Icewind Dale II Reviews

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(Originally posted by Mollusken)

Games First (4/5)

The Infinity engine still operates pretty much the same way it always has, though it hasn’t aged well. Standing IWD II beside this season’s other mammoth RPG Neverwinter Nights is like comparing a Honda Civic to a Ferrari: they both get to more or less the same place, but one drive is noticeably sleeker and more stylish. The Infinity engine just can’t support the kinds of animations IWD II’s storyline asks of it, so that brewing a potion or poisoning a water supply looks a lot like picking up treasure or visiting a store.

RPG Fan (89/100)

Although IWD2 doesn't have the immediate visual appeal of something like Morrowind, it's still an attractive game. Granted, it does look a bit dated, but the 2D graphics lend a certain charm to the game. The character sprites look the same as they have since the original Baldur's Gate, but the backgrounds are very attractive. The spell effects are decent, too, although it's nothing that hasn't been done before. The game unofficially supports resolutions up to 1024x768, although the characters start to look a little too small when you turn it up too high. All in all though, the look of the game is solid and doesn't do anything to detract from the experience. And hey, look on the bright side...at least you won't have to worry about manipulating the camera just to keep track of where characters are in the middle of a fight.