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Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark

Score: 95%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Bioware
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: RPG/ Miscellaneous


Graphics & Sound:

The graphics in Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark have been upgraded a little since the first Neverwinter Nights, but they still show their age. They don't look bad or phenomenal, just 'bleh'. The new character models for Hordes, however, are really nice, and it makes me wish that Bioware had enough time to make this an entirely new game.

The sound effects, voices and music were excellent in the first NWN, and none of that has changed. There is plenty of spoken dialogue for an expansion pack, and some of the voice work that is done really helps to capture the characters. The new music blends well with the old, and is nothing short of fantastic.


Gameplay:

This is where Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark really shines. Ever since the first NWN, people have wanted to venture forth into the dreaded Underdark and face the perils that dwell there. They have also wanted the experience cap lifted as well as epic levels and more material for the NWN toolset. Bioware has delivered in spades adding a new three chapter campaign, epic levels, six new classes, more monsters, new characters and an experience that is reminiscent of Baldur's Gate II. The only real problem with the game is that I wish it were longer.

Where to start? Hmmm. Lets start with the new 3-chapter campaign. This campaign does all in its power to put the word epic to shame, and it easily trumps the official campaign from the first NWN. In Hordes, you continue as the character from Shadows of Undrentide, the first NWN expansion, and venture into the dreaded Underdark. There are plenty of new characters and familiar faces that you will meet up with. A new two-henchman option has been implemented, so you can now have a party of up to three adventurers including yourself. The quests are varied and it is fun to do them, because you never know how they will turn out. A simple fetch quest may have you fighting through hordes of enemies in one moment, and helping out a couple's relationship in another. The consequences of these quests depend on your choices, and actions and can change the whole flow of the story.

The Underdark is home to many dreadful creatures, such as the Dark Elves, or Drow, the Beholders, who can destroy adventurers with a glance, and the Mindflayer, which uses its psionic abilities to render its victim immobile while it sucks out the victim's brain. Luckily, with all of these new enemies, Bioware has also thrown in six new prestige classes and new epic levels. These add new epic spells, feats and skills to your hero's already impressive library. The new epic spells allow you to summon dragons, or wither your target to nothing. Almost all of the epic feats can stack on top of each other, so if you wanted to improve your intelligence ten times, you could. The new skills in the game allow you to craft weapons, armor and traps using the natural resources that you find throughout the game.

Those of you who thought that the toolset was the focus of NWN are in luck. All of the improvements that I listed above are in the toolset, including more tilesets, character models and weapon models. There are also more wizards to help you along.

I do have some minor complaints. I didn't like the fact that this was an expansion pack. The whole quest leant itself to being a full game in its own right, and I do believe that this quest is what the NWN official campaign hoped that it would be. Another complaint that some people might have is the fact that the Hordes campaign cannot be played in multiplayer as of right now. I know many people went through the first and second campaign with groups, and that might turn off some people from the game.


Difficulty:

Harder than the official campaign, but still very, very easy. Your character probably won't have much trouble with anything, unless it is situational. For example, at one point, my monk had to fight one-on-one with a troll. Trolls can only be hurt with fire or acid attacks, so my monk with his plain staff was pretty worthless against him. The same fight with a mage, who knows a dozen fireballs, would be extremely easy. The puzzles in the game can be frustrating at times, but most of them are deceptively simple, and you only need to find the right catch to figure them out.

Game Mechanics:

The controls are just as they were from the previous NWN; point-and-click to move, or attack. The radial menu is still a little clumsy in the heat of battle. Luckily, you can pause at any time using the good ole' spacebar to help plan out future moves. The combat system hasn't changed from the previous NWN, other than adding new abilities that can be performed in combat.

The Henchman AI has been improved, but it still needs some work. Several times henchmen would get stuck in walls away from battle, or just generally do the wrong thing at the wrong time. You have no control over them except through talking and giving general commands during battle. You can, however, customize their tactics before battle, change their equipment, and even have them cast certain spells beforehand.

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark is the expansion for Neverwinter Nights that we were all hoping to get. Those of you who were fans of the first game should rush out and get it. Those of you who thought that the first game's official campaign needed some work, should also go out and try this one. This was the game that Bioware wanted the first NWN to be, and it exceeds in all areas.


-Vaxeks, GameVortex Communications
AKA Joshua Benedetto

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Pentuim III 800 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 1.5GB HD space, 32MB video card with hardware T&L support
 

Test System:



Windows XP, AMD 3200, 512 RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 128 MB, 120GB HD

Nintendo GameCube Gladius Windows Siege of Avalon Anthology

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated