Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

Like I said above, this game is highly addicting. It is the greatest hack-n-slash action-RPG I have ever played. Even better than Diablo, IMO. The only downside to this game is that it was released for PC only. I'm a console gamer and would have loved to have seen this ported to the XBox or Gamecube or something like that.

This game is a hack-n-slash, action-RPG game based on Dungeon and Dragons rules and set in the Forgotten Realms universe by Atari for the PC. It has a similar gameplay style to games such as Diablo, Baldur's Gate, and Dungeon Siege. Except that there are much more rules and such to it all because it is based on Dungeons and Dragons rules. But fret not, these rules and dice-rolls and such all run in the background of the game. You can play it in real-time without worrying about all that, or you can pause it and pre-plan attacks and ready spells making it a turn-based game; your choice. The advantage to having Dungeons and Dragons rules is that the game is set in a world with a rich history and large mythology behind it, and it has a plethora of weapons, spells, items, characters, areas, and monsters in it from the huge Forgotten Realms universe.

You start off by creating your character, who can be completely unique and created your liking or you can choose a randomly-generated character if you don't want to mess with that. I recommending going the first route. You get to choose your race, your class, your alignment (good, evil, neutral, lawful, unlawful, etc.), choose your skills, and choose your physical appearance.

From there you are cast in an epic story with five massive chapters that play out like the best Tolkien or R.A. Salvatore novel. Explore massive cities and small villages. Destroy goblins, monsters, mages, mosters, and warriors in crypts, dungeons, forests, countrysides, cities, and everything in-betwen. Level-up your character to near godhood. And discover weapons, spells, armor, items, and loot that never seems to end.

There are also an ungodly amount of expansions, modules, mods, and add-ons out there for this game, both of the official nature and fan-made nature.

A must-have game for any PC owning fans of western RPGs.