Rating: 
Summary: I love this game!
Review: It has been a number of years since a game has made me want tostay up all night and play it. It has been even more years since a game has actually done that and what's more I didn't notice how late I had stayed up until I got annoyed with the glare on my screen from the rising sun.The plot to this game is wonderful. There are twists and turns you aren't expecting. Just when you think you've found the 'bad guy' there is another one and the person you thought it was is really not so bad. (Well, kind of..) This reminds me of the heady days of playing Wizardry on my Apple IIe. There are plenty of monsters to kill but you can't just run in and slay them all. You need tactics and a plan for most things. And for those of you who play tabletop D&D this is a good reminder as to why those skeletons and goblins are actually really scary. There are a few places where the interface gets a litle awkward, which is why it only gets four stars (there are also times it is difficult to see important things). The graphics are great and the spells are amazing. Go get a copy right now. END
Rating: 
Summary: Simple yet fun
Review: Icewind Dale makes no attempt to be The Game With A Story (Like Planescape: Torment). It's a graphic dungeon crawl, reminding me of those fun-filled nights behind a table covered in character sheets and handbooks. Though simple and at-times unsurprising, its excellent music and art and fairly enjoyable combat system make the game a certain winner. In the current battle between Icewind Dale and Diablo 2, I'll go for Icewind Dale. I'm just a bigger fan of D&D than an unknown world, I guess...
Rating:
Summary: A great role playing experience
Review: This is one of the better role playing games to come out in several years. The graphics are something to behold. You can tell the designers went to great lengths to provide a rich and beautiful gaming environment. What appealed to me was the chance to create six characters on my own. This added more excitement to the game by not having to rely on weak NPC who don't have the skills you desire for your characters throughout the game. Your characters have the options of having a variety of weapons, armor, and spells to use, which is definately a bonus for role players. However, the game does have a few problems. First, the pathfinding in the game is horrible. On numerous occasions I would look for one of my characters and they would be busy running into walls. Its frustrating when you have to take the time to guide your characters step by step to a specific spot on the map. Hopefully a patch will fix this as soon as possible. Second, the game will lock up from time to time. As before, i'm sure a patch can fix this problem.
Rating:
Summary: Slow at first, then picking up speed.
Review: I bought this game looking for a good RPG, and a less gothic story line than Diablo 2. The story is gripping, the plot is well thought, and what you can do is quiet impressing. You can chose to be a warrior, mages, paladin, ranger, cleric, bard, theif, and a priest. Or, you can choose to be 3 of these at once on one character. You construct a party of 6 members, each having his or her on unique skills, and battle through perilous dungons collecting rare items. There are legendary blades of fire that can be obatined only once a game, proving to be quiet a task. Also, the multiplayer action is "lag free". Now, the game will start out slow, but it will pick up speed later on. I advise you not to buy this if you're looking for utter mayhem, gore, blood, continuous killing, and frequent action. There is on average, at least 200 monsters per dungon. You can levels like in Diablo, but there is a skill cap of 1,801,000 exp points. So, to sum it all up, it's a good game. You'll want to play it more than once, but probably no more than 3 times. I've gotten 1/5 of the way through and I've had it at least a week. Thank You
Rating:
Summary: Great for Newcomers to the RPG
Review: This is a must buy!! I am personally new to playing role playing computer games myself, -the only other one that I own is Betrayal in Antara, which has nothing to do with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D)- although I read reviews and reports about them all the time. I must say that playing these games are far different from just reading them however. Icewind Dale takes place part of the AD&D Forgotten Realms World, as does the older game created by TSR known as Baldur's Gate. I knew even less about AD&D than I did about RPG computer games at the time of my purchase which was about 2 days ago. I might as well glue my hand to the mouse because I have been playing this game non-stop. I get up in the morning, turn on the computer, eventually come downstairs for lunch and dinner, -yes, I skip breakfast-, and then I begin playing again until about 4:00 in the morning. I enjoyed the fact that there is detailed creation of characters in this game. For instance, you can pick the gender, race, and class of your character, then add his attributes, the color of his clothes and skin and the tone of his voice, not to mention that you can pick whether your character is good or evil. These details affect the gameplay alot. For example, there is a small quest in the town that you start in that requires you to pick a lock on a door. If you do not have a thief in your party or anyone with the ability to pick locks, then you miss out on the opportunity to gain the experience from helping the person requiring you to open the door. This is not good because the game is a little tough in the beginning, where all of your characters are at the first level, with very low hit points and only enough gold to purchase weak weapons and armor. The main point of the game is to complete large quests -you will know if it is a large quest because the character issuing it to you can speak and you are not just reading subtitles- which eventually lead you on the next quest until you reach the end of the game. All of these larger quests are part of a story read by a narrator. Within each town that you have visited, however, are smaller quests which can give you large amounts of experience -they only seem that way in the beginning- for doing small tasks and this can be very helpful. I spent an entire day in the first town, and I found every small quest possible, and I gain enough experience to have my thief level up -gain a level- and he hardly attacked little more than two creatures. I have spent probably 15-20 hours these last three days playing this game and it is the most fun I have had in a long time. My characters are all at least level 3 and above and I have reached the second town. Using the max hit point capability -found in the options section- my warrior must have about 49 hit points, and my characters seem immortal because of it (use it). There must be 200 spells in total -between the mage and the cleric- and it is fun watching them cast it. I feel as if I am a part of this world, leading the party, and the music astounds me. There are a million more pros I could ramble about, but you will probably read about them in the other reviews. The last thing I have to say to newcomers is to not give up hope if this game is too complicated, it comes with a thick book containing everything that you need to know to get yourself started with this game. 5 stars on everything, You have to get this game.
