Most mind-boggling was the way in which Black Isle discarded almost all of the Infinity innovations added to last fall's Planescape: Torment. Pathfinding is once again horrendous. A combination of this and the often narrow dungeon passageways can lead to a fair bit of frustration. The camera was moved further back from the party again, the interface has once more been made larger and far more obtrusive, and most dialogue has been returned to the central pane. Huh? Some diehards complained that changes like dialogue floating above characters' heads made Torment more like an adventure than an RPG, but most loved the way it opened up the main game area. The only significant holdovers are the occasional use of floating text to represent background dialogue and the ability to click on certain objects and scenery to get a textual description.

Audio is a bright spot. In-game effects such as the clanking of weapons and the various creepy noises made by monsters are evocative of a real dungeon, or at least what those of us with a less rich fantasy life would believe a real dungeon to sound like. The musical score is also quite good, on par with a third-rate Hollywood epic if not the rousing tunes that accompanied Baldur's Gate.

Icewind Dale is a hard game to rate. Some buyers will undoubtedly be turned off by the many similarities with its predecessor, while others will adore it for those very same qualities. I enjoyed the title for what it was, and suspect most will do the same if they approach it without preconceptions.