In the previous iterations of Neverwinter Nights 2 - a thoroughly-entertaining, old-fashioned, isometric-viewpoint, group-battling Dungeons & Dragons adventure game - you created a character and then worked through the storyline, going from mission to mission along a well-conceived story arc while picking up non-playable characters to aid you in your travels.

With the new Atari/Obsidian expansion, Storm of Zehir (SoZ for short), things have changed just a bit. No longer are you confined to playing a single character, you can now create a party. Be forewarned, though – death is permanent in SoZ. Party members, once killed, need a rez spell to get back up. You will also need the original game to play this expansion pack.

You can start the game much like any other NWN title by creating a character or characters. Once you have done that and created a party, you begin the adventure. It is important to note that because this is an expansion, characters you may have created before will be available in this game. Just like if you go back to play Mask of the Betrayer or any previous NWN 2 title, you will have the new classes and characters available there as well. And when it comes to creating your party, that very much determines the style of game you will have. Diversity can be a good thing, but don’t forget to bring the dps (damage per second) classes into the game. You want to win fights – especially with the idea of die and it’s all over.

And, like most of the NWN games, and D&D games for that matter, creating those characters, tweaking them and then putting them into complementary groups can be enjoyable in its own right.

SoZ begins with a shipwreck. You have to have decent diplomacy skills simply because the natives and townspeople on the island are less than trusting of your presence. It does not take long, though, before the game immerses you and you start to get a feel for the new features in this expansion.

First up is the overhead world map. Presented in 3D, this map allows non-linear travel throughout the world, and allows you to explore the land of Samarach or anywhere along the Sword Coast. There are also two new races (the Yuan-ti Pureblood – a sort of snake-infused human, and the Gray Orc), new prestige classes (Hellfire Warlock and Doomguide), a new class (Swashbuckler) as well as a slew of new feats (both of the normal, background and heritage kind). There is improved crafting and improved skill sets.

Like the rest of the titles in the NWN line, this game follows the D&D ruleset (the 3.5 set for this outing), and it has elements that depend on the roll of the die (you don’t see it roll) as well as strategy. If you have not played a game like this before, consider it akin to a chess match – except that you only have four pieces to work with and a huge mapboard. And that is one thing about the world in this game – it is huge. As such, the game does have its share of load times. Couple that with the need to save often and you have a game that drags along.

There is a multiplayer mode listed in the main menu, but this took forever to load up and then there was not much to see. You have to have an account in the BioWare community and every time the connection was tried, the error message was that the Authorization server was down.

But in spite of that, SoZ is a solid and entertaining game that harkens back to a time when the story drove the adventure and it was well worth the trip. After you are done on the shipwrecked island, and head back to the Sword Coast, things heat up and another new element of the game is introduced – the trade element. You can start up a small merchant company (this is optional content) and try to run trade routes to make a lot of coin. It’s a very nice diversion.

Graphically the character models (both in the character creation and in-game) could use a face-lift. The game did crash a couple of times as well (players should always check for patches), but it was playing on an older machine with an older Radeon ATI card. The sound is hit and miss. You have great music, and some decent (though sparse) voice work.

The expansion allows access to the DM client and the toolset to allow players to create their own modules – always a bonus with the NWN franchise.

Storm of Zehir is a solid, entertaining and enjoyable game. Those who have played Neverwinter Nights would do well to add this to the library.

Gameplay: 7.0
A lot of load times, but the game is compelling enough with a great story to pull you through. Should you know your way around this type of game, you will find the fit with SoZ very comfortable.

Graphics: 7.2
While serviceable, the game does need to address the looks of character models in the game. With today’s processors, the devs can create

Sound: 8.5
The voice acting is very sparse, but the musical score is absolutely wonderful.  

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.2
The storyline is strong and the game itself is fraught with D&D goodness. Time to upgrade some of the in-game character graphics, though.

Multiplayer: N/A
The game does allow for an Internet game, the ability to join a LAN game or peer-to-peer connection. The Internet game was through GameSpy and that failed to connect. So while the game does have multiplayer capabilities, no connections were made.

Overall: 8.2
This is a game that harkens back to the good old days of adventure D&D video-gaming, where the adventure is strong, but strategic playing is stronger. You have to play wisely and smartly in this game.