"Quite possibly the greatest RPG I've ever played"

I waited a long time to write this review. Why you ask? Because in order to give the best review I possibly could about this RPG I wanted to play the whole thing through from start to finish and fully experience the game. It was an unforgettable journey for sure, and I loved every minute of it. I came with high expectations, and they were met and surpassed in every aspect. When I played the original Baldur's Gate it seemed to get old after a while to me, but the newer one seems to have something about it that kept me playing on hour after hour into the night...

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in this game were extremely close to receiving a perfect score. The spell effects throughout were absolutely gorgeous with great lighting effects used. There isn't anything more dazzling than some of the large spell casting battles that are seen in this game, though sometimes everything going at once can cause some slowdown, but these instances are very rare if you set the options to the appropriate settings for your computer. The backgrounds were astounding, they showed an extreme attention to detail on the part of Black Isle and Bioware. Cities like Athkatla and Suldanessellar were totally breathtaking in their detail and beauty. The characters each had much more animation than in the previous BG, making their movement appear much smoother than in the original game. All in all a solid effort, just short of perfect.

Sound/Music: 10/10
The sound in Shadows of Amn is extremely well done. The battles are pitched with the cries of warriors and the incantations of sorcerers, wizards, and clerics. The musical score is excellent and captures the heat of battle well, along with the lighter musical scores for your adventuring and the calmer moments in the game. The most impressive thing about the sound in this game is the voiceover work. It has been done MASTERFULLY, it's incredible. Every single game company out there should take a page from Black Isle's book and hire these actors, they're top-notch and never fail to impress.

Gameplay: 10/10
Control-wise nothing much has really changed from the original Baldur's Gate (and that is definitely a good thing). The control is still great and intuitive, with the space bar being used to pause the action and plan your moves. The menus are easy to use and as said before are much like Baldur's Gate. The interface is entirely point and click if you wish it to be, though I prefer to use a couple hotkeys so making it through the heat of battle in one piece was a bit easier. If it ain't broke don't fix it, it's as simple as that. There are more characters than in the first one, and the characters that are in your party interact a great deal more than in the original BG. Your main character can even experience romance with some of the adventurers in your party! There are a multitude of new 'kits' that your can use, its similar to the mage idea of specialization in the original except now you can specialize as a thief, a paladin, ranger, druid, and others. The half-orc is now an option for your character's race as well, in addition to all the races that were available in the original Baldur's Gate. Did I mention that you can now find pieces of powerful weapons all over the world of BG2 and form them into some of the most powerful weapons in the game? The story that is in this game is absolutely astounding, I'm not going to say anything about it so as not to ruin it for any potential players (and you'd have no idea how long I'd be typing even if I did decide to talk about the story). Suffice it to say that it is one of the best I've ever experienced in a video game or otherwise. The word enthralling comes to mind. You can set the difficulty of the game in the beginning, and I don't suggest turning it to anything above normal unless you're either a seasoned BG-style veteran or just really feel like getting an ass-whoopin. This is the strongest area of the game, gameplay-wise Baldur's Gate II is probably the best RPG I've ever experienced.

Replay Value: 10/10
I've beaten the game after having put in about 100+ hours into it, and I still plan to make a new character and experience it from a new perspective. That really tells you something about a game where you can play it so long and still be dying to make that new character class and go back for more. There are strongholds for different classes that you can obtain, and that's not to mention the multitude of combinations that dual classing offers to give you a different experience each and every time you play the game. Wanna go out and be an evil son of a bitch? Go right ahead! Wanna try a spell casting sorcerer after smashing through the game as a barbarian or warrior? Go have fun. It's all here and there's plenty to go around.

Overall: 10/10
This is probably one of the greatest games I've ever played, and I'd recommend it to every RPG-lover out there. Gorgeous graphics + beautiful sound work + masterful storytelling and gameplay = one fine computer game. You won't regret picking this one up, so go do it right now!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/01, Updated 03/07/01