Computer role-playing games fall into two camps. Fans of titles like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion want open-ended experiences and total freedom to explore an imaginary world. But the players who prefer Baldur's Gate II or Neverwinter Nights trade freedom for surprising plot twists, witty sidekicks with dark histories, and protagonists who have a personal stake in saving the world. On those terms, Nights 2 could have been a classic. The heavily scripted story livens up a straightforward premise—an ancient evil stalks the land, and only you can stop it—with strong dialogue and challenges that range from an extensive murder trial to a dueling-lutes mini-game. You can also skip the hours of scene-setting and get straight to the tactically intense battles, which follow the Dungeons & Dragons rule-set.
So it's even more disappointing that this terrific content comes in a dog-slow, buggy, badly designed piece of software. The interface is universally poor, especially the camera: You'll constantly struggle to get a good look at the action, let alone coordinate your characters, and navigating a tight hallway is like performing a colonoscopy on a dollhouse. The team at Obsidian wanted to make Nights 2 more immersive than the first game, which felt more like a tiled grid than a handcrafted world. But it falls short in the implementation, and it gets in the way of what people came for—an engaging, suspenseful adventure.
Beyond the game: The first Neverwinter Nights had its biggest impact as a toolkit for making new adventures, which reached as far as schools and the Independent Games Festival. Time will tell whether the user community gets as excited about the sequel.
Worth playing for: Almost a dozen non-player characters offer to travel with you, and all of them come with stubborn viewpoints and wildly different morals. It's worth picking a conflicting party just to watch the sparks fly.
Frustration sets in when: The graphics, though stunning, will choke an above-average PC. On the other hand, when half your party casts spells at the same time and the room goes up like a firecracker factory, it's worth putting up with a little stuttering.
Final judgment: A great story—but maybe they should have stuck with pencils and dice.