BioWare made its name making top quality role playing games such as Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

The latest venture takes that role playing one step further with the release of Neverwinter Nights. This stunning RPG not only contains a single player campaign with about 60 hours of gaming, but it ships with the Aurora Toolset used by BioWare to make NWN itself.

What does this mean? Basically that any aspiring games designer can sit down for a couple of hours and learn create their own unique adventures which can then be shipped online for thousands of other RPG fans to download and play.

For those of us who sat around with pen and paper and the latest edition of the D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) rules to painstakingly create that level one elf ranger, NWN is a dream come true. It's like getting your run of the sweet shop.

The 3D graphics (Bioware's first attempt) aren't brilliant, not when compared with the latest generation of multi-player games like Dark Age of Camelot or EverQuest's Shadows of Luclin expansion, even Microsoft's DungeonSiege looks better.

But, as a great friend of mine says, good graphics do not a game make and NWN has plenty of other things in its favour to be able to drop a few points for clunky visuals.

Where it beats its main rivals Dungeon Siege and Morrowind hands down is in its customisation. Character generation is simplicity itself.

Those familiar with the D&D third edition ruleset can quite happily click buttons here, move skill options there. Those who have never looked at a role playing game in their lives can use the recommended option - this advises the player which race to choose, which skills to implement, what special powers to choose - which generates a viable character with which to explore the city of Neverwinter.

The storyline is pretty good too. A plague has descended on Neverwinter. The four animals collected to create a cure are released by strange mages and it's your task - as the most promising young recruit in the Academy - to go and rescue them.

Along the way you chase the creatures around the city,pick up henchmen, who all have their own side quests to explore and try to avoid death at ever turn.

The one downside for the game play is that, unlike in Baldur's Gate or the rest of BioWare's stable, you cannot control the additions to your party, or give them better equipment or hand over stuff for them to carry around.

And there is plenty of stuff to find. It seems every time you turn a corner there is another NPC (non playing character - in other words the computer) waiting to give you a quest to carry out.

Your quest journal can be organised by name, date received etc and quests, once completed, move into a different section.

As for the multi-player. Well pretty much think of all those things you've always wanted to do with a role playing game and multiply by about ten. You can have up to 64 players on any one server, although that might be a bit too much for some inexperienced players.

Anyone can set up a multi-player game, nothing new there you might think, but not true. Anyone can set up a multi-player game and then run it. Yes, you heard me. You can go online into the multi-player story and take control!

So, that annoying level six paladin giving you grief? Drop a few gnolls on his head, or a mob of undead. Cute female elf sorceress? Give her a nice magic staff. The possibilities are endless, never mind creating your own module via the toolset and popping that online for people to play.

Points out of ten then? Well I'm, giving it 9.5 because the graphics do let it down a bit when it comes to the player models and NPCs and the quests can be a bit confusing but overall, if RPGs are your thing, you have to buy this one.

July 10, 2002 14:30