GB Feature: Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition Review

Beamdog/Overhaul’s Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition may have just been released today, but thanks to an early copy of the revised Infinity Engine-powered RPG, we’ve already cranked out a full three-page review that should help you with your purchasing decision. A sampling:

Various tweaks were made to the interface to make the game friendlier to play. Some examples for this that I haven’t mentioned yet include colored borders for spell scrolls, so it’s easy to see if you’ve already learned the spell or not; an increase in the stack size for arrows and bolts (from 40 to 80) so rangers don’t have to waste as much inventory space; new annotations on the maps to show important locations like exits and quest NPCs (now Beamdog just needs to give us the ability to add our own annotations); a menu to reconfigure most of the hotkeys; a slider to change the size of the game’s text so you can keep it readable; and the ability to play the game using any modern screen resolution whether it’s wide screen or not (and unlike the wide screen mod, all screens in the game use the resolution, not just the main screen).

However, something that got removed from the interface is a key to highlight the interactive objects in the world. This was a very handy tool in the original game because Black Isle liked to put containers in unusual places, and the key was the easiest way to spot them. I have no idea why Beamdog removed the option. I probably missed a lot of good stuff by walking right past containers without noticing.