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Icewind Dale
 If
Baldur’s Gate was a can of beans, then Icewind Dale would be a
can of refried beans…but they’re the best tasting refried
beans this side of the year 2000. It looks like the folks at Black
Isle have done it again -- Icewind is no stale clone. This game's
got meat…heaps of ground chuck just waiting to be devoured. So
get your hot sauce and come on in, baby, because it’s a helluva
ride.
Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. I have spent countless
hours away from my family playing Icewind Dale. I have neglected
my laundry and trash chores to play Icewind Dale. I have left
my betrothed unfulfilled at night while playing Icewind Dale into
the wee hours of the morning...I have sinned, father; I have indeed,
but I ask not for your forgiveness…I was actually wondering if
you could let me borrow some of that money that you collect every
Sunday…see, I was fired from my job two weeks ago when I didn’t
come in for three days straight because of my new addiction…No?
I didn’t think so…
Devour? Yes, I have devoured. I have spent hours upon hours playing
this game, even amidst my hectic life…my 55 hour work weeks…I
have played this game like a bastard. Icewind Dale is certainly
more of a hack n’ slash than Baldur’s Gate or Planescape Torment,
but the story carries itself well (heck, it’s got a better plot
than the Phantom Menace, anyways).
Lets start at the beginning, shall we? I was excited as hell when
I bought Icewind, for multiple reasons: 1) I loved Baldur’s Gate,
so why the heck wouldn’t I be excited about this game? 2) I was
totally digging the fact that I’d probably run into good ol’ Drizzt…
3) Holy S#@&! There is a cloth map in there! A cloth map folks
-- wow! I haven’t seen packaging like this since Ultima! This
was a truly great moment for me…I’m not normally the type to do
these sorts of things, but my wife swears she saw me do a bit
of a happy dance in the store when I saw the sticker exclaiming
the fact that there was, indeed, a cloth map inside. Once I actually
opened the package I was treated by an even more pleasant surprise…the
manual was spiral bound! Yes, no more bending the you know what
out of the spine of the old, thick Baldur’s manual…this puppy
lies completely open by itself. Bioware’s thoughtfulness and care
in packaging, and the minute details that lie within get my sincere
nod of approval. Almost makes me wish that Gamer's Pulse had a
packaging score, because if we did, Icewind would have gotten
an easy 99. Oh, I nearly forgot…the CDs come in a real jewel case
this time…not that crappy cardboard sleeve (which is pretty, but
functionless).
Truth be told, I was a little disappointed in the fact that the
game was only two discs long, as opposed to the 5-6 discs (depending
on whether you have TOSC or not) of Baldur’s Gate. I’ve heard
rumors that Bioware came up with a better compression scheme and
was able to simply cram more game on a single disc. I don’t know
whether that’s true, but it seems plausible, as I didn’t think
that the game was anywhere near the “small” side. Icewind is set
up like a lot of popular games have been lately (The Wheel of
Time, Ultima 9, etc…), with an install disc and a separate game
disc. This beats the hell out of having two gaming/install discs
that you have to continuously switch back and forth during game
play. In fact, Baldur’s Gate was the only game that had me wishing
for more than one CD-ROM (six to be exact). Then there’s always
the DVD version, but I digress…
Once you start the game up, you are witness to a rather static
intro scene (which was okay by me, since I’ve never really been
that fond of Black Isle’s 3D animated cutscenes). There is simply
a book, flipping pages to various still pictures, and a really
great voice over. The character creation screen is unlike the
previous two Black Isle games in that you create your entire party…no
NPCs will join you in your quest, so you really get to start from
scratch. I enjoyed this because it was so nostalgic of the RPGs
of old… You get to create up to six custom characters to adventure
through the lands of the Dale (to make matters even better, the
portraits are customizable…you can use Baldur’s portraits easily,
or scan your own).
The game screen is 640x480, exactly like Baldur’s Gate, and although
you can’t run like you can in Planescape, the walking movement
rate is a bit faster than Baldur’s. The engine has been modified
to allow much larger sprites, so you’ll get to fight some whoppin’
big giants along the way (and boy, will you fight some bloody
giants). The landscapes are lush and gorgeous, just as in Baldur’s,
and the sprites are well animated and detailed. There’s not really
a whole lot more to say graphics-wise, especially to those who
happen to be Baldur’s veterans. If you aren’t, though, just take
my word for it -- the graphics are gorgeous. They aren’t first-person
point-of-view, they aren’t even 3D, but they are a sight to behold.
The OpenGL setting is worth investigating, as it makes the Fog
of War dither, and helps out with the spell effects, but it can
cause crashes…especially when the game attempts to launch a cutscene.
I still don’t like point-and-click walking interfaces, though,
damnit. I wish that the movement scheme was much more like Ultima
7 or UO’s. It just bugs me that not only do I have to click on
a certain area to get my character(s) to walk there, but I also
have to move the cursor all the way up to the top of the screen
to get it to scroll along with my character. But since you have
the option of controlling a single character, two, three or the
whole group at a time, I can see why the current interface is
probably the best…especially for those who enjoy splitting their
characters up in combat for strategic advantages. The AI pathfinding
is still a little crummy, but if your computer is fast enough,
you can crank it up to a pretty good level…you just gotta make
sure you remember that you do have that option (I forgot until
around Chapter 3).
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up on the creatures of Icewind Dale
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