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Neverwinter Nights

Bioware's epic D&D-based revolution has finally begun. Read the definitive review, here.

I’ve been playing games for a long time. The first one I can remember was Pong on an Atari. This was followed by my introduction to home computers, the black and white blocks of some maze game on the ZX-81. It wasn’t that much later on that I had persuaded my parents to buy me my own computer, the seminal C-64. This machine no doubt changed the course of my life. If I had never spent the following years sitting in my room I might very well have developed a more than passing interest in the outdoors, could well have spent more time learning social skills, possibly I might have even turned out as less of a lazy layabout (If you’re going blame it for one thing, you might as well blame it for everything).

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In 1985 my family moved to Colombia for a year, where the danger levels for foreigners helped create the environment where I was totally powerless to stop myself from becoming thoroughly engrossed in AD&D. An upstairs neighbour used to DM us through module after module, my Paladin character gaining ridiculous levels of wealth and goodies as the months flew by. It was now that I looked to my C-128 and fantasised about the day that pen’n’paper RPG’s would be properly transferred to the computer, surpassing limited but captivating games such as the Temple of Apshai Trilogy or Rogue that I devoted my time and eyesight to when Andy was otherwise engaged. This, along with an Elite/Star Wars hybrid, was the holy grail of gaming, the holy grail of existence as far as this pre-pubescent dreamer was concerned. And it is only now, over fifteen long years later, that the first serious attempt to marry the imaginative and creative world of the PnP gamer with the organised and visual realm of the computer RPG has appeared, materialising from the talented Bioware studio in front of a hugely expectant, enraptured party of gamers. So has it been worth the wait, have my dreams and the dreams of millions like me been realised, or has the prize eluded us once more? Let me guide you through the different segments of Neverwinter Nights to see how they stand up to the scrutiny of the ever hopeful.

NWN is the first game to make use of the 3rd Edition D&D rules and is also Bioware’s first foray into the third dimension. The new rules allow for much more flexibility in character creation and advancement, as skills can be learned which aren’t within the normal sphere of activity of your chosen class. Therefore it’s possible to give your fighter trap disarming skills or your mage the ability to wear armour and wield a mace. Feats have also been introduced. This feature allows you to grant your character special enhancements every once in a while, allowing you to tailor their abilities to more suit your personal playing style. The character generation process has been simplified, and by relying on the recommended button the uninitiated or plain lazy can be up and running in a couple of minutes. In fact this whole game could be said to exemplify the trend towards simplification and ease of use which so many companies are aiming for with their products, so as to make them marketable to a larger numbers of potential purchasers. Or it could be said to reek from such factors...

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1. Nice review. I agree , but people should definetaly be aware that NWN is not a single player masterpiece like BG or Planescape, it's merely very good. Multiplayer is where its at for this...

   TheDude Saturday, 10 August 2002, 06:35:25

2. i am a new dungeon and dragon fan and neverwinter nights is far the best i have played so far i think you are mostly right about it.

   Julian Tuesday, 6 July 2004, 05:57:2