It's always great to see an old game franchise make a return with fresh ideas and a new perspective. Most console gamers won't be particularly familiar with the Diablo-style Dungeon Siege action-RPG franchise originally created by Chris Taylor's Gas Powered Games on PC, but that could all be about to change as publisher Square Enix and developer Obsidian Entertainment bring the classic role-playing series to the 360.

How low can you go?

Square Enix has been pushing hard on Western development ever since it purchased Eidos Interactive and hooking up with some interesting partners on some unusual games, but this could really be one to watch.

The previous PC games of the series were action RPGs, with you controlling your adventurer (or, in the case of Dungeon Siege 2, group of adventurers) through a series of dungeons, but on console it looks like Obsidian is going to restrict you to playing one character at a time (while possibly allowing four in co-op mode) and let you shift from the top-down isometric view to a more console-typical third-person behind-the-shoulder view as you battle through fantasy lands.

As ever, the emphasis in Dungeon Siege 3 will be on Diablo-like hack-and-slash combat against hordes of D&D-style enemies with the usual loot drops, weapons and other goodies to run around gathering as you quest. As you'd expect, Obsidian is promising the usual gamut of dungeon crawler environments, from snowy forests to deep dark dungeons for you to explore, but there’s a great epic feel to the world of Dungeon Siege 3 that we can't wait to explore.

Bet it smells bad

Only two classes have been revealed for Dungeon Siege 3 so far: The Guardian, a hefty melee class warrior with equipped with armour and a sword, and The Archron, a spellcaster who can wield powerful spells from a distance in combat. Each class looks set to be fairly versatile, with The Guardian able to switch between two stances. One lets you quickly attack single enemies, meting out large amounts of damage, while the other is more of a slow pressing attack, enabling you to whittle down large groups of enemies in a form of bloody hack and slash crowd control.

This being a fast-paced dungeon crawler, you can expect every character to also have several special abilities like The Archron's devastating area effect spells or The Guardian's charge attacks that can throw enemies off of cliffs to their doom. Obsidian is promising that no two character classes will be the same, and each will have their own progression tree for skills, weapons, spells and equippable items.

We've been hoping for a decent dungeon crawler to emerge on 360 of ages (the sorry likes of Sacred 2 just don't do justice to a fun genre that could be a smash over Live) and hopefully Dungeon Siege 3 will be it. Our only worry is that while Obsidian is a prolific developer that publishers rightly trust to develop great sequels, many of its games end up as innovative but not as polished as we might like.

Hopefully with the resources of a dedicated Square Enix behind them, Dungeon Siege 3 will let the developer show off what it can really do.