Played on:
Windows
Bioware's long awaited role playing game, Neverwinter Nights, has finally been released. It has been in development for many years now, and fans have been eagerly awaiting it since day one. Some of the big features that NWN boasts are a fully 3D world, tried and true Bioware-style D&D gameplay, the new D&D 3rd Edition rules, and most importantly, an extensive multiplayer game where players can make their own campaigns and then run them as the Dungeon Master.
Neverwinter Nights runs on an OpenGL game engine custom-made by Bioware. It's powerful, and while the graphic quality doesn't match Morrowind's NetImmerse engine, the system requirements are more forgiving as well. There are quite a few detail options you can play with, which allow the game to run somewhat alright on the minimum specs. On the high end, the game can certainly be made to strain the fastest of computers, although I found that on my mid-range machine, improving the visuals to the top end wasn't worth the high frame rate cost.
The most noticeable and unique thing, visually, about the NWN engine is its lighting effects. Characters can have multiple shadows based on the different light sources in the room, which can make for a moody, if not a little too exaggerated, atmosphere. The extra shadows also take their hit on the game's frame rate - I decided they'd be the first to go when I was trying to play the game in higher resolutions. Even without the shadows, though, the game still has excellent lighting and color.
The Aurora editor that ships with the game allows you to make your own "modules" to play on - these can be played online, and when you combine it with the ability to serve up your own game as a Dungeon Master, controlling how the game goes as the players progress, it's a pretty powerful system. It remains to be seen if this will create a new style of online play, as the game ships with no additional modules - the main campaign is the only one available.
NWN has plenty of control options and ways to manage the many things D&D players can do. Just about all major actions can be hotkeyed, including switching weapons, casting spells, and unlocking doors. It looks like Bioware has tried to really spiff up the interface, with their right-click circular menus on top of everything else. Windows for your automap, journal, inventory, stats, and damage/chat log can all be moved or resized to your liking.
The game's camera can be zoomed in or rotated around, and is adjustable in three different ways depending on your tastes. There's a free camera, an auto-rotating version, and finally, a "driving" mode that allows you to use keys to move around like a third-person shooter. You can additionally move your character in a fashion similar to Diablo, where you can hold the button down and move in the direction you're pointing, or do it the old Bioware way: just click on a spot and your character will path his or her way over there.
The chat interface is functional, and combat is a simple case of clicking on the enemy you want to attack. Any special attacks or even chat emotes you'd like to perform can be put onto the hotkey bar as well.
Neverwinter Nights has some impressive graphics, although it seems that Bioware didn't spend as much effort on art here as they did on the Baldur's Gate series. While the move to 3D is well done, some of the world & player models aren't made up of as many polygons as recent games. It seems that this was done to keep the frame rate up in the game's big fights, although these aren't that common - even near the end of the game.
The world is well-detailed, with decent-looking caverns, towns, forests, and cities. It all fits in pretty nicely with the monster designs to create a wholly unique experience. Despite this, though, I sometimes miss the old 2D Bioware Infinity engine, since it allowed more freedom with the art drawn for the game worlds. NWN doesn't have anything that's really visually spectacular from an art standpoint, like the Baldur's Gate series had. Even Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, last year's action game on the Playstation 2 (made by Black Isle and Snowblind), has more visually impressive environments and monsters.
Speaking of monsters, there isn't much of a wide variety of them in NWN. Many of the tougher fights are disappointing; many bosses are only somewhat tougher versions of the ones you've already seen so many times. Some of the monsters that are a staple of D&D games are also missing, disappointing, or just way too rare. Kobolds, mind flayers and beholders are all missing, the Drow only make a tiny appearance, and the larger monsters that are there aren't anywhere near as overwhelming as they should be. Overall, the scale and diversity of the monsters leaves something to be desired.
One aspect of the visuals that does look great, though, is the spell system. Each spell effect looks very unique, and many of them can cover half the screen or more. Other special effects are particularly well done, and are just lavish enough to impress without overdoing it. The first time you see Time Stop in action, and you'll know what I mean.
Neverwinter Nights' single player game is in the style of their previous Baldur's Gate RPG titles. When compared, there are some very fundamental gameplay differences when playing a single-player game, though - and these differences are generally for the worse, not the better.
The first major difference from Bioware's previous games is that you only get one character to play. There are several very unique henchmen to bring along with you, but you can only have one at a time and you can only give them a few very basic commands. You have no control over the henchman's actual movements, inventory, or skills. This is a very major change from being able to manually control six unique characters in the Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale games.
This change effectively simplifies the gameplay to a large extent; no longer do you have a cleric, thief, fighter, and mage. And while the developers allow you to get by without having all of these abilities, it seems way too simple now. The action is as uncomplicated as Diablo II now, but without the long-term gameplay aspects that Blizzard put into its best-seller.
Much of the game's rule system is pulled right from the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition ruleset. It's neither fully complete nor totally accurate compared to the full rules, but it's close enough for most real-life D&D players to accept it. Stats and skills increase as you level up, and the game supplies plenty of help on them as you go. There's also a "Recommended" button which you can use to pick stats and skills which are generally good for your character class and race, and they've made it pretty easy for someone who's a D&D newbie.
