Neverwinter Nights

"Alot of hype, almost meets it too...."

Hi. Well, I was reading GameFAQS reviews on NWN, and most seem to miss the real highs and lows... so here they are.

Graphics:
Oh My God! Anyone who says that the graphics suck should either be slapped back to the stone age or get a new video card! My video card is a G4MX440 and the game runs BEAUTIFULLY. The enemies are a bit simple, especially the zombies and prisoners, but zoom in REAL close to the main character, and you can see how good the graphics really are. Shining armor that reflects light differently from every angle, major detail on the weapons (you can see the little ridges on the Katana +1), and beautiful animation. The grass sways when your character walks through it, blood actually drips to the floor, water reflects your character, and different emotes (bowing, salute, scratching of the head)! Mind you, this is only if you have an awesome computer. anything lower than a P3 will give you graphics like Baldur's Gate 2, but that still isnt that bad. And make sure that your graphics card is AT LEAST 32 MB.

Gameplay:
Sadly, this is where the game fails in hype. It truly is like Diablo 2, just with some improvements. The quick keys are probably the best part of this game system. there are a total of 36 hotkeys, F1-F12, CTRL + F1-F12, SHIFT + F1-F12. Truly useful if you don't feel like pausing every couple of seconds. Unfortunately, The rest of the system seems like a mix of the old Dreamcast game Silver and Diablo. Basically, the gist of it is ''Point, Click, Watch your guy kill or get killed.'' Most of the combat scenes will feel like you are watching a movie, not actually playing a game.

Music/Sound:
Nothing really jumps out in this category. Music is mediocre at best, but it doesn't scream out like fingernails on a chalk board. Sounds follow the same standard set by the Baldur's Gate series, with a few exceptions. The voice acting is quite good, especially with the Male Evangelist voice, but everything gets repetitive after a while. Swordfights aren't that bad, having different .wav files for each type of weapon hitting each type of armor.

Storyline:
I don't know much about this area, mainly because I haven't finished the game yet :P. So far there's a plague sweeping across Neverwinter and it's your job to cure it by finding and killing animals that contain the cure, but I've heard that the story gets more interesting after that.

Overall:
A good game, but could use some improvements. Sad to say I haven't had a chance to play online yet, but I hope to soon. Definite buy or burn!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/02, Updated 07/01/02