Rating: 
Summary: A great peice of work
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this expansion to the original Icewind Dale game, I hope they continue with this series. Interplay/Bioware still has yet to make their games as good as the original Gold Box AD&D games by ssi, but these are not bad. Turn based would be better. Auto Pause is not turn based.
Rating:
Summary: Short, but adds to replayability of IWD.
Review: I'm going to have to agree with everyone here who said the expansion was far too short (Interplay said it would take 20 hours to beat: it actually takes around 8). However, if you want to replay the entire series, HoW does add a lot of replayability to the whole series. You get new spells and abilities, better graphics and a MUCH higher x.p. cap although, as others have mentioned, you'll probably have to play through the entire game in the 'Heart of Fury' mode (and do the 'save and import your PC' routine a few times) to reach it. It's probably the best out there right now and, similar to it's parent game, will tide me over until a truly awesome game (in this case the BGII expansion Throne of Bhaal) comes out. Wait for it to come down in price a bit and it'll be well worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Amused me somewhat
Review: I'm not going to talk about the gameplay, linear plot, etc., we all know about that... But here are some aspects of the game I found amusing: The artwork on the new character profiles was excellent and fit very well with the theme of the game-- Very moody with watercolor-like graphics! You get to choose new voices for your characters, and one of the female voices sounds very seductive...some of what she says has double-meanings. Quite naughty! This voice works perfectly with the blonde cleric. It's listed as "HOW-female3",(or is it 2?) Also there's some male voices that actually don't sound dorky. The addition of limited 3rd-edition rules with the expansion is especially cool. With the proper cheat code, you can now create that elven Fighter-Mage-Thief that you always wanted to- with the Sneak Attack ability. Just use the cheat code to give him XP "supplements" so it doesn't take you a year to level up... I've found that with prudent use of the cheat codes and use of certain magic items, you can emulate many 3rd-edition prestige classes. For $$- it's certainly worth the risk. But don't try to play the sountrack during a romantic evening with your significant other-- that's NOT worth the risk!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all...
Review: Icewind Dale is a fun game, and I like the expansion quite a bit. True, it is a hack & slash game without a lot of opportunity for roleplaying, and I would not put it on the same level as any of the Baldur's Gate games, but the storyline is interesting, the items that you can acquire are neat, and just because a game is not real complex doesn't mean it is no good. If you find a good price on this game (probably under 25 dollars), by all means check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Its Cold Again!!!
Review: Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter is a wonderful add-on to Icewind Dale (see my review of Icewind Dale dated January 13, 2001 for further information). You must have the original game to play this add-on. Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter begins in the town of Lonelywood. It is a town in fear of invasion with little in the way of amenities. The story builds from there. The following features of ID:HOW are great: 1) New Area's to adventure in. 2) Requires 9th level or higher characters to play in the expansion. These can be imported from a completed game of ID. Alternatively, you can move in to the expansion from Kuldahar if you have not completed ID. Finally, you can create a brand new party of characters to adventure in ID:HOW. 3) You get to create all the members of your party to give you exactly the kind of party you want. 4) Capability to advance to 30th level (though you will probably need to adjust the difficulty of the game to do this). 5) Wonderful graphics that make you feel like you are in a very cold painting. 6) Partial use of D&D 3rd Edition Rules. 6) Special Abilities as follows: a) Paladin (Smite Evil, Divine Courage, Immunity to Disease, Spell access at 6th level). b) Ranger (Tracking, Spell access at 6th level). c) Druid (Shape change at 5th level, Elemental form at 11th level, Immunity to poison at 9th level, Immunity to fatigue, New experience table allowing progression past 14th level). d) Thief (Sneak Attack, Evasion at 7th level, Crippling Strike at 5th level). e) Bard (New songs that affect the party in different ways. New songs appear at the following levels-3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th). 7) Transport items such as gem bag (holds 20 gems or jewelry), potion bag (20 potions) and scroll cases (20 scrolls). 8) Hot key to illuminate doors (does not show you secret doors) and any items on the ground. 9) New spells for Mage and Cleric. The mage has 17 new spells of the following levels (Level 2: 1 spell, Level 3: 1 spell, Level 4: 3 spells, Level 5: 3 spells, Level 6: 3 spells, Level 7: 2 spells, Level 8: 4 spells). A Priest has 42 new spells of the following levels (Level 1: 2 spells, Level 2: 3 spells, Level 3: 10 spells, Level 4: 9 spells, Level 5: 7 spells, Level 6: 4 spells, Level 7: 7 spells). 10) New high level monsters. 11) Improved screen resolution for computers that can support it. I believe you will enjoy this add-on to Icewind Dale. Be prepared to sleep at the computer. Make sure you have a wife who is understanding (and forgiving).
