Dungeon Siege II can be a little daunting as you left click/right-click/hotkey stroke like an OCD poster child constantly rifling through multiple menus and pop-up windows to better endow your character(s) with corpse-absconded loot, armor and other enchanted apparel; hundreds of progressively amazing weapons, thousands of skill sets and augmentations, millions of spells and an seemingly infinite number of potions and other assorted booty, all accessed and sorted as the action rampages on.

If you're not a fan of this celebrated genre hybrid made famous by Diablo, Nox and such, Dungeon Siege II can come off as tedious, but it's escalating tedium, where the next pilfered Cruel Dryad Sword just might be the one that defeats that aggravating Gorgak Firstborn guarding the Kithraya Caverns where you're suppose to place The Stone of Life, so just a little more play time... then its three o'clock and the morning and who knew tedium could be so addictive?

• TIP: If you're tired of getting you butt whipped in Dungeon Siege II, press Enter during gameplay then type +drlife and everyone in you (and everyone in your party, if any) will be invincible. Type -drlife to turn it off, because it takes all the fun out of it.