Icewind Dale

"An almost perfect game that is almost better than Baldurs Gate."

Gameplay: 10. The gameplay of this game is just prefect. On the left is your menu from there you can select things like map, inventory, record (stats, picture, voice, bio, enemies killed, favorite weapon, favorite spell, % of kills and hardest monster killed), Mage Spell book, cleric spell book, game options and your diary. At the right the pictures of all you people. From that you see their life, select one of them, switch the order they move in and who the leader is. At the bottom are commands. Attack, talk, spells, thief skills (hide in shadows, pick locks, find traps, pick-pocket and disarm traps), special skills and the formation you have your party move in. And if you have a hard time with the gameplay just read the 150 page manual. The game is not easy but not hard either. There are a lot of battles so you will never be board. The enemy AI is also top notch. They clerics will heal their allies, fighters will block off your archers, thieves (in stealth) will go for your weakest people, mage will use spells perfectly you have to use good strategies or you will die. There is only one thing I find bad about gameplay and that is sometimes if you click on something it wont know that you did so you will have to do it again. A minor in convince and nothing more.

Story: 6. The story is not that original (the world is in danger and you are the only one who can save it) but it is dome very well. Also the dialogue is perfect I have never played a game with better dialogue other that BGII. Another very good thing is that (unlike in Diablo II that also shares in the bad story issue) when you fight something, it makes sense that you are fighting it were it is. You fight undead in crypts, ice trolls on glaciers; fire giants in fire caves, all of those make sense.

Graphics: 8. The Graphics very good, like in BG and BGII Icewind Dale uses the Infinity engine. The only bad thing about that is that movement modals in combat are not that realistic. If I have a swordsmen attack he will just attack and then wait for his next attack. Swing with my two-handed sword, wait doing NOTHING for 5 or 6 seconds swing. The person will NOT raise the weapon to block enemy attacks, wont parry with it he will just drop it and wait, not very realistic. Other then that, the graphics are great.

Sound: 10. The sound is great. The battle music makes you fell like you are in the battle, the crypt music is spooky mountain music is just right, it is all very good. The voice-overs are also perfect and so are the voices. Unlike BG were it was Male 1-3 and Female 1-3, there are now class-based voices that sound very good. Sound effects are also marvelous.

Replay Value: 7. The story and ending does not change at all but there are so many different party combos and secret items that it is very fun to replay. And for even more fun try beating the game with just one character (hopefully a mage)!

Rent or Buy: I did not know you could rent computer games if you can I would rent it but it is definitely worth the $20 to buy.

Overall: 9. This game is just fun. If you like BG or BGII then this is for you. If you thought BG and BGII were to deep than this is also for you because it is a hack and slash version of BG. I loved it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/02, Updated 08/16/02