| Neverwinter Nights (With official expansions not CEP though) Graphics 2/5 Upon launch, the graphics were dated and could have been much better. The game though, is about roleplaying with your friends on the internet which makes this not really important. This is not to mention the glitches that were present when the game came out. The fact that the world is 2d and the graphics 3d makes this game suck too. Play Control 7/10 Controlling your avatar is easy and without any restraints. Although, a few bugs when the game came out hindered the ease, with the patches all is now well. I still do not understand the use of having 3d graphics in a 2d world, it is utterly silly, make it isometric at best, but not 3d. Since this is only a 2d world, you are limited in your movements, thus negatively affecting this rating. Interface 7/10 The radial menues are a great way to quickly access some commands. The fact that you also have three layers of quick keys is also great. The downside is that the radial menues were buggy at best, when called they often executed the command that was directly under the mouse pointer without our consent resulting in many incidents like the famous server crash due to a "teleport all players here" DM command. Fun 6/10 The official campaigns are dull at best, they are linear thus monotonous, so once you have completed the campaigns, if you can do it without losing interest first, you do not feel like going through that boringness again. The fun factor totally comes from the fact that you can create your own module, make your own games and play the games made by others on the internet. The other downside is playing other's modules on the internet starts to become monotonous after a while since the majority are linear or perpetual hack'n'Slash games where gaining levels is the goal even though they say it is roleplaying. This is due to the fact that Bioware choosed to use the D&D system which is a hack'n'slash system and not a roleplaying game system. It is also for beginning roleplayers, and should not be used as a "real time" game system unless used like the X-Box game Dungeon & Dragon Heroes where you are the one fighting not some silly dice rolls. Using the limited and stupid D&D game system makes the fun factor plummet down to a 6 out of 10, which was also affected by the very poor official campaigns that came with the game. Depth 9/15 If this game would have been made correctly it would have received a 15 out of 15, but due to some laziness by the fat lazy Bioware company, the game is only half done. Not to mention the boring totally linear official campaigns where you cannot even change a thing in the story! Although, the programming system as well as the dialog system allows you to make a totally non-linear game with multiple ending... this just proves how lazy and incompetent Bioware is at making game, rather interested in making a quick buck. Just look at the other games, they suck also, even though some have awesome stories, the game systems and the game itself sucks. Story 2/10 The story is boring at best, although it becomes more or less interesting in Hordes of the Underdark expansion, but even then, you need a good cup of coffe to stay awake, even after a good night of sleep. Theo nly reason it does not have a zero out of 10 is because of the players who made so many modules, so these 2 points are for these guys who put more effort into the game that Bioware has ever put into it past the programming of the Multiplayer version. Idea 5/5 The idea to make your own roleplaying game via the internet using some 3D graphics and 3d world is awesome! Not everyone can leave their house for a roleplaying game session, but with such a game, one can still play it without leaving his house. Non-linearity 0/10 The campaigns are totally linear and no matter what you choose in dialogs, the story always end the same and you always go through the same maps and same people. You cannot leave the story to make your own life somewhere else and let the events unfold by themselves, etc. Yes, you can make modules with such interesting features, but Bioware is just to lame and ultra-fat lazy to put the single gram of effort in their games. Interpretation 5/15 Bioware only successfully made about a fourth of what the game could have been. Using the D&D system is one flaw as it might be the most popular role playing game system out there, it is also the most ridicule and the one that lacks the most of common sense. This game system is for beginning players, those who want to be initiated to role playing games... I should not even call this system a role playing game, it's a hack'n'slash system basically, oriented on combat and power gaming rather than acting/role playing and skills of a character. I mean come on, magic using characters are so limited and penalized that using maginc in the D&D system is a downside rather than an upside versus the non-magic using characters. All you need is great saving throws and you can survive basically ANY encounters with any magic using character of your level. This IS lame, magic is supposed to be an advantage, not a disadvantage, especially since your character is first a class then a everything else, which means you cannot use the weapon you want or armour you want or skills you want, you MUST choose what the game wants you to choose. You cannot make a beginning character who has a wizard spell or two with some fighting skills and some woodsman skills, for that to happen you would need to be a level 1 wizard and ranger at least. SO, unlike more evolved game where you are the one who makes your character rather than the game system, this limits quite a bit you character creation process, making the game less interesting. Also, the fact of using D&D in a pseudo real-time environment is the biggest mistake one can do. D&D is simply not made to be real time, it looks awefully silly and dumb, combats are lame since you need to wait for you next action while everyone on the planet can hit you and you cannot do a thing about it, not dodge, parry, block or whatever defense you may think of. Comletion 1/5 Upon launch, the game barely run. It was full of bugs and I remember that at some point, I was obligated to us a no-cd crack to run my ORIGINAL game!! How lame a game can be? Well, just play Bioware games, they all like that, hastily made to make a quick buck... especially those with the Atari logo who suck even more than Bioware. The many missing features also made the game less interesting. The campaigns are totally lame and if I were the one who would have made these campaigns, I would have at least made three paths available, one good, evil and one where you do not care, as well as three endings related to these paths. But no, Bioware is just too pathetically lazy. The fact that the community did most of the work for the game to survive is also reducing this rating. The two expansion pact also make this rating plummet. 46/100 Decent game, only buy if you are certain to play with you real life friends on the internet. DO NOT buy if you do not think you will do this. It is not even a for rent game. Get an illegal copy to punish Bioware to make such incomplete games. |