Now that the Baldur's Gate series is over where are fans to turn? To Icewind Dale 2, of course. As I was loading up the press demo, I must admit I was a bit skeptical. After playing IWD, Planescape, BG, and BG2 plus the various expansions I was pretty burnt out on the infinity engine. But, Black Isle has managed to spice up this game with lively dialogue and enough improvements to the engine to keep it from feeling like just a rehash.

Press Demo

First off, whats in the press demo? It contains the full character creation and the prologue which is the first town. This includes 3 areas and about a dozen buildings to enter. There were about 20 quests and sub-quests. Several of these quests were simple, intended to show you how to use a ranged weapon or get the most out of npc conversations. By the end of the demo, most my characters were level 3.

Character Creation

There are a lot more options for customizing your characters with the update to the 3rd edition. You can choose from many more different races, such as Tiefling, Gold Dwarf, Shield Dwarf, Moon Elf, Drow, etc. for a total of 16, each with their own adavantages and disadvantages. There are also additional sub-classes for rangers, wizards, clerics and paladins, giving a total of 30 to choose from. You can also further customize your characters as they gain levels by choosing from 16 skills and 75 feats. All the old character pictures and voices from IWD and its expansion are here to choose from along with a full set of new ones. Of course, if you don't like spending the time to create your characters, you can choose from 5 pre-made parties that will allow you to jump into the game quickly.

The Engine

The infinity engine has evolved a lot over the years and has a very polished feel to it now. The minimum resolution is 800x600 and can be set to 1024x768 or even higher (but unsupported) resolutions. The layout has been moved around with everything being moved to the bottom of the screen and the character pictures taking up much less real estate now. You can even go full screen now to get that extra imersion.

The Gameplay

This is the part that really makes or breaks a game, and this is one area that IWD2 sets itself apart from other games. In IWD2, you won't find those long-winded, epic, boring diatribes that only a 100 year-old college professor would like. The dialogue is witty and fun to read, often giving you options to respond seriously, humorously, or with a mean-spirit if you want. In so many games I find myself clicking through dialogue that is a carbon copy of what the last 10 npcs said, but in IWD I actually found myself looking forward to walking around talking to everyone in town.

Combat

Most of the combat is very familiar from the previous games, but there have been a few changes. Most notable being the addition of more abilities and dual weapon fighting. Every character has 4 quickslots, so you can easy change between weapon/shield, dual weapon, 2-handed weapon and ranged weapon.

The Negative Side

In the 10 hours I spent playing with the demo, I didn't find much I didn't like, but every game has its downside. The only real negative I found was the journal which fairly rapidly filled up and didn't empty as I completed quests. After I finished the main goal of the demo, it was an annoyance to go through the journal looking for quests that I hadn't finished.

Summary

So where does this leave us? With a very good game! Black Isle obviously spent time working on the "fun factor" which is a good thing, because we play games for entertainment not as part of a thesis for a Masters in English Literature! So, despite a flawed journal, I am looking forward to this game much more after having played the press demo and I hope that the rest of the game is as enjoyable.