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Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
Developer: BioWare
Publisher: MacPlay
Cost: $29.99
Demo: No
OS X: Yes
OS 9: Yes
Multiplayer: Yes

System Requirements:
-266 MHz PowerPC G3 or better
-Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later
-256 MB of RAM
Machine Tested On:
-Dual 2 GHz G5
-2 GB of RAM
-ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
-Mac OS X 10.3.2 and 10.3.3
By Mike Phillips

“The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his doom he shall spawn a score of mortal progeny.

Chaos shall be sown from their passage…”
- So sayeth the wise Alaundo

I’ll never forget the previous words, nor will I forget sitting in my hotel room at Macworld New York 2001 and beginning my first great digital quest. The screen on my Lombard PowerBook glowed brightly with the BioWare logo and I entered the world of Baldur’s Gate. The story of Baldur’s Gate is one of the richeset and most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had with a computer game. Things only got better with Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, which is undoubtedly my favorite game sequel of all time. However, Shadows of Amn didn’t finish the entire tale. Though the threat of the vile mage, Jon Irenicus, was vanquished and his plan to tap the power of the World Tree thwarted, there was still the matter of the Bhaalspawn and the prophecy of Bhaal’s return.

Enter the folks at MacPlay and their publishing of Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (ToB). Throne of Bhaal is an expansion pack for Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, yet with 30-50 hours of new gameplay, 80 new adventuring areas to explore, 50 new spells to be cast, 40 new brutal monsters (even dragons!) and a plethora of new items to wield, this is one expansion pack that offers quite a kick. However, the Baldur’s Gate series is also fairly old by today’s gaming standards. Is Throne of Bhaal too late in its Mac coming-out party? Does the sun in Bhaal’s face really show his age? Does age even matter? The only way to know is to read on.

Gameplay: Lots of Goodies to Find!
First, in order to play Throne of Bhaal, players must have already performed a full install of Shadows of Amn. Once installed, players can either journey straight through Shadows of Amn and continue into Throne of Bhaal or skip straight to the ToB fun. As previously mentioned, Throne of Bhaal’s story picks up where Shadows of Amn leaves off. When we last left our hero, it was revealed that he, in fact, is a Child of Bhaal and had just escaped the pits of Hell. In Throne of Bhaal, the various Bhaalspawn are at war with one another, the stronger hunting and killing the weaker. Of course, after killing Sarevok in the original Baldur’s Gate and besting the extremely powerful Jon Irenicus in Shadows of Amn, the player becomes a prime target for the other Bhaalspawn.

The game begins in the city of Saradush, smack in the middle of a deadly siege orchestrated by one of the world’s most powerful Children of Bhaal. Many of the weaker, frightened Bhaalspawn have sought refuge in the mighty city. Unfortunately, the city is covered by a magical barrier that prevents anyone from fleeing Saradush’s embattled walls. Thus, the player and their companions must find a way to break the siege. I thoroughly enjoyed the Saradush portion of ToB. Saradush puts players in the middle of chaos, with Fire Giants attacking the city guards. While not indoors, players must be wary of flaming boulders being hurled over the city walls. During my first visit, one such boulder decimated two of my weaker party members in one blast. Such danger gives the game’s opening a very frenetic pace.

Of course, Saradush is just one of many places that players will see. Being a powerful Child of Bhaal, the player has access to some of Bhaal’s tricks. For instance, one has access to Bhaal’s Pocket Plane. The Pocket Plane is essentially a place that exists in between all other planes, making it a cozy getaway for any hard-working deity. The Pocket Plane is important for many reasons. First, early in the game, players are able to summon NPCs into the Pocket Plane to aid in the adventure. Every NPC found in Shadows of Amn may be called to join in on the ToB ruckus. If a player was romantically involved in Shadows of Amn, said romance will play itself out in Throne of Bhaal. However, a romance cannot be started in ToB. Furthermore, mixing NPCs of varying degrees of morality into the party will not become disastrous in ToB.

The Pocket Plane is also home to Caspenar, my favorite NPC of ALL TIME. Basically, Caspenar was Bhaal’s imp butler in the Pocket Plane. He cooked for Bhaal, he cleaned for Bhaal, he laundered Bhaal’s unmentionables. Trust me, even for an imp, that was an unpleasant chore. Yet, Caspenar can do more than housework. Throughout the game players will find dozens of seemingly useless items, but when delivered to Caspenar, said items can be magically forged into powerful weapons and armor. I also must note that Caspenar’s dialogue can be quite amusing. One shouldn’t be sipping cocoa during their first chat with Caspenar. I learned that lesson the hard way…

Lastly, the Pocket Plane serves as an excellent place to rest when setting up camp in a dark dungeon would prove deathly. That’s right, when not engaged in combat, the player can easily teleport back to the Pocket Plane for a quick nap.

Throne of Bhaal also contains a sprawling multi-level dungeon called Watcher’s Keep. Watcher’s Keep isn’t attached to Throne of Bhaal’s central storyline, so players can visit at any time, even while playing through the Shadows of Amn campaign. I highly recommend tackling Watcher’s Keep before delving too deeply into ToB. Aside from being ultra fun, it’s the perfect place to gain a few levels and grab some powerful items.


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