Miniature Giant Space Hamsters alone, make this game great.
You assume the role of a powerful character who has been captured, tortured and experimented upon by a powerful sorcerer, Irenicus. The reasons for your capture are a spoiler for Baldur’s Gate 1, so if you haven’t played that game, but plan to, perhaps you should do that first. However, you will soon manage to break free, and you and your party will venture out to stop Irenicus’ evil plans.
If you’ve played the original Baldur’s Gate, you’ll be able to import your character straight into the game. However, if you haven’t such luck you’ll be able to build a character from scratch. First off, there will be your stats. These range from Strength to Dexterity to Charisma. Some of these statistics will be more useful to some classes than others, so you’ll have to base it on what character class you’ll want to choose. A nice side feature to this is that Charisma will also affect how your character will converse with other characters in the universe. Also, having a really low intelligence, translates directly into the game, as your conversation responses will be those of person with an IQ less than 60. These are just some of the finer touches to BGII. You’ll also have to choose your race (ranging from human to half-orc), and your alignment (ranging from Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil). Your alignment doesn’t really affect the game as much as in KOTOR. However, you’ll have to be of certain alignments for certain characters to join your party, a certain evil dwarf for instance will only join when your alignment is closer to the evil side. Next you’ll be able to choose your character class. There will be an extensive range to choose from, taking in many Advanced Dungeons & Dragons classes, while adding a couple of new ones. Choose wisely, as a Fighter with high intelligence is not going to pan out well. You’ll also have to choose your character’s proficiencies. This determines what weapons your character will be best at using. There are a variety of weapons including long-swords, katanas, hammers, slings, staves, and flails. You’ll certainly want to invest in a specific proficiency, because these will really power up some of the game’s legendary weapons. Finally, you’ll also be able to determine your character appearance, from clothing colour to character sounds and character portrait.
You’ll also be able to either create your party members from scratch or pick up existing NPC characters from the game. Some of the existing characters are hilarious, including Minsc, a slightly slow-witted ranger with an obsession for Boo, his pet ‘miniature giant space hamster’ (that’s right, it’s no typo, he really does own a ‘miniature giant space hamster’), and Edwin, the arrogant and jaded mage who will take any opportunity to insult the skill of your party. You’ll be able to have up to six characters (including yourself) in your party at any one time, and you’ll be able to drop members and pick them up at later stages when you’d like.
Once you begin the game, you’ll be fighting with the use of the Infinity engine. This is a top-down isometric view, and you’ll be able to pause the action at any time to give orders to your party, set equipment and set spells. This gives you the advantage with more time to plan out your strategies when tackling your enemies, plan well and they’ll fall like flies. And you’ll be fighting heaps. The main quest alone is of decent length, however, the side quests can give over 100 hours of extra gameplay just to finish them all. And you’ll want to, because many have engaging stories to them, and reward you with experience, gold and treasure. This will lead you to explore the massive gamespace, and you’ll be in awe at the overall scope of the game.
The graphics of the game are very similar to the original Baldur’s Gate, because of the use of the Infinity engine. However, they have certainly been improved and polished up a fair bit. The landscape is made from pre-rendered backgrounds, but they look amazing. The characters and monsters have less detail to them, suffice to say you’ll be able to tell the difference between an imp and a dragon though, but they animate well.
The musical score of the game is orchestral and fitting in the fantasy atmosphere of the game. Sound effects are also well done, albeit some of it is recycled from Baldur’s Gate. The voice acting is talented, and can often be hilarious, especially with certain characters I mentioned earlier.
In the grand scope of the game, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a massive experience, which is thoroughly enjoyable for RPG fans. There is no similar game that does it better than BGII can.