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Head on over to Savepoint.co.uk to look at what looks like a review of the full version of IWD II, if so that means that more are soon to follow. They mention some things about enemy ai and enemy units that are quite interesting.

It's a surprisingly literate review, though pretty superficial. The guy liked everything, but at least he didn't sound like he was repeating a PR sheet.

For those who have played the Infinity Engine D&D games before, you will probably be wondering how well Black Isle have adapted the engine to the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Rules, as it was originally designed around the 2nd edition rules, and there have been a lot of changes. The good news is that they have done a fantastic job of capturing the spirit and feel of the 3rd edition rule set, within the possibilities of a computer game adaptation at any rate. In places I would say that it is a better interpretation of the rules than Bioware's Neverwinter Nights.

To recap: they messed up again.

Though, admittedly, he also says:

I truly believe that Icewind Dale has a closer more accurate take on the 3rd Edition rules.

Sounds good, on the whole. I should start on IWD.

But @Xyx, that's just one reviewer's opinion. Saying they got it "better than NWN in places" doesn't really say very much, or indicate what standards the reviewer is applying.

I spoke to the lead designer about a week ago, since I'm writing a review of the game (not for this site). He told me that the 3e implementation was was pretty thorough with a few notable exceptions:

1) No attacks of opportunity. They had hoped to get 'em in, but ran into too many problems working with a realtime engine in which friends and foes were moving all the time.

2) No meta-magic feats. Apparently, this was dropped early on, in the interests in game balance.

3) Size as a factor in movement and attack was left out. They didn't want party halflings lagging behind humans, and I guess the just didn't want to deal with bonuses and penalties to hit between shorter and taller racial types.

4) No animal companions and familiars. Understandable: since you're creating an entire party, it would be easy to throw the game out of sync by rolling up an entire party of rangers and wizards, leaving much of the early fighting, at least, to six surrogates.

Those were the main things. The rest is in. From what I've seen, it's a far superior 3e implementation to NWN. Mind, that doesn't mean I think the result is great, because while I really like the customization that's offered I still feel rangers are sorely underpowered. But that's just *my* opinion.

There's also a review up at gamesdomain. Gave it a "Top Game" rating.