"One of the Greatest Stories ever told -- One of the Greatest Games rarely played"

Graphics: 5 / 10
I'm not a huge fan of the Infinity graphics engine that Planescape: Torment (P:T) and other Black Isle RPGs (Baldur's Gate I & II, Icewind Dale I & II) of the time uses. The Infinity graphics engine used on P:T has been slightly upgraded since Baldur's Gate I. The gameplay view, which is locked in at a 800x600 resolution, has been dramatically zoomed in, and therefore the character sprites and buildings appear much larger than they were in Baldur's Gate. This “zoomed in” view dramatically affects the gameplay, because the player is dissuaded from using long-range attacks and spells which require a lot screen scrolling to be effective. Furthermore, the scenery of the Planescape universe is simply not as colorful as that of the Forgotten Realms universe used in Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. Sigil and Curst, the two realms most dominant in the game, are very dreary and gray. On the other hand, the sprites are clearly more detailed even in the zoomed in view, and the animations tied to the high level spells, which reminds me of the summon animations in the Final Fantasy series, is a nice reminder that graphic enhancements were not totally neglected for the purposes of this game. Overall this game has a very mediocre graphical presence even for its time.

Sound/Music: 7 / 10
P:T does not have the greatest sounds or musical soundtrack. Most of the sounds you hear are ambient noise given off by bar patrons, dripping wet caves, or eerie screams from the fog of war around you. This is very much in line with the other Black Isle games of the time. The voice acting, however, is very good. The most memorable of these voice actors is Rob Paulsens, who voiced Yakko on the Animaniacs, John De Lancie, who plays Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and, my personal favorite, Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer on The Simpsons. The music is disappointing and blends in too much with the ambient noise. I found myself playing the entire game and barely noticing any soundtrack at all aside from the haunting music used in the game menu screen.

Gameplay: 8 / 10
P:T does not fully utilize the gameplay opportunities that the Infinity engine offers. The reduced area of view, the lack of ranged weapons, the dungeon hacking, and how little the game actually forces you into an armed conflict resolution really diminishes the effectiveness of the Infinity engine. Unlike Baldur's Gate series, where nearly half of the game is outdoors, P:T conducts a good 90% of its gameplay in dungeons and cramped houses. The fog of war system prevents you from seeing around corners, and with VERY few long-range weapons, combat is almost completely reduced to just physical hand-to-hand combats. Furthermore, the game suffers from NUMEROUS bugs. I played the game using the old 4-disc version, which even with the latest patches has serious problems swapping CDs in mid-game. All the negativity aside, a great deal of the Infinity engine still shines through into the gameplay. The fights are still active-time, which means you will still be kept on your toes managing the attacking, healing, and spell casting of your party. Furthermore, the party / monster AI has been greatly improved since Baldur's Gate I. Characters and monsters are better at not getting stuck in walls, and monsters can actually chase you quite far even if your thief character does manage to hide in the shadows. Furthermore unlike Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, P:T is more focused on reaching non-confrontational resolutions. There are really only 4 battles throughout the game that are unavoidable, which is ironic considering how dark and evil the theme of the game is.

Storyline: 10 / 10
The storyline in P:T is probably one of the most engaging and memorable since Baldur's Gate I & II. In many ways P:T's is superior to Baldur's Gate, because the story is one long and unconventional identity quest. The protagonist, The Nameless One, is searching for his identity. This is thematically different from other RPGs which require you to save the world. Furthermore, the storyline is very intricate with many subplots that unfold and link together as you discover more about The Nameless One's past. Rarely do you see game story writers make the effort to put purpose behind all the actions or to tie up all the loose ends, but P:T's story writers have certainly accomplished this and more. In short, if the movie Memento had a RPG game spin-off, it would be P:T. That's how good this storyline is.

Control: 8 / 10
The game controls in P:T remained the same since Baldur's Gate. The player uses a combination of keyboard shortcuts and a two button mouse clicks to control the movement and actions of each party character. Unlike Baldur's Gate, however, all dialog is initiated by The Nameless One (e.g. you can't ask another party member to speak on your party's behalf). This means that there is less control over the individual party members and how they interact with the Planescape universe, which is a step back from the features of the Baldur's Gate series. Combat is a bit less tedious as I found myself micromanaging each character's actions more than I did in Baldur's Gate I. The game offers a Party AI toggle, which automatically sets your party members in motion for you, allowing you to dedicate all your time to just controlling The Nameless One. AI for both the monsters and your party is fairly robust. I remember the biggest exploit in Baldur's Gate was how monsters automatically become despondent once you successfully manage to hide in the shadows or turn invisible (e.g. I would clear an entire map of enemies easily with a thief + backstab + invisibility ring). That is not the case in P:T. The monsters will give chase in the last direction they saw you moving, and this is much more realistic behavior.

Replay Value: 10 / 10
Unlike the other Black Isle RPGs and RPGs based on the Dungeons and Dragon rules, P:T leaves character generation fairly open ended at the start. You start the game by allocating 25 stat points into 6 character stats. There is no random stat generation, alignment (lawful, neutral, chaotic) choices, weapon proficiencies allocation, character class selection, or even the ability to change your character's name. All the character customization features typical of PC RPGs are gone. Instead you have the freedom to mold your character throughout the game and specialize towards a character class. You can also lead your character to an alignment based on the ethnical or non-ethical decisions he makes. This makes the game a lot more replay value. My first play through was purely as a lawful good character, and I know that I'm missing out a bit of the storyline because I decided not to join the chaotic or evil factions. Furthermore, the single class specialization (as opposed to the multi-class or dual-class typical in the Dungeons and Dragons rulebook) forces you down one profession path rather than being able to traverse multiple paths in a single play through.

Overall: 8.0 / 10.0
P:T is a great game and should be on the “to-play” list of any serious PC RPG fan. The storyline is the most memorable element of the game. With a 800,000+ word script, P:T has one of the most intricate storylines I've ever read outside of books. If you wanted to rate this game purely on the basis of storyline and plot, I would place this game at the top 5 storylines of all time. In the other aspects, the gameplay makes a slight departure from the other highly successful Black Isle RPGs of that time period (1999 – 2002), but this departure is refreshing and adds to the replay-ability. The voice acting is very memorable even if the rest of the game audio was not. Controls and AI seem improved since Baldur's Gate, but the tight fighting spaces and close combat battles do become a bit claustrophobic. Overall a great game and one that won't leave you questioning what you just spent 40 hours doing.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/08

Game Release: Planescape: Torment (US, 11/30/99)