Icewind Dale II Review

Written by: Tracy Bosworth Posted: 7th January 2008

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Icewind Dale II PC review.

Icewind Dale II Details:

	RPG
	PC
	Black Isle Studios
	Virgin Interactive

16+

Out Now

Set years after the first game a vicious horde of goblins, orcs, and bugbears have gathered beneath the mysterious banner of the Chimera and are attacking the port town of Targos. Fearing the town will be overrun Targos have sent out a call for all adventurers, soldiers, and mercenaries to sail north to stand with the town's defenders.

As the player, you take control of a small group of six that answer Targos's call for help. Your small band is then drawn into an ever escalating conflict were nothing is as it appears and Icewind Dale is once again plunged into a state of war.

Graphically Icewind Dale II is nothing spectacular, the game is a 2D RPG and although the characters appear quite small they are presented well, as are the environments that feature some good effects as well as day/night cycle. The game is based on Bioware's Infinity engine and uses the Dungeons and Dragon third edition rule set and as you would expect the game features an unprecedented amount of detail.

Gameplay wise Icewind Dale II is very similar to the first game featuring quests, exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. You control a group of six that you can create yourself using custom characters or a pre made group from within the game. As you would expect from a RPG, when you begin the game your party is poorly equipped for your quest and lack skills.

As your band gains experience you will obtain new skills and spells, you will also be able to acquire new weapons and equipment from numerous stores, and pick them up when they are dropped in battle. You will need to acquire new weapons as soon as possible because going into battle with the poor array of weaponry you start the game with can sometimes have fatal consequences.

The only problem with the gameplay is that battle sequences can sometimes become confusing, although this is mainly due to the small character graphics more than the actual gameplay or game controls that are basically easy to get to grips with.

The only down side to Icewind Dale II is that the amount of detail within the game may seem a little overwhelming to inexperienced role-playing gamers and the small graphics can confuse you at times and take some getting used to. In my opinion Icewind Dale II is aimed at the more experienced RPG gamer and offers a compelling story, fans of the genre will quickly become addicted to.