Icewind Dale

"Help earn your RPG credentials by playing this great game."

Icewind Dale is one of five classic RPGs produced by Black Isle Studios that are based off of the Dungeons and Dragons (D & D) pen and paper RPG. The game follows all the standard D & D rules, including armor class, hit points, spell allotment, etc. If you've never played D & D before, don't worry, the computer takes care of all that stuff in the background, and knowledge of D & D is not essential to playing Icewind Dale. But those who have played D & D or have read the wonderful trilogy by R.A. Salvatore will enjoy recognizing place names, descriptions, and the occasional character.

Anyone who enjoys RPGs owes it to themselves to play this excellent game. Icewind Dale is more of a hack and slash type RPG, with the emphasis on combat, and does not feature a robust story. The story isn't bad; it's just secondary to the gameplay. The story is mostly there to get you into the next area and take care of the next group of monsters. Icewind Dale features a top down, third-person perspective which makes it easy to tell what's going on and what your characters are doing. The user interface is very good, easy to use, and “invisible”; that is, you never have to think about the interface, just what your characters are doing, which is how it should be.

Story: The story in Icewind Dale is fairly straightforward. Because you create all the characters at the beginning of the game, there is no opportunity for character development, and the story suffers a bit as a result. The story does what it's supposed to do, which is provide you with a reason to go to the next area. The progression is pretty linear, although you can go back to any area you want, once you've opened it up through the story sequence.

Gameplay: Those of you familiar with the D & D rule set (2nd edition) will be pleasantly surprised at how well it is translated to the computer. Magic specialists, extraordinary strength, thieving skills, ranger special abilities, they're all there. If you haven't played D & D before everything is pretty easy to figure out thanks to the well done GUI (graphic user interface). You start the game by making a party of (up to) six characters, which can be time consuming if you haven't created D & D characters before. Even a D & D veteran will take a bit of time to make a complete party. Party members can be good, neutral or evilly aligned. Alignment doesn't affect the game in any significant way (only Paladins and Rangers can be affected by alignment issues), and the most efficient party is one with a mix of alignments, so that you can use all the magic items you run across (some items have alignment restrictions).

The battle system is both turn-based and real-time simultaneously. While it looks real-time on screen, the computer is rolling imitative and giving each character a chance to move according to the D & D system (again, all behind the scenes). All you have to do is select a target and your characters will take it from there. You will have to constantly pause (using the space bar) to issue new commands to your crew, especially to cast spells or use/change items.

All the regular D & D spells are there to be used, although really there are only a few that are worthwhile (fireball, cloudkill, haste, magic missile, etc.) There is a fairly large variety of armor, weapons, and items to be found. Each item (especially unique ones) comes with a very detailed description of the item's powers and in some cases full-fledged backgrounds.

If you've played Baldur's Gate, an earlier Bioware game, you'll notice some nice improvements in the gameplay. First and foremost is the ability to go to the inventory screen while paused. This makes using things like magic arrows and potions much more plausible, and prevents your character from dying from poison because you couldn't get him or her an antidote fast enough. Also arrows, bolts, sling bullets, etc. are now bunched in groups of 40 rather than 20, which allows you to make it through an entire dungeon without running out of ammunition.

Graphics: The graphics are somewhat of a mixed bag. Some of the outdoor backgrounds are gorgeous. The dungeons are decent, although many of them are too dark; in some cases I had a hard time finding the exit just because it was so dark in the area. The on-screen characters are not very inspiring, although the portraits are well done. The spells look very nice, but there can be some slowdown, especially when you've got a group of enemies, a couple of spells firing off, and summoned monsters of your own all fighting it out for processor time.

Sound/Music: Simply put, the music is gorgeous. I'm usually not into game soundtracks, but I may pick up the Icewind Dale Ultimate Collection just to get the music CDs. They're that good. David Ogden Stiers nails the narration, but the other voice acting is mediocre. I turned off most of it fairly early into the game. The battle sounds are appropriate and the spell effects sound very good. In particular I enjoyed the sound of Magic Missiles being fired.

Replayability: If you're the type that likes to replay games in different ways you can certainly do that with this game. Take different or fewer characters and the game will be a totally different experience, at least during battle. There really isn't a way to change the story or the way events unfold though.

Verdict: Definitely a buy. You can pick up the Icewind Dale Collection or the Ultimate Collection for less than a regular new game, or you can find just Icewind Dale in the bargain bins for $10 now. Either way is well worth your money.

Overall Score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/04