| Product: |
Icewind Dale - Heart of Winter (PS) |
| Date: |
04.07.04 (175 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: New character abilities, Heart of Fury, New itens
Disadvantages: Very short
Icewind Dale Heart of Winter is an expansion pack of Icewind Dale, the rpg made by Black Isle studios using the infinity engine, the same used in the baldur?s gate series and in planescape torment. It uses the rules of dungeons and dragons second edition, a pen and paper rpg that has been used has set for computer games since a long time ago. For those not familiar with the Forgotten Realms novels, Icewind Dale is a cold snowy place at the north where R.A. Slavatore signature character, Drizzt Duorden and his friends live. Unfortunately the game starts before he arrives so there is no Drizzt for anyone.
You start this game by making a party of adventurers. You can make parties from one to seix characters. For those not familiar with dungeons and dragons second edition, character creation can be a very difficult process. The game does gives several tool tips that guide you through all your choices; sex, race, alignment, class, abilities, spells and aspect, but you will need to read the manual for you to truly understand the real impact of each of your choices.
After the party creation (and if you are like me and like to read every single bit of information in game that will take about one hour or more). Your control your characters in a isometric view like the game Diablo but that?s where similarities stop. In Icewind Dale you can actually talk and decide how you want to play, a do good, a evil killer or an ?I don?t care? character, between others. Unfortunately, the game doesn?t gives you the multiple way and different side quests like Baldur?s Gate, because Icewind Dale is much more action orientated. Still, dialogue has an important place in Icewind Dale.
Has you progress in the game, you will explore all kinds of places, from crypts, caverns, elven and dwarf ruins and even
a small visit to the Underdark (the subterranean world) and you fight (and talk, and sing to, etc?) undead, dark elves, golems, miconoydes (fungi people), orcs, giants, etc?
The plot that leads to all this action is interesting with some nice twists here and there, and it?s almost of fantasy novel quality.
This expansion pack adds mostly a lot of new places to play on. While the new areas are very well done, on par with those of the original game, they are few and they only add a few more hours of gameplay.
More interesting are the new abilities given to characters, witch range from useful (like multiple bard songs) to just nice and realistic (like rangers tracking skill). There are also a few new options that allows you to use some of the rules of dungeons and dragons 2rd edition.
Another new option is the heart fury mode that allows you to go through the game again but now with bigger challenges and better experience award. This allows your party to gain more levels and get more abilities and better spells. New items are also available in this mode.
Gameplay
The interface is excellent. Your party icons will be at the right hand of the screen and you only have to click on them to select. In the other side there buttons that lead to the well-made and simple spell selection screen, map, journal, inventory and options. Each of these screens are very intuitive to use and you will get the hang of it in no time.
The party control is also excellent, with a traditional rts control. You just have to point and click to move and attack and if you want another action like spell casting, bard singing, special abilities, etc you just have to select them in a small toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
Graphics
The only problem I see with the graphics is that every human and elf looks alike. The other creatures are
easily distinguishable and some have amazing models like the giants that are about twice the size of a human. This expansion pack also adds a few new creatures like gigantic polar worms.
Terrain also looks great with tress, rocks, grass, snow, etc combining to make a very believable atmosphere. Ruins also look great and when you step inside of them the amazing detail will surely strike you.
Sound
The sound effects are good but nothing to write home about. The battle sounds are very real, spell effects also are good adding a lot to the atmosphere and the footstep sound is annoying, but they can also add to the ambience when they eco in caves and ruins. Your party taunts are very interesting and if you are so inclined you can download more form the Internet or record your own. Also voice work of people you talk to and of the narrator sound is very well done, with no flaw that I can remember. Plus, each creature you fight has a different battle sound that they will make when you engage them in battle.
Music is also very good. A classical score not to epic but to calm that will picture the game in your ears. The change from regular tracks to battle music is made smoothly and is very interesting. The expansion does add a few tracks of the same quality of the original.
Replayability
You have to play the original game, then this then you can repeat both in heart of fury mode. Heart of fury does give a lot of reasons for you to replay this, but the story is still linear with no side quests or with your acts making much of a difference. The new abilities of some of the class sure makes you want to play the game again to uncover and try them all, but that?s hardly enough.
Manual
The manual is very good, with detailed info about the interface, description of few game areas and characters, some tips and even an introduc
tion to Dungeons and Dragons second edition rules.
Overall a decent expansion, but it should have a lot more areas to explore. The new items added and new abilities (both added also to the original game) somewhat compensate for this, but it still isn?t enough. Be aware that Black Isle that, because of all the complains, made available a downloadable expansion for this expansion but it somewhat large (around 80 mb). If you have broadband and you install it add a star to my grade.
Minimum Requirements:
PII 233 or equivalent
32 MB RAM
4X CD-ROM
4 MB VRAM
600 MB
Summary:
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