Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

"The best game.... WITH THE BEST EXPANSION!"

First of all, I must say, when i was looking at this game online, it left me in awe, I mean, it was the biggest game in the world. I've had it since Christmas, and i'm not done playing it yet. It is the most diverse game I've ever seen. I played it for hours on end. It has massive spell varieties, and lots of special abilities, over 40 character classes, and you can't forget multi-classing, which leaves you at about 50 classes. When the expansion came out, I wanted to get it right away, but i waited for the price to drop, it was the longest wait. I got it, after it went down about a dollar or two. With over 400 spells/abilities with the expansion, a new class, and the final chapter, it was a game you couldn't refuse to get, the best, and almost certainly the best game I've ever gotten, the $80 used on Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal was more than worth it. Now, onto the meat:

Sound: 10/10- Almost the best game music I've ever heard aside to Final Fantasy 8, but it is VERY impressive, the music is massive, when you get into combat, the music goes hyper, and puts you in a hyper mood. When your in a forest, you hear the pleasant sound of birds and running water. The music always sets the mood, the sound effects are realistic too.

Graphics: 9/10- The graphics are great, the spell animations are probably the best, the scenery has a lot of time spent in it, and the layout is very good. When you cast fireball, Fire comes from the middle, and extends out in a circle, causing people in the circle to be on fire, and you actually are on fire. Its exellent how they make all the armor/weapons show up in the real gameplay.

Replayability: 8/10- Not the best because the game is so long, but you should really try out all the classes, its very fun. Its also fun to see the endings, after all, you earned it after the 300-400 hours of gameplay.

Fun Factor: 9/10- Even though it may sometimes get tedious, its extremely fun, with so many statistics you can have on a character, and with all the spells/abilities. Its also fun trying new strategies trying to kill someone, like instead of having everyone go up and attack at once, you can have a person heal, 2 people melee combat, a person cast spells, and the last person shoot arrows. Very much variety, and so many quests, so many possibilities, you have to play the game to find out.

Add-ins: 8/10- The Watcher's Keep, and the ending would be a lot all ready but they added more spells/abilities, I would have expected more spells, like 200 new ones, but there was an okay amount, so I dock 2 points off.

Overall: 10/10- (NOT AN AVERAGE)Maybe the best game I've played, but i haven't finished it yet.Its really diverse, so you should give it a try. This game is so huge, it takes up 3.5 gigs with the expansion on it, this is a game you won't regret buying, and it won't be in that cob-webbed corner.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/08/01, Updated 07/08/01