The rebirth of D&D RPGs on the PC...
This game gave birth (as far as I know) to the pause mechanic used by most action RPGs today. This pause mechanic allows you to pause the game at any time using a key stroke or mouse click and give commands to your party consisting of one to six characters, which they'll execute once the action resumes. This brings a lot of strategy depth to this otherwise action-oriented RPG. This game makes good use of the D&D rules and implements them well (I myself have never played traditional D&D...so this is debatable). The game also makes a god job of making the rule set and attribute understandable for non-D&D players like me.
The star of this game is it's compelling story. The game is comprised of 8 chapters (including a tutorial oriented prologue). The story starts off by describing your life as an orphan in Candlekeep under the tutelage of Gorion. The game starts once Gorion gives you some money and asks that you prepare for an unexpected journey. The story really picks up once you reach the end of chapter two. The story isn't as open-ended as the gameplay itself unfortunately, but this doesn't prevent it from being one of the best stories amongst recent RPGs.
Like I mentioned before, gameplay is very open-ended in Baldur's Gate. While exploring the game's multiple wilderness areas and cities, you'll be able to perform any action you wish on pretty much anything. You can kill (assuming you have the strength), steal from, talk to or otherwise interact with any NPC you meet. Monsters and enemies are very varied ranging from goblins and ogres to thieves and bandits to powerful sorcerers and mages. The game's magic system will be annoying at first for any non-D&D player as it requires you to memorize spells to cast them. What this means is this: There are 5 levels of spells in the game, your character can memorize a set number of spells of a certain level depending on his own level, you can then memorize these spells and fill out these slots to use them. The way this works will force you to memorize the same spell three times if you expect to use that spell three times without resting as resting is the only way to re-memorize spells. Once you grasp this concept the magic system works really well. The game will require you to use the pause mechanic to cast your spells effectively and protect your spellcasters (if they get struck while casting the casting fails.) The inventory system is easy to use but takes a bit of time to get used to these D&D stats if your not familiar with them. Attack is measured using dice, and armor class gets better as the stat goes lower. This a very lengthy game if you take time to do some of the hundred or so of sidequests available. Fortunately, the journal does a great job of keeping track of you quests.
Graphically Baldur's Gate isn't particularly impressive except for the spell effects and the fact that every piece of equipment you character wears actually shows up on his sprite while playing. The interface is simple to use once your familiar with it (most buttons have icons instead of text) but tooltips will help you understand it quickly.
As for it's sound, Baldur's Gate has great dialogue and voice acting. Some of it may feel over-dramatic but the Forgotten Realms have somewhat been written this way. Environmental effects are interesting if you have a 3D sound-capable card.
In conclusion, Baldur's Gate is a game anyone interested in RPGs, great story or D&D should check out as they won't be disapointed.