GameSpot
 
Baldur's Gate

by Desslock

Developer:
BioWare

Publisher:
Interplay

Release Date:
Late Fall '98
The most influential role-playing game system of them all, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, has been largely absent from computer gaming for the past several years. Perhaps not coincidentally, the computer role-playing game genre as a whole has gone through some fallow times during AD&D's absence. But now the elusively defined role-playing game genre is beginning to enjoy a resurgence after years of decline, with such varied games as Diablo, Fallout, Might and Magic VI, and Final Fantasy VII enjoying both critical and at least some commercial success. Enter BioWare Corporation's Baldur's Gate, a game that should not only mark the triumphant return of AD&D to monitors near you, but also the convincing return of role-playing games to the forefront of computer gaming.

Defining the Genre

 
Baldur's Gate is the best shot in years to revitalize the AD&D computer role-playing game.
Grumpy role-playing game fans have complained, with some justification, that while recent hits in the genre such as Diablo and Final Fantasy VII may have been good games, their action-oriented, linear, hack-and-slash gameplay limited their ability to provide compelling role-playing experiences. Other gamers have complained that the slow-paced combat system of Fallout and the less-than-bleeding-edge graphics of Might and Magic VI have kept non-hard-core role-playing game fans from even trying such deeper, more complex RPGs. With its outstanding, fully rendered, isometric 24-bit graphics, intuitive interface, and gameplay, and the promise to deliver the most faithful computer adaptation of AD&D yet, Baldur's Gate may succeed in satisfying both hard-core role-playing game fans as well as other gamers just looking for a new, but still visually immersive and accessible, gaming experience.

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