Rating:
Summary: Wondeful kill-almost-everyone-in-sight RPG !
Review: Fans of Baldur's Gate will no doubt already have this game in their collection, since this game was made with the same BioWare engine that created BG. And my, that engine has been used wonderfully to create Icewind Dale. If you're new to both RPG's I would hesitate to recommend this game to you, since it has advanced elements of role-playing (statistical, numerical) that may scare any newcomers. Anyone just vaguely attracted to RPG's will be in for a big-time treat, though. The game runs in 800x600 resolution, which is nice (yes, it looks very, very good), since you can see more of the surrounding area than you could in Baldur's Gate, and much more than you could in Planescape: Torment. That's nice when decimating the ranks of your enemies with fireballs, since you have enough distance to cast area-damaging spells without hurting your own people. You create six player characters, which are made from (almost) the same parameters as those in Baldur's Gate. BG2 features class kits, but Icewind Dale does not! This doesn't really matter, since the game is diverse enough as is. You start in a small town as 'puny' level 1 people, and can accumulate 1.800.000 exp. points, putting you in levels 14-19, depending on which class you choose. Druids only ascend to level 14.....! The people who made Icewind Dale have, I think, let themselves be affected by Planescape:Torment, for there are SO many strange and differently wonderful magical items than in BG1. Daggers that inflict 1d4 extra points of fire damage 15% of the time, +3 axes that increase your saving throws and your Constitution. Anyway, as a long-time DM I found all those unusual magic items to be a breath of fresh air, instead of 'just' having +1 weapons, armor and so on. I have a level 8 paladin with an AC of -5, due to all sorts of strange items that improve his armor class, one is a +2 axe (defender) which also improves AC by 2. Great and varied magical items don't make a marvelous game, though. That's why there are monsters ! Enemies in Icewind Dale look as you would expect them to, the nice thing of course being that there are really huge monsters and creatures to be found. The first time I met a verbeeg giant, which is probably the smallest of the giant-kin, I was astounded and scared at the same time. Having been a DM, I knew that the verbeeg wouldn't pose a very big threat, but just seing such a GIANT made me shiver with awe. And I've shivered many times so far, for battles are sometimes VERY nasty, hard and unpredictable. That's great, but remember to save often, or you're going to kill yourself in frustration. I'd give my right arm to see someone not familiar with AD&D trolls 'kill' one such troll, only to have it come after them later because they didn't b... it, which is the only way to really get rid of it. Actually background and monsters blend in nicely together, without anything looking out of place. That is more than you can say for some spells in the game! Sadly, some spells look strange, as if they don't fit into the game's background and texture. Stinking Cloud and Cloud Kill are the worst I've seen so far, but I've 'only' reached the 5th level spells. Where I am in the game now, I suspect occasional bad spell graphic implementation will be the only thing I'll have to complain about in this game. The rest is just plain RPG heaven. As Interplay stated long before Icewind Dale's release, it was going to be more action-oriented than BG, and that is also very easy to feel, since you fight much more than you talk, and to complete most quests you have to fight your way through caves and dungeons filled with monsters and people, and the only solution, after a brief and often futile conversation, is battle. After Torment it's nice to have an RPG of that kind, which is mostly a battle-everything-to-win RPG. Kill unless someone speaks to you first, is almost what I find. That's fine by me, and although you fight a lot, it doesn't become too much! NO, I'm not sickly addicted to watching monsters get hacked to death. I just like a good battle, and can't wait to chop off some beholder eye-stalks in BG2. The music in the game is really the cruncher. WOW, is all I can say for the people who have made such atmospheric and often spooky music. I couldn't help feeling that the music set exactly the right mood for cold mountains and frozen forests. It's too bad you can't put it in your CD-player and listen to the music while reading or just relaxing. As a fan of R.A. Salvatore's books I was delighted to see many of the visual images of Icewind Dale I carried around in my mind, so well-made in a computer RPG. Just for your information, the game takes place about 80 years before any mention of Drizzt, so NO, you won't meet him in the game. As to whether you meet Bruenor Battlehammer or not, well..... I can't say ! This blows away anything else of it's kind, so if you feel attracted to RPG's, buy this and hurry to play through it before Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn comes out later this year.