Rating:
Summary: Another "too short" review
Review: If this expansion were ... cheaper I would go up a star. The fixes to the original engine were outstanding. If you haven't already played Icewind Dale and are playing it for the first time with the expansion, you'll get a lot more for your money. For those who already completed I.D. and are hungry for more, I don't think this will calm your hunger. It's more like a snack than a meal. The bonus missions were a lot of fun, but were brief and simple. At least one extra long term quest would have been appreciated after shelling out "my money". My advice: wait for the price to go down.
Rating:
Summary: The Ice gods are cutting through my constitution!
Review: If you play this game(Icewind Dale) as well as Heart of Winter you may forget 'important' things like eating, sleeping and laundry. You may start hating your lousy job even more than you already do. This expansion adds a new town on the map, Lonlywood and many new locales. Your characters can become more powerful. In the case of Paladins and Rangers, they get spells early on and extra special abilities. Rangers get tracking but can only do it once per day(regardless of level) Wis of 18 can gain a lot of info but the day is long and you can only use it once. Don't use tracking in a smaller dungeon or outside towne unless you plan to rest up for a while(24 hours) Druids can attain the highest levels and can be the most powerful of characters. If you have a Paladin don't use a druid, or you'll have a morale failure. Druids can only be Neutral. If you have too high a reputaion your Druid gets weak(he thinks your a goody-two-shoes). Too low and the Paladin gets weak(er) anything above 16 will raise your Paladin's morale but lower your Druid. You never see this in IWD or HoW but it's there. There is a rep to maintain just like Baldur's Gate. Fallen Paladin's are no fun. They are weak fighters(not Wheapon Grande Masters) with no powers. For Roll play they are great though! In order to prosper in this game, a paladin(fallen or not) must have 18/00 strength, 18 charisma and 18 constitution and no less. Wisdom is somewhat important too, but not very.(that is only -my- opinion. play it your own way.) 18/00 STR gives him nearly the bonuses of a Grande Master Fighter at 18/99. And as for charm everyone gets morale boosts if he leads the party(with no druid). Elves make(in my humble opinion) the best Rangers, not half elves, they get a bounus to thier bows and swords and can attain +3 in misile attack(and reflex) because of dexterity of 19. Like I said in the IWD review, don't let any one tell you how to play. I can't stand most D&D players as they DO tell you how to play. Usually they say half elven rangers or else. But Half elves don't have dex bonuses nor do they have sword and bow bonuses. Who cares about constitution, they attack from a distance anyway. Elves are -perfect- shots with a bow! What a shame they aren't used to thier full potential(Legolos of Lord of the Rings style) Half elves are humans with some resistance. Bah! Elven mages gain nothing over human mages, no AC, just a reflex. +3(see tables) and cannot use a bow OR a sword! Haflings get sling bonuses bringing starting(thief lvl 1)THAC0 to 15 and make excellent theives and rear attackers but lousy fighters.
This is a great game and the expansion is good enough for me. There is also a free download with some new areas released by Bioware themselves. They must care about thier customers to do that! I am really impressed!
P. S. don't be afraid to use thieves in your Paladin party, they do much more than steal!
Rating:
Summary: The Ice gods are cutting through my constitution!
