Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn

To any of the Dungeons and Dragons fans out there who haven't played this game, it is high time you did. This game does for RPG's what Star Wars did for Sci-fi. Cream of the crop. Hands down.

You are thrown into a dungeon at the beginning of the game with nothing but your bare skin. With the help of your longtime friend Imoen, you have to find a way out. Along the way, you find friends, armor, weapons, potions and magic spells. You fight enemies such as golems, goblins and mephits along with a sprinkling of other various D&D monsters. Various puzzles need to be solved, traps disarmed, creatures helped and the character of your tormentor begins to unravel. But what happens after you finally escape the dungeon of your foe is the magic of Shadows of Amn.

Enter into a huge world that is simply overwhelming at first. Inns, shops, quests and enemies lie everywhere in the main sections of the city. Not only that, but as you meet people in your travels, your quest log requires travel outside the city to numerous other sites and towns. Huge!

The characters of your chosen party of six reveal their personalities and specific quests through dialog initiated by them. The sheer number of simultaneous quests that can occur is mind boggling. Not only that, but the huge selection of spells, armor, weapons and items make it a micro manager's dream. Along with the leveling of characters of a wide assortment of classes and races, each with their own perks and drawbacks, you could easily spend up to two to three hundred hours of game-play.

The main quest involves the tracking down of your tormentor, Jon Irenicus, an evil yet charismatic mage of considerable power who has kidnapped your childhood friend, Imoen. However as the story progresses, the reason behind the kidnapping and your destiny unfolds. Along the ride, you will battle dragons, liches, beholders, dark elves, golems, trolls, mind flayers, vampires, mad wizards, demons, sahauguin, thieves, rakasta as well as many other classic monsters from the D&D game. Your travels will include settings such as graveyards, thief-ridden dives, fallen temples, detailed towns, a druid grove, an underwater city and an underdark city of the drow to name a few. The final battle in the beautiful, fallen elven city is just simply spectacular.

How much thought, effort and artistry went into this game is not only to be commended, but to be marveled. I sat there and just shook my head in awe at various points. No game, from the many I have played, from Doom 3 to Diablo had the effect this game had on me. Has to be played to be believed. 15 out of 10 stars.

i Am prepared to give this game my highest comment, drum roll please; its even better than CIV 2.(theres a very small part of me what didn't want to say that) You can tell by the content and the way its designed, that this game was made for d&d gamers by d&d gamers, and you dont have to play or like d&d to be totally engrosed by this masterpiece. every one i have lent this too or have recommended to, have ended up hateing me because of the amount of time this game has taken from there lives. 10/10

This game rocks! I'm playing through it as we speak (first time). The graphics are "so-so", but 2D is far better than 3D in this case.

The gameplay is one of the game's really stronger points, they've made such an excellent exploration curve on the game. The voice acting is also brilliant in my opinion. Minsc' voice-actor has a really incredible voice, and also is probably one of the funniest characters in the game. With his squeaky companion Boo he fears nothing! :))

I'm also very happy IMDB has started registering games. Ratings would be awesome though. Then I could drop all the tedious game reviewing sites and just browse IMDB in stead. :)

PS: Actor Billy West (Futurama: Fry/Prof. Farnsworth/etc etc, impressive guy :) also has a small voice acting role in this game.

Wow. Where to begin. I have already completed the whole thing twice through and started on a third time. So heres a review for you. I first heard of this game through a friend. Used to the Diablo and other Blizzard games, i was intrigued by the interesting layout of the game. After starting a game there - i grew to love it and before long bought it for myself. The game has so many great features its not surprising that it won best RPG of 2000! - Amazing storyline with intrecate details and plot development. - Characters (who can join you) with incredible realism and development that have their own personality that you can interact fully with. - Hundreds of individual townspeople and merchants to talk and trade to. - Thousands of weapons - Hundreds of indivual spells. - Endless Side-Quest as well as one comlicated main quest. - 12 diffent character classes to choose from - each with 3 sub classes. - Amazing graphics and scenery and backrogunds. - Over 200 hours of gameplay So know that you know a bit about Baldur's Gate II - go ask a friend about it or look it up more on the Internet. I give this game a definite 10/10! Buy it today.

Feel free to e-mail me with your views on the game. If you enjoyed this game also check out - Diablo II, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate

What to say about this game that hasn't been told already? It is one of the best RPG games ever made, if not simply the best of them all. Reasons? First of all, the story is just tremendous. You can't help yourself but to marvel the work that has gone in the writing of it. It has pretty much everything: evil, yet charismatic, villain Jon Irenicus(voiced brilliantly by David Warner), characters that give you feeling like they were alive, it has romances, it has betrayal, action... Pretty much everything you could want from a game. And it sucks you right into it. And once it catches you, there is no easy way out.

And the game itself has a great repeatable value. With so many classes and subclasses(usually three for each class) you can play the original game five times or more, and still discover something new every time you play again. Until now, I played the game with monk, inquisitor and bounty hunter, and each time it was different, yet every time I enjoyed it the same. Add to this the possibility that every class has a stronghold of its own, and you start to understand just how much you can look forward to. If you ever get bored of original game, there are many of mods, which allow you to add more content to the game. In one of them, you can actually add Irenicus to your party(in ToB portion of the game). Others just add new quests or NPCs, but there are lot of them. Believe me when I say, this is a game you will want to play more than one time. How many games are out there that can claim that for themselves? Music is great too. I beated many of the tougher enemies multiple times, just so I could listen to the music again. Speaking of enemies, you will be fighting demons, dragons, demon lords, liches and demi-liches... You will have to use your brains too, not just click around like maniac. Add to this some very good riddles, and you will have your work cut out for you.

Graphics aren't that great, measured by today standards, but I just love infinity engine games. They give me that nostalgic feeling, in a good way. And when you come to the underwater city, you will know what I mean. I wouldn't want to see or play this game in 3D graphics. I think that says enough.

I think this is a game that every RPG fan should play. So if you haven't already, do it now. You won't regret it, of that I am sure.