Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn
MacPlay
Rating: 4.5/5

Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn is the sequel to Baldurs Gate, the RPG to have on the Mac last year. Those who have played Baldurs Gate can import their old characters into this new game. This is a real RPG as opposed to Diablo II, which is an RPG light. BGII is not a game that will take you less than a day playing time to complete, this is a game that last a long time. Spread of four CDs, set in a huge area this game has quests and sub-quests galore. Some of these sub-quests are dependent on what character class you choose to play. The game is linear, arrayed in nine chapters with different levels therein, it is almost as if you are playing through a book. The game uses the 2nd Edition AD&D rules (3rd Edition has just been released by TSR.). so anyone who is experience with the pen & paper version of the game will feel right at home in BGII. Like the pen & paper version you can play with your fiends, up to 6 of them.

First things first however, getting the game installed proved to be tiresome and laborious task. Unfortunately both the OSX and 9.2 versions of the installer lead a lot to be desired. There is however an FAQ on the MacPlay website, which once read explains the problem. I installed the game on my OSX drive twice, and both times when I tried the game claimed I did not have enough room to launch the game. Why the installer was not able to determine this before I started the install process is beyond me. It is also not possible, except via a very contrived method to install anything but the "recommended" install. Once into 9.2, there are problems with that installer as well. While there are choices for Maximum, Minimum and Recommended, however what the installer and the Read Me fail to tell you is that you must install the program under Base Extensions or it will not work. It is rather disappointing that I was unable to play the game under OSX and am forced to restart my Mac in 9.2 for the pleasure.

The game requirements are as follow 233 G3 , OS 8.6/OSX 10.0.4 and 128 RAM. What it doesn't say on the box is that you will need a large hard drive if you wish to have the game run well on a lower spec machine. On the first level of the game there are very few places where there are many figures on the screen at the same time so the game plays very smoothly, however once you get to the second level of the first chapter you immediately begin having problems with speed. The game allows it to be played as turn-based and the instructions encourage you to use the pause button (space bar) frequently to plan your moves. In short the space bar allows you to play turn-based on the fly. This is a very nice feature which means the game can be played on a lower spec machine that if it were always simultaneous. The interface to the game is rather finicky at times and does require some specific targeting when attempting to point at a person or object. It is highly recommended that one play this game on a larger screen. The game supports 800 x 600, full-screen and 3D cards.