Review: If you play this game(Icewind Dale) as well as Heart of Winter you may forget 'important' things like eating, sleeping and laundry. You may start hating your lousy job even more than you already do. This expansion adds a new town on the map, Lonlywood and many new locales. Your characters can become more powerful. In the case of Paladins and Rangers, they get spells early on and extra special abilities. Rangers get tracking but can only do it once per day(regardless of level) Wis of 18 can gain a lot of info but the day is long and you can only use it once. Don't use tracking in a smaller dungeon or outside towne unless you plan to rest up for a while(24 hours) Druids can attain the highest levels and can be the most powerful of characters. If you have a Paladin don't use a druid, or you'll have a morale failure. Druids can only be Neutral. If you have too high a reputaion your Druid gets weak(he thinks your a goody-two-shoes). Too low and the Paladin gets weak(er) anything above 16 will raise your Paladin's morale but lower your Druid. You never see this in IWD or HoW but it's there. There is a rep to maintain just like Baldur's Gate. Fallen Paladin's are no fun. They are weak fighters(not Wheapon Grande Masters) with no powers. For Roll play they are great though! In order to prosper in this game, a paladin(fallen or not) must have 18/00 strength, 18 charisma and 18 constitution and no less. Wisdom is somewhat important too, but not very.(that is only -my- opinion. play it your own way.) 18/00 STR gives him nearly the bonuses of a Grande Master Fighter at 18/99. And as for charm everyone gets morale boosts if he leads the party(with no druid). Elves make(in my humble opinion) the best Rangers, not half elves, they get a bounus to thier bows and swords and can attain +3 in misile attack(and reflex) because of dexterity of 19. Like I said in the IWD review, don't let any one tell you how to play. I can't stand most D&D players as they DO tell you how to play. Usually they say half elven rangers or else. But Half elves don't have dex bonuses nor do they have sword and bow bonuses. Who cares about constitution, they attack from a distance anyway. Elves are -perfect- shots with a bow! What a shame they aren't used to thier full potential(Legolos of Lord of the Rings style) Half elves are humans with some resistance. Bah! Elven mages gain nothing over human mages, no AC, just a reflex. +3(see tables) and cannot use a bow OR a sword! Haflings get sling bonuses bringing starting(thief lvl 1)THAC0 to 15 and make excellent theives and rear attackers but lousy fighters.
This is a great game and the expansion is good enough for me. There is also a free download with some new areas released by Bioware themselves. They must care about thier customers to do that! I am really impressed!
P. S. don't be afraid to use thieves in your Paladin party, they do much more than steal!
Rating:
Summary: Too Short
Review: It's a good game but much too short to be worth the price. I played it in about 20 hours. They speak of going up to 30th level but you would be hard pressed to do that unless you start the game at 25th level. You can count on going up 4-6 levels that's about it. Cut the price in half or add twice the content and you would have a five star game.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all...
Review: Most expansion sets only give you new characters and some new maps, but Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter actually IMPROVES the gameplay system and interface of Icewind Dale! How so? Inventory screens are now streamlined and allow you to carry more stuff by giving you scroll and gem bags to keep non-essential items out of your main inventory. The interface is great in that you can maximize your viewing screen by using BGII-style hot keys to drop away unnecessary status panels. More areas have been added as well as some tweaking of the AD&D rules and some more spells! If you want to max out your party's experience, you can configure the mode that allows you to score max experience at the expense of dealing with some really tough enemy AI. What's cool is numerous ways you can start a game in the Heart of Winter universe. Installing the add on, you can enhance your current in-progress Icewind Dale game that you're still playing and immediately jump to HOW at the conclusion. Doing this gives you the benefits of the HOW enhancements while still playing the first game. You can opt to import your previous party ifyou've already beaten IWD and start right at the HOW story, or you can use your existing game and access HOW through the locked door in Kuldehar. Pretty cool, but in any event you'll need the first IWD game to use this! Not a standalone product! Great game and well worth picking up. I happen to think IWD was the better of the BG series of games thanks to the heavy combat and minimal exploration. HOW will keep you busy until IWD II comes out very soon!
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