Graphics and Sound

Mo' bettah

Heart of Winter is probably the best looking Infinity Engine RPG. The terrain isn't as varied and spectacular as it was in Baldur's Gate or Torment, but the animations are far and away the best. Characters and monsters are animated so smoothly that we had a hard time seeing the actual frames involved. Baldur's Gate II took a big step ahead in the area of graphical improvement, but Heart of Winter carries it further.

You have to get those!

Booted outta the barbarian camp, into the cold winter night

Spell effects are equally impressive, though mostly recycled from IWD. They are something in between Torment and Baldur's Gate. Certain magic traps, for example, unleash a bunch of moaning spirits on the character who set off the trap. This is a simple overlay of the spirit graphic on the character, but it's exquisitely done.

The new spells are ok - nothing mind-blowing, but they do live up to their billing. Compared to the others, 'Cone of Cold' maybe wasn't quite up to par but that's understandable. It didn't even make the original BG because it was too resource-intensive to implement at the time.

Nag nag nag

Can't even get in to explore!

If we had to list one major disappointment, it would be the lack of two-weapon style animations for fighters, paladins and rangers. Without the animations, there can be no two-weapon style, which is a bit of a pain. Still, if it was in the game, it would make those already-dominant melee classes even more powerful. Whereas Baldur's Gate II had a bias towards magic, Heart of Winter is most definitely about swords and axes. Down with those magic-casting weaklings!

Sweet melodies

Icewind Dale had spectacular music and Heart of Winter keeps the family tradition strong. These are the best tunes I've heard in the past year, which is no small feat considering the competition (Homeworld: Cataclysm, BG2, Deus Ex, Torment.)

Lonelywood, least of the Ten Towns

Burial Isle (aka Necropolis!)

In fact, the quality of production on Heart of Winter reeks of 'amazing' all around. The graphics, the music, the sound effects and even the new voices are spectacular. There are three new player character voices - three male, three female. They seem to focused mainly on the melee classes but some of them can work as a cleric or caster.

The NPC voices are an even nicer treat. You'll get more dialogue in HoW than ever before, accompanied by a voice, and the voice acting is quite literally untouchable. It reaches levels that only the cutscenes in Diablo II were capable of.