Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Review

Calling a game "enhanced" justifiably raises expectations. You go into it looking for something extra, an improvement over the original plain-Jane version that you can see and feel. With that in mind, it is hard to view Overhaul Games' Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition as anything but a disappointment. Yes, this revamped and pumped-up take on the 1998 Dungeons & Dragons classic from BioWare is just as compelling and hard to put down as the 14-year-old forebear that became a gold standard for role-playing games. But it doesn't add anything of real value to the experience aside from interface and graphical tweaks long available to the original game through free mods, along with largely forgettable new content in a trio of potential party members and an arena combat mode. And to make matters worse, the game arrived loaded with bugs and remains shaky even after a few patches.

Most of the changes have long been available via mods.

Fortunately, the core game (along with the 1999 expansion pack Tales of the Sword Coast, also rolled into the mix here) remains strong after more than a decade, and is a deep, incredibly engrossing role-playing game. The plot driving the swords-and-sorcery derring-do is far from gripping, the game instead focusing on your relationships with party members--a diverse and relatable group of individuals with different personalities and motives. Alignment is a vital concern: mix good and evil in the party for long and adventurers eventually come to blows. You can even face defections if your actions aren't somewhat in line with party members' philosophies.

You have to have real affection for the arcane rule system of D&D to appreciate how much this game offered to Gygax enthusiasts back in the late '90s--or to even appreciate it now, because the Enhanced Edition sticks with the labyrinthine second-edition Advanced D&D rule set from the late '80s that powered the original game, rather than the totally overhauled rules that have been around in third and fourth iterations since 2000. If you have no experience with D&D, you may have some reading in store. Even if you have some familiarity with the modern versions of the great-granddaddy of RPGs, you need to understand how the game was played over a decade ago to get the most out of the complex mechanics.

Even with rules likely to confuse a newcomer, the manner in which Baldur's Gate combines its numerous elements in such an uncompromising way can brew up serious ambrosia. This blend of largely open-world role-playing with strategic, pausable real-time combat conducted by a party of up to six disparate adventurers can make for an incredible experience. Both the role-playing and strategic depth are tremendous, forcing you to manage your party and think seriously about spellcasting and swordplay when delving into battles.

The Black Pits allows you to focus entirely on the great tactical combat aspect, but the mode is too bland and repetitive.

The Enhanced Edition brings back these great features, and even expands upon them by tossing in extras that were not incorporated into the series until Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. With or without these add-ons, the game hits a sweet spot between role-playing adventure and tactical squad-based combat. Parties must be properly structured to take advantage of different character classes. Concocting a good mix of warriors, mages, and specialists like thieves, rangers, or even bards is vital to simply surviving against some of the opposition. You can't throw your party into the fray without serious contemplation and preparation, especially after you hit the midway point and encounter enemies who will shred you with magic if you don't have ways to counter their incantations. A wide range of available adventurers provides nearly unlimited choices when it comes to party composition.

Despite such deserving praise, there isn't much in the Enhanced Edition to merit such a high-reaching subtitle. Most of the improvements have long been available free of charge online with the fantastic BG1Tutu and a host of other mods that add an incredible number of features to the original game. There are few benefits to paying $20 for this version of the game as opposed to shelling out $5 or $10 for the original game and then taking a half-hour or so to download and install the mods. For some, the Enhanced Edition might be a preferable one-stop shopping option, but there are serious drawbacks with this approach.

For starters, this is not a completely fixed-up game. Overhaul did not address some old, glaring problems. Though some of the original's issues have been tightened, many flaws have been left depressingly intact. Pathfinding with party members, for instance, is as messed up as it ever was. Characters still routinely run into one another and wander away into the scenery. Even something like a copse of trees can turn an orderly march into a scramble through the woods where your weak mage winds up being the first guy to run into a gang of hobgoblins.

Cinematics have all been redone with a new comic-book art style. And hey, what happened to the Nietzsche quote at the beginning of the game?

Indoors, things are worse. Corridors and chambers are too cramped for characters to turn around without roaming off on their own. You can walk into a room and find some of your party unable to move, which is a real problem if the frozen guys are your heavy-armored brawlers. Characters also mill around when leaving a screen, with the whole party still needing to be on the edge before you can travel to another area. Hearing that familiar "You must gather your party before venturing forth" triggers nostalgia, but it's also a reminder that things weren't always so great in the good old days. It's disappointing that these essential functions have not been smoothed out.

The new content does not do much to improve the overall character of the game. The main saga has been bolstered with three new characters that draw on character classes and skills not available in the original Baldur's Gate. But while the half-orc Blackguard Dorn isn't a bad addition, because of his two-handed magic sword and ability to level up quickly into a melee powerhouse, both the wild mage Neera and the monk Rasaad are tougher to appreciate. Neera is wild, which can dramatically affect her spells to the point where you never know what she's going to cast. This is true to the class, but it also makes her a much less attractive option than a dependable mage like Dynaheir.