A fun hack n' slack rpg, completely independant of the Baldur's Gate series.
User Rating: 8.2 | Icewind Dale (DVD) PC
As you check reviews about this game, you'll hear a lot about it not being like the Baldur's Gate games, but thats for good reason. This game isn't Baldur's Gate, and it wasn't intended to be Baldur's Gate. Therefore, its not suppose to be like Baldur's Gate, so it has succeeded. Gameplay: After creating your party ( a maximum of 6 characters ) you begin your adventure in the cold cruel world of Icewind Dale. The gameplay revolved mostly around hack n' slash action, with little revelance to exploring or strategy. Your characters gain experience as you kill more enemies, and your characters gain levels at a respectable rate. At some points in the game, action will seize and you will be forced to sit through speeches about nature and evil, but just try to keep yourself focused. Occasionally, but not very often, you may have to think before you attack. Sometimes its better to send in a hidden thief then to charge with your fighters. But you'll be hacking and slashing for the better part of the game. Graphics: The Infinity Engine, what else can you say? Sure, the iso-metric view looks a tad bit outdated. But you learn to respect the Infinity Engine for what it has done. Thats enough to get you buy the similiar casting graphics and the simple character models. Some nice touches can be found on enemies. Look closely and you'll see that the designers definately spent some time on them. Sound: The soundtrack for this game is simply stunning, is will keep you connected to the Icewind Dale world. Beautiful and powerful scores leave impressions as you play through the game. However, the same cannot be said about the rest of the sounds. Enemy roars, spell sounds, and weapon clashings get all too familiar after a while. The repetitive battle cries of your characters don't help too much either. Value: This game will probably attract you to replay maybe once or twice, but after that the fun is dead. The game gets highly linear after one or two playthroughts, so you won't be as highly entertained as you were before. Different races don't really have much of an impact in the game, so you won't be tempted to try different parties. The Finale: Play this game for what it is and you'll love it. If you go in expecting another Baldur's Gate, you'll be greatly dissapointed. This game isn't Baldur's Gate, and it doesn't need to be.
