Neverwinter Nights 2 is a sequel to the very popular Neverwinter Nights series and all of it's expansions. It fits in the RPG genre, in that you level up characters gaining greater skills from knowledge and equipment. It is, however, the most enjoyable rendition of the real "paper, pencil, books and buddies" experience of Dungeons and Dragons on the computer that I have come across.

It is not an action game, in that the pace is halted frequently for instructions to your "group", and no particular expertise with a keyboard and mouse is needed like you would find in a first-person shooter. The game is played primarily in an above and behind view of the action (similar to a Diablo/Dungeon Siege view).

Alignment (Good/Evil, Law/Chaos) are well represented here and meaningful as you walk through the world. Your actions affect the perceptions of those around you (similar to Fable, if you enjoyed that feature), and you are free to interact with the world according to the nature of your character. There is room for Dudley Do-Rights as well as Anakin Skywalkers.

The game visuals are also quite good. Perhaps not as stunning on a landscape basis as Oblivion, but the faces and gestures of people are a HUGE improvement over similar titles like Oblivion and DS:Broken World. The use of bloom effects gives the world a fantasy feel to it (again similar to Fable), but are easily turned off in favor of a crisper appearance (and performance improvements).

The action has a very strategic feel to it as well. While a Dungeon Siege or Diablo is a staves-blazing style, NWN2 allows for stealth and varying approaches. I felt a strong similarity in the graveyard sequence of NWN2 to Medal of Honor:Allied Assault. In MoH, to take out a large collection of 88's, you have to quietly move from one group of Nazis to the next until they are all taken out. In NWN2, you also have to manage aggro ... that is only alerting enough of the enemy that you can handle at once.

A standard failing of RPG's is usually the balance of power between class choices. NWN2 appears to have met this challenge very well. While spells are very powerful, the use of a memorization game technique keeps them from being overwhelming. A rogues role is also essential to unlock doors, chests and disable traps. And fighter types truly have a dizzying amount of weapon and attack mode choices.

The one downside to the game I see is that like many new games, it really tasks the performance of your computer. I am running the game on an Inspiron 9300 with an NVidia Go 6800 (overclocked), and I found that I had to back off the presentation to 1024x768 with many of the features disabled. This may be a real problem if the goal is to play this on a DIY projector with an HTPC, since many of those folks have are more slanted toward video processing rather than gaming.

Still, I would have to give NWN2 a solid "buy" rating. It is a beautiful game with great mechanics and a compelling story. It is certainly worth it for the voice acting and the character rendering. And it certainly carries on the tradition well of other Bioware titles like Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale. Also, if you enjoyed Fable, but wish you didn't have to do the targeting like a FPS, then this is a good game for you. If you are looking for a run-and-gun title burning through hordes faster than a bowl of potato chips while putting Monty Hall to shame in prize winnings, then you may want to pass.

Definitely a great game, and a good game for a recliner, trackball, keyboard and big ole projection.

I agree, it is a very good buy and a great game.

I agree with the review. I bought a copy this weekend based on it and was basically pleased with the game. The only thing I didnt like was the "world map transition" points. They are often placed for convenience and dont actually give a good idea of how you are travelling. Personally I would just as soon have to make the run from one place to another with the possibility of random encounters along the way.

SJ

I would agree with that. Though there are encouters that happen while transitioning between areas, I do not think they are random. Still, it gives that flavor.

One real big beef I had with Oblivion was that after a while, the beauty of the rendering wears off, and you just want to get from point A to point B ... which they do provide with the Travel feature. Still, I think it probably lets them focus their art staff on areas that have meaning rather than creating more inter-area random encounter spaces.

is it mmo or online if it is im buying!!

its not mmo it does have online play though

This is a great game i have been playing it also. looks good on the projector. i played the first one also. the reason why it has the map travel instead of open gameplay is because the game is realy a D&D module construction set. the first one had a huge following because of this. you can download the toolset and you can easily make your own modules. then let people play them online.