Rating:
Summary: very linear, but entertaining and has evolved since Baldur's
Review: I'm starting to think that anything Bioware does is going to please me. They have yet to burn me. This, the second Forgotten Realms game from Bioware, takes you to the frozen north. User interface is almost indistinguishable from Baldur's. On the downside, if you don't like a much more linear adventure than the original Baldur's Gate, this may not appeal too much. If you don't mind a pretty linear adventure with interesting side quests, you will probably like this. There is a lot of hack-and-slash (which I like) but if you are alert there are a number of side quests that you might miss if you mindlessly click your way through NPC conversations. Definitely prepare for a lot of old-fashioned dungeon crawls and the ability to attain levels of 11 and better. Randomization of magic items (of which there are arguably too many) will enhance replay value. Graphically, spell effects in particular have come far, and the maps are breathtaking--lots of dazzling white snowscapes, glacial rift, that sort of thing. Lots of new monsters here that weren't in BG; in particular, they've improved the handling of large size creatures such as ettins and frost giants. Stability is a little iffy even with the patch (which is recommended, since without it they took away the auto-pause when attacked), which fixes some broken quests and sands off some rough edges. Simply put: if you want to play D&D on your computer by yourself, this is great fun. I don't know that I would say it's necessarily 'role-playing' in the strict sense, but it's great as a D&D tactical, goal-oriented adventure game.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite Baldur's Gate, but still good
Review: This game is really cool. Creating 6 characters is the best part. The graphics were great. The story line could have been better. It was just too short. It's a great way to pass time until Baldur's Gate 2 comes out.
Rating:
Summary: No Drizzt but still good.
Review: This is a must buy for all fans of Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment. Unlike both Planescape and BG however, it relly reminds me of table top Dungeons & Dragons because of all the doungin crawls. Although you still cant have two wepons weilded at the same time, and you cant play as a Drow, there are considerable inprovments to magic. There are almost all the spells from BG and 6th,7th,8th,9th level spells for Mages and 6th,7th spells for priests, and all of the magic graphics have changed (some of the best eye candy that Ive seen are the Colorspray and Entangel). The monsters, unlike BG seem to be alive, say for instince the Goblins. After they swing at you with there axe, they stand up and yell and seem to fall naturaly unlike the strange falling down death of BG. The music is unlike any other game Ive herd before that changes from place to place. Myself, like many other fans of the Dark Elf Trilogy were upset by the fact that there was no Drizzt. But all in all, buy this for your RPG cravings, not Diablo II
Rating:
Summary: Gives me shivers
Review: Great improvement from Baldur's Gate. The sounds and music are fantastic although many areas were too quiet at times and it would have been better had there been more background noise or music. The game contains so much more action than BG and players should enjoy the times when they are not in an overwhelming battle! SAVE YOUR GAME OFTEN! I found BG to be very long at times, wondering through the f.o.w. for nothing and accomplishing nothing. IWD is so much more. The creatures are much more fun to watch (and slay!) and level advancement is quick. You'll actually get to make use of your mage! Plus, the spells are excellent although I found myself using many of the more popular spells (magic missile, fireball, etc.) than some of the mind control or confusion spells which tend to be irrelevent in large battles or against powerful creatures. The graphics are brilliant and beautiful and they make you feel like you are in a fantasy setting at ALL times. Great attention to detail. Group movement is still "buggy" but MUCH improved from BG. Characters "push" other characters out of the way (depending on the surroundings) to get to their position in the party formations. The greatest feature of the game is the ability to create your entire party the way you like them. You could have 6 mages, or 3 theives and 3 clerics, or a juggernaut line of 6 fighters! I was a little concerned about the amount of game play with IWD but I have been VERY impressed thus far. Every time I've thought I was close to the end of the game there was plenty more to do. I have not yet finished the game and I've been playing it roughly 2-3 hours a day for over 2 weeks now (including weekends). Despite how powerful your characters are (mine are all 11th level or above) you will be faced with good puzzles and ever increasingly fierce creatures which will test your battle skills and AD&D abilities to the limit. A definite buy!
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