"Imoen is annoying"

Bioware deserves much praise for revitalizing the PC RPG market. Baldur's Gate 1 ranks up as an all time best playing experience for this reviewer.

I've always loved games that encouraged exploration, discovery and inspiring moments of awe. Baldur's Gate had this in spades. Due to the restrictions of the Infinity engine, Baldur's Gate 2 proved to simply a sustained version of a first fabled quest, and technically better.

Like ''the Empire Strikes Back'', Baldur's Gate 2 is meatier, but ultimately familiar. But that's not a bad thing at all in this case.

Storyline (8): The actual main storyline is interesting. Just learning the antagonist's motives and where you fit in is a task in of in itself. In a world populated by many races, creeds, and all sorts of manner of beasts, Shadows of Amn is truley a world of its own. Wars between rival Theive's Guilds, slavers staining Amn's underground, Elves at deadly odds with their dark Drow cousins, Dwarves who pretty much hate everyone but Dwarves, and abrasive Nobleman and women who you just want to dig your blade into.

When judging a entire ''storyline'' aspect, I considered all the possibilities available in the game-world. You don't like the people that can join your party because they're annoying? You can create your own party via mutliplayer option (with all players assigned control to you) and avoid that part of the game entirely. You don't want to do certain quests and would just rather loot the Mayor's house and cast a sleep spell on his guards? You can! So much is possible that you can even start to forge your own story in the game. Truly rich.

Gameplay (9): This is really where the game shines. Anyone familiar with AD&D pen and paper should feel right at home here. If you aren't, prepare to be emersed in pure tactical combat greatness. With so many classes and abilities, you can approach each battle with seemingly endless options. The actual battle gameplay is the same as BG1, which takes away the freshness value the original had. It's the difference from being merely satisfied and blown out of your seat.

Graphics (9): Long live sprites and hand drawn backgrounds! As far as the engine goes, I don't see anything that could really be improved upon other than the dire lack of animated backgrounds. Landscapes are drawn with great detail and care. Monsters and humaniods look as they should. I'll always prefer hand drawn to 3D rendered objects.

Sounds/Music (8): Epic classical score that was either better or worse than the original at different points. The music really gets the player emersed in the different locations and situations. Peaceful music plays while in town, battle horns blast while being attacked; the music commands the mood of the game nearly perfectly. Sounds effects are really good as well. Swords can be heard clanking off a plate of armor, arrows whiz through the air, humans and beasts alike can be heard from a distance, adding atmosphere; top notch job all around.

Overall (9): If Shadow's of Amn gave me the same ''wow'' factor the original did, it would easily be a 10 and one of the best games of all time. It's much like Doom 2 to Doom 1, the sequel might be technically better but it just isn't new anymore. Flaws can be found in the first BG at the end of the day to drag it down in hindsite. However, being compelled by a game only happens so often. Maybe it's never really happened to you. It happened when I first played ''Super Mario Bro's'' when I was six years old, it happened when I played through ''Hero's Quest'' on my old Amiga 500, it happened in spades with Baldur's Gate. Now just imagine if the ''Quest for Glory'' series was ever able to top their first...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/02, Updated 03/03/02