Baldur's Gate had upped the ante on making RPGs based on the Dungeons & Dragons franchise through its well-designed epic of a story, but perhaps had not taken full advantage of the pseudo-real-time 2nd. edition AD&D-powered combat system that had been designed for it.
Icewind Dale, at a glance, appears to do so instead, but at the expense of the player-character-driven story that Baldur's Gate had. However, playing it thoroughly would convince any player that it is a title that stands proudly on its own and with its own qualities.
Icewind Dale greets the player with a main menu that has visuals that speak of the fantastical but somewhat gritty themes of the setting that is Northern Faerûn. The buttons are noticeably more compact and more well-placed than those in Baldur's Gate, which is definitely welcome (at least to this reviewer). Clicking on them will however emit rather loud brick-dragging noises, though a trip to Audio options rectified that.
Instead of just the usual single player character, the player character is required to create multiple party members. A player who is new to Dungeons & Dragons can choose from pre-made characters who happen to be quite well-balanced if the player wishes to slap together an effective party quickly. A player who is more well-versed in Dungeons & Dragons rules may prefer to instead create every character from scratch, so it is fortunate the game provides in-depth tools to create such customized characters.
The game, however, will not turn out to be perfectly playable with any party composition. While the game theoretically allows parties of whimsical nature, such as all-fighter party, the challenges that the game would throw at such a party would eventually grind it to nothing through attrition. Fortunately, the game does provide a warning-cum-guide of sorts that the party should optimally be well-balanced in skills, powers and abilities.
After the creation of the party, the story of the game starts proper. The Ten Towns of Icewind Dale, a loose alliance of settlements, has been facing mysterious difficulties as of late. One of the more prominent towns, Kuldahar, has sent word of strange happenings and have requested for help from the others. The player's party just happened to be in one such town, a band of adventurers who would volunteer for the expedition to Kuldahar and would soon be embroiled in an otherworldly conspiracy to bring destruction to the Frozen Norths.
It won't be long before the intrepid band of adventurers face whole assortments of enemies in battle, which include the undead (who seem to be quite at home in frigid environments), wild beasts, crazed cultists, angry Elementals and demonic/devilish beings, to state a few examples. Each archetype of enemies require a different approach to be dealt with efficiently, thus encouraging the player to scout out concentrations of enemies and make a battle plan.
The game does appear to recycle enemy types, which is a common occurrence in the RPG genre at the time. However, recycled enemies are often more than a change in size and colour, such as different types of trolls that may not necessarily be vanquished with fire. Nevertheless, this does point out the aging of the Infinity Engine (which powers this game) in an unceremonious manner.
Enemies in Icewind Dale tend to have models that are intricately detailed and animated, even for a game that still depends on 2D sprites. In fact, one would inevitably notice that these models are actually superior in quality to those used for player characters and NPCs that have the same type of model (the humanoid one whose three main body parts - head, body and arm-wielded equipment - can be swapped out for others). This makes the latter kind of model quite a disappointment to look at, but the former models are still plenty impressive enough to distract even the most nit-picky player.
An AD&D RPG won't be one without lovely loot to gain, and Icewind Dale does not disappoint in this department. While only minor loot drops appear to be randomized (especially those that can be claimed off the corpses of regular enemies), much of the fixed loot drops in this game still consists of unique weapons with impressive backstory or items that are still worth good selling prices if they happen to be of little use to the party. The buy/sell price ratios are unfortunately very steep, so wiser players would undoubtedly make game-saves before trading with a merchant, and often again in between sales and purchases of items of utilitarian significance. A mistake in sales or purchases can cost the party the next battle, so it is a minor annoyance that multiple save-games are necessary (in fact, it is encouraged by the game). This certainly affects the immersion of the game.
A successful party would eventually grow into a more powerful one, with plenty more options and gear to survive the challenges ahead. The story does a good job of pointing out this eventuality, typically through dialogue with NPCs who observe out loud the advancement of the player's party from a gang of no-ones to those who would play a role in the fate of Icewind Dale.
That said however, this reviewer cannot help but feel that the adventurers are little more than tools to be used by the real protagonists of Icewind Dale's story. Their contribution to the saga in this game appears to be mere bulldozers to pave the way for a permanent solution that had been devised by other, more prominent characters in the game.
There are dialogue within the game, but those that are with inherently hostile characters almost always end with violence, whereas those with allies generally conclude with what is essentially a mission briefing/debriefing and a "I will see you later" or a final farewell. Fortunately, the dialogue is well-written and does a good job of covering the otherwise simply conveyed messages with a thick layer of brevity and dramatic emphasis on what the player's party must do. The voiced-over dialogue is also well-done too and few voice-overs, if any, are out of character.
The replay value of the game apparently lies in the party composition that is used by the player. There are plenty of battles in the game, all of which, while unavoidable, can be approached in different ways (especially the first time around, when the player is not so certain about the make-up of enemy forces).
The graphics aspect of the game is, as mentioned already, powered by the aging Infinity engine. The developers appear to realize this, and had compensated with strikingly well-done, hand-drawn environments, especially the sculptured ice caverns later in the game, and the aforementioned in-game models for monsters. Spell/Elemental/Magical effects also appear to have been (somewhat) updated from those seen in Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment, incorporating the new effects provided by the version of DirectX during its time.
Sound effects are not as varied as the models created for the game, however. Many of them, especially the utterances of inhuman enemies, seem to be recycled and reused many times throughout the game for many models, which is quite a disappointment and perhaps a minor annoyance. The music, on the other hand, has fantastic soundtracks that suit the map in play, and also has suspenseful orchestral scores to accentuate battles with.
In conclusion, although the drawbacks that have been mentioned may detract from the crux of the game, which are its battles, the rest of the design of the game should be enough to gloss over such imperfections. Icewind Dale still does a good job of showcasing the prowess of its developers at crafting AD&D games that are a blast to play.