Neverwinter Nights 2: Gamezilla NWN 2 Review: "Fans Only"

Before launching into the Gamezilla review, it's wise to understand their rating system:

We now rate games with just one of three possible overall scores:

Recommended Buy

Games that receive our "Recommended Buy" rating are titles that we feel should have high appeal to the vast majority of gamers, and which further distinguish themselves as the cream of the crop within their genre. These are games that we feel you will consider a good purchase and a good use of your time.

Fans Only

Games that receive our "Fans Only" rating fall into one of two categories:

*Major genre games that are decent values but aren't the best titles in their group, ie: "This is the fourth or fifth best fighter pilot game I've ever played." Well, there are an awful lot of fighter pilot games. By no means does this rating imply the game is bad; it just isn't outstanding in its particular field.

* Games that are excellent titles within their genre but whose appeal might be limited. This classification could apply to people who really enjoy, say, deer hunting simulations or turn based recreations of the Crimean War. In other words, if you're already into similar games, we think it's a good bet you'll like this one. If you're looking for something brand new, this may not be the best place to start. [/li][/ul]Not Recommended

Games that we label "Not Recommended" are usually titles that are clearly copycats of more successful games, games that are extremely buggy or otherwise poorly executed, or games that are just aren't any fun after the initial thrill of ripping off the cellophane has passed.

So...receiving a "Fans Only" rating, the site says:

If you're familiar with the first Neverwinter Nights, you'll recall that it had a robust toolset built specifically to cater to the mod making community. Since NWN is in essence a DnD simulator, being able to publish user created modules really helped extend the value of the game. Regardless, I'm unfortunately a poor judge of character. I never played around with the original toolset, and can't tell if this new one is really good. That said, it is obvious that a great deal of work went into the NWN2 toolset and I have a feeling that it'll follow in the footsteps of the original.

Don't make a mistake here. This game isn't what I'd call great. With a clumsy interface and some pretty serious performance issues, I think that NWN2 could've used a lot more polish. However, it is built perfectly for the hardcore DnD fan. It delivers a more accurate DnD experience than many other games I've seen, and if you're into that, you'll definitely find this game worth it.