Gothic II

"Excellent game with very few faults."

Gothic 2 is possibly the best game that I have played in several years. It scores highly in most aspects, and if you like RPG's, you're almost bound to like Gothic 2.

The graphics are excellent, while possibly not amazing, they are still among the best that I have seen in a long time. So far I have encountered no graphics errors, and while the graphic are great, they don't bog down my mediocre computer. ''Clone Syndrome'' is avoided, and not all characters of a certain kind look the same.

The music sets the mood excellently, and the sound effects are very good. Voice acting is absolutely perfect.

Enemy AI suffers from very few bugs, and is well-made. Wolves will chase sheep, rats and scavengers will stop chasing you to feed on corpses. Enemies have different ways of attacking. All in all, well-made.

NPC's are more than just the walking signposts we saw in Morrowind. And most of them have schedules, they also do some background chatter when not busy talking with the hero.

The storyline is good, but not constricting, allowing nice freedom. The world is big, and doesn't suffer from ''corridor sickness'' like some worlds do, where while everything is an outside terrain, it's nothing but corridors and passages. There are also countless secrets to be discovered all over the Gothic 2 world. And since everything is just one big area, even indoors areas and dungeons, load times are kept to a minimum.

The combat system is slightly unusual, but avoids feeling like an FPS(First-Person Shooter) like Morrowind's did. The controls also take a bit of getting used to, but only at first.

When it comes to replayability, the game is good for at LEAST a second replay. To find more secrets, and choose another of the game's three paths. It's impossible, as far as I know, to make the storyline of the game deviate much from it's set path, so that impairs replayability.

The only complaints one could possibly have about Gothic 2 is the lack of a toolset for customizing it. But that's only if you absolutely want to nitpick. There are a few problems with some NPC movement patterns, and a rare few places where it's possible to ''fall out'' of the world, or get stuck. But again, compared to games like Morrowind, they are EXTREMELY rare.

Swimming, is another minor point where you could complain, it feels like it has been grafted on with a chainsaw. It might also be nice to be able to choose a few things about your main character from the beginning. Like gender and appearance.

Graphics: 10
Controls: 10
Gameplay: 10
Music/Sound: 10
Multiplayer: No
Editable: No
Replayability: 5
Total: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/03, Updated 06/26/03