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Icewind Dale
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Graphics & Sound:
Icewind Dale uses the same engine (the Infinity Engine) as Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment, and as such, the graphical feel is quite similar. Set in and around the Spine of the World, Icewind Dale sports some lavish backgrounds. Although it starts off in snowy splendor, the game diversifies relatively early on, presenting you with warm enclaves and dank dungeons. The backgrounds themselves are generally statically-rendered, with some animation here and there (notably the water under the bridge in the first town). The characters themselves are somewhat pixilated and hard to discern, but you get pretty good at eyeballing who's doing what as the game progresses. The enemies often suffer the same fate -- you can tell which ones are goblins and which are orcs, generally, but they don't necessarily look fantastic. There are definitely exceptions to said rule as you get further into the game, but in general, most of the characters are rather plain. The spell effects are pretty cool, but it takes a while to get to ones that'll really impress you. Pretty lights and flickery thingies, yes, but nothing really breathtaking.
The same cannot be said of the music in Icewind Dale. An epic score that soars and dives as you move along in the game, the soundtrack will definitely have you pumped and ready for action. The last game that I played with such an enjoyable soundtrack was Homeworld, which had a decidedly more 'celestial choir' feel to it. You'll definitely not be compelled into turning the music down, however. The sound effects are generally solid, but nothing really amazing. The voice acting, on the other hand, is quite good, although I found some of the character's voices grating. Luckily, you have a choice at the beginning of the game as to which voices your characters will use, so you can avoid the particularly annoying ones.
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Gameplay:
Icewind Dale is the yin to Planescape: Torment's yang. Whereas the latter concentrated heavily on plot development and characters instead of combat, IWD makes no pretenses of being much more than an old-school dungeon crawl. As I played the game, I was reminded of nothing so much as the pointless dungeons that we used to throw at each other back in middle-school D&D marathons -- lots of nasties, oodles of treasure, not much point. And it's fair to say that it's pretty damned enjoyable.
IWD takes place a good bit before the R. A. Salvatore books, which obviously gave the developers a good bit of leniency when it came to development. You assemble a rag-tag bunch of adventurers, out for fame, glory, and a stash of gold. And, boy oh boy, do you find it. IWD is absolutely jam-packed with combat, letting you duke it out with tons of different races as you search for whatever it is that will advance your quest for glory.
That's not to say that IWD has no plot. The Dungeon Master (or Bookreader, or whatever you'd like to call him), in his smooth and calm voice, informs you of what is happening in the world at large between events. Since IWD takes place in the past, the game is presented as a history lesson, reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics. But you'll never really feel like the plot is what's moving you along, so much as the thrill of the next dungeon, the next big bad guy, the next adventure.
Thankfully, the Infinity Engine is well-equipped for the task. Although you'll probably be reloading fairly often, the ability to pause at any time and give orders is very, very nice, and makes what could have been highly frustrating, downright enjoyable. Getting your folks in working order to whack the crap out of an ogre or wight is always enjoyable, and when the waves of enemies start coming, you can pause and figure out the best way to take them on. This is simply indispensable. The 'quick' slots are also quite nice, letting you hit a few keys to select, say, ranged weapons, then hit a few more and switch everyone back to up-close-and-personal combat. All in all, the battles are enjoyable and true to AD&D form.
That's not to say that IWD doesn't have its problems. At times, slicing through waves of monsters can get somewhat irritating, but it never gets painfully so. And dealing with the silly vagaries of the AD&D ruleset can be a bore at times -- the leveling system, spellcasting methods, and character development speeds are sub-optimal. But this is not Icewind Dale's fault. This is a fault of the ruleset that it is built upon.
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Difficulty:
At the beginning of Icewind Dale, you build a party. You can have anywhere from one to six people in your party, although I can't imagine taking fewer than three or four if you'd like to keep your sanity. The selections that you make here will definitely help decide the difficulty in the game. Any party too heavily favoring one style of combat, be it ranged, melee, or magical, will get its butt tromped at various parts in the game. Keeping your group well-rounded is something that's necessary if you want to beat Icewind Dale, and it's something that a first-time RPGer may have a little trouble with. Thankfully, you can switch out characters at any time and stuff new ones into your party, making your life considerably easier. Find that thief pretty much useless? Chunk 'em and take on a spellslinger, or a fighter.
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Game Mechanics:
The internal mechanics of Icewind Dale are, of course, the mechanics of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. As such, IWD comes with all the benefits and detriments of said ruleset. Some adore AD&D; others, myself included, find the ruleset to be a little too arbitrary. Despite that, one cannot argue that IWD does anything less than the best with what it has. Managing one's inventory, spells, and formations couldn't be easier, once you know what you're doing, and you'll be playing IWD like a pro in no time. The menus are generally intuitive, and the fantastic instruction book details everything you may need to know, a few mislabeled charts notwithstanding. And the neat cloth map that you get reminds me of the days of Infocom pack-ins.
If you're looking for the next plot-laden Planescape: Torment, then Icewind Dale is definitely not your thing. But if you're in the mood for a little hack-and-slash, old-school style, or just need a good RPG fix before the next epic of epics (Baldur's Gate II) comes out, you certainly can't go wrong with Icewind Dale. A dated graphics engine and flawed ruleset can't keep this title from being damned fun. |
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-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon |
Minimum System Requirements:
Win9x with DirectX 7.0, P2 233, 32MB RAM, 600MB HD Space, 4x CD-ROM, DX-certified sound card, 4MB DX-certified video card, Keyboard, Mouse
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Test System:
AMD K6-III 450 running Windows 98, 256MB RAM, Creative Sound Blaster Live! Sound Card, Creative TNT2 Ultra w/ 32MB RAM, 6x24 DVD-ROM |
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