Aspyr has brought another great game title to the Macintosh. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a third-person RPG style game based on D&D rev3.5 rules, and offering new and interesting races and classes while making some significant changes to others. If the idea of races, subraces, and classes and stats tracking doesn’t necessarily appeal to you its still okay to continue reading. Neverwinter Nights 2, while true to more traditional paper and pencil games, is also a masterfully crafted computer gaming experience that allows you to grow and change your character from a small-town, would-be adventurer to a full fledged hero clad in magical armor and enchanted weaponry. Neverwinter Nights 2 was originally a PC title that few thought would make its way to the Mac, but its here and its loads of fun!
I generally don’t play a lot of dungeon crawl games because they tend to eat up more time than I have to dedicate to them, which is a shame really because the attention given to detail here is phenomenal and I would hate to have missed out on the experience. All the Neverwinter games and expansions have riveting story lines and hundreds of quests that intertwine with each other, but this story seemed to be something a little more special. The side quests offered were not merely meant to offer up chances to level up your character but also in some way helped to tell the story.
You may be able to find some mixed reviews of this game from PC-centric sites on the web and to them I have to say one important thing. Either you like traditional role playing games or you don’t. Considering some of the limitations of taking a ‘living’ story off paper and making it work on a computer is no easy task, in fact the game itself may just be overwhelming in its scope and that can be a scary thing for some. Neverwinter Nights 2 has tremendous replay value as you are free to try the many types and races available, which will change the gameplay dramatically. Once the single player campaign is complete you can extend the game by logging onto Bioware’s website and downloading some user created modules.
Game Performance:
The minimum system requirements to play should tip you off on what to expect visually and normally I would say you should take those recommendations with a grain of salt but in this case, take heed. In order to play comfortably you need a fairly beefy system, an Intel Core 2 Duo Macintosh should be able to play without too many hiccups.
I found that the game performed well on my Macbook Pro with 4Gb of RAM and 512Mb nVidia 8600M GT in general but the graphics became a little sluggish in rather peculiar places where they should have been smooth. While I had no problems displaying screens filled with magical explosions or heavy melee encounters involving several NPCs and a full party of adventurers, I suffered from poor performance in simply manipulating my character’s view. When using the edge of my screen to shift the direction of the camera the scenery became jittery or worse would zoom forward or back even when I had taken additional time to further fine tune the controls. I would either need to zoom all the way into my selected character or out completely to a birds eye view, which is no way to enjoy the show.
A somewhat annoying trend in Mac gaming now that Apple has gone with the Intel chipsets is that with new game ports to the Mac we’re seeing more of them being copy protected. Neverwinter Nights 2 is such a title and while I understand the need to make sure people aren’t taking advantage of software companies, I can’t help but feel as though legitimate users are being spanked along with the evil-doers. Gone are the days of being able to back up your favorite game’s DVD and play from the backup while storing your original away in case you need to reinstall. Now if you want to play your game you’ll need to tote your original game DVD where ever you go -- risking damage or loss -- or you can buy a second copy to carry around. It all makes for a bittersweet experience, but one we’ll probably need to get used to as a price of getting the games you want on the platform you love.
Muliplayer games:
These days in order to produce a successful game you need to extend game play beyond the scripted storyline. While brilliant AI is a wonderful thing, nothing can beat the feeling of playing against or alongside other human players. I’ve been a fan of other titles like GuildWars for some time, partly because of the single player game but mostly because I can play those missions cooperatively with other real living human beings somewhere else in the world. Some quests are just impossible to complete without a friend or two to help out with solutions that require real human reasoning.
While the main story line is not impossible to play alone, you may have a lot more fun playing cooperatively online and there is a thriving user community to draw from. Internet play is FREE so don’t be afraid to get your game online.
Game Rating: 1= Horrible 5=Awesome
I would feel comfortable giving this game a solid 4
Pros: Great storyline, fantastic graphics, multiple party members and multiplayer online gaming, community created mods.
Cons: Spotty Performance, Hardware requirements, Copy Protection.