Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark Expansion Pack - PC

• Expansion for Neverwinter Nights.
• New 20-hour single-player campaign.
• Epic levels allow characters to advance as far as level 40.
• New prestige classes, feats, weapons, spells, and voice sets.
• 2 new tilesets and additional content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset.

Product Description ------------------- Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark pits players in a battle to save the embattled city of Waterdeep from an ancient evil buried deep within the earth and stone of Underain. From the Manufacturer --------------------- Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark pits players in a battle to save the embattled city of Waterdeep from an ancient evil buried deep within the earth and stone of Underain. Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark includes a new 20-hour single player campaign, designed for high-level characters and set amidst the famous city of Waterdeep and the foreboding Underdark from the D&D game's Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Hordes of the Underdark will significantly expand upon the Neverwinter Nights universe, most notably with the addition of Epic Level gameplay. Based upon the rules published by Wizards of the Coast in the D&D game supplement Epic Level Handbook, Epic Levels are available for characters who have reached level 20, allowing them to advance as far as level 40. In addition, Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark introduces several new prestige classes, including the Shifter, a druidic class specializing in shape shifting; dozens of new feats, such as Epic Reputation, Craft Weapon and Armor Skin; a multitude of new weapons and spells, many designed solely for epic level characters; challenging new creatures pulled straight out of the Underdark, including Mind Flayers, Beholders and Driders; several new character voice sets for even greater character customization; and 17 new epic soundtracks from composer Jeremy Soule. Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark equips module makers with two new tilesets and additional content for the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset, the groundbreaking software included with the full game that allows players to create their own universes, quests and storylines. The two new tilesets will be based around the new campaign and will include exciting new features specific to certain denizens of the Underdark itself. P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review ------ When first looking through the manual and checking out all the new feats, classes, and powers available in this expansion, I thought that they were way too obscenely powerful and would throw off the game's difficulty balancing. However, even with a godlike character, the challenges found in the Hordes of the Underdark are no joke. The adventure included in Underdark is one of the better official campaigns. Since players start at level 15, all the NPCs react to them as a legendary hero from the beginning – a nice change from the standard RPG opening. In all the time I spent playing Hordes, I didn't kill a single rat, maggot, or slime. In the very beginning of the quest, there's a blue dragon – which incidentally fell quite easily to Enserric the Long (who is quite the character himself, and has some of the best lines in the game). That's an example of the power levels involved here. Hordes allows characters to reach level 40 (!), twice the old level cap, and doesn't disappoint in ways to make your hero über-powerful. Epic feats give you such silly abilities as turning into an ancient dragon or completely dodging one attack per round, no matter what. The six new prestige classes are fun to play as, though some are a bit underpowered compared to others. Items scale up with you as well, and can grant some really ening bonuses. Enserric, for instance, heals you for five hit points every time you hit something; though five HP isn't a whole lot when you've got 230 to begin with. This expansion adds quite a bit of stuff for lower-level heroes as well. New crafting skills allow players to customize their equipment even more than before. Some of the prestige classes can be accessed as early as level six, and lots of new scripts have been added to give players greater control over their henchmen. Heroes can have two followers rather than the previous limit of one, which lets you have some semblance of an actual party even in single-player. Despite the new and vastly superior control, however, they still tend to run off and die when you're not paying attention. Mod makers will enjoy the improvements on the already comprehensive toolset. BioWare has also added a number of scripts to the game which allow for better interaction and combat. Of course, these upgrades will help regular players as well, in the form of better modules to adventure through. Owners of Neverwinter Nights are punishing themselves by not getting Hordes of the Underdark. The a by which it expands the game in every direction is truly epic. Concept: Allow heroes to reach utterly stupid levels of power, and give them suitably ridiculous tasks Graphics: Somewhat improved over the original, particularly the textures Sound: Same old Neverwinter sounds. The battle music gets awfully old Playability: The improved camera control is very welcome, and the whole interface is a little smoother around the edges Entertainment: There's no better way to dork out to the max, online or off Replay: High Rated: 8.5 out of 10 Editor: Adam Biessener Issue: February 2004 2nd Opinion: Neverwinter Nights' first expansion, Shadows of Undrentide, was certainly an engrossing tale, and a great addition to the universe, but for how much I enjoyed that adventure it pales in comparison to Hordes of the Underdark. Sure, this expansion looks slightly better than the last, and manages to add in an assortment of new goodies for level-up junkies like myself, but what really makes this game for me is that it revolves around the Drow and all the dark creatures of the D&D universe. You just can't help but love Mind Flayers and those evil elf beeatches. If you managed to miss out on Shadows, you should do yourself a favor and make sure you check out Hordes, as it represents some of the best storytelling going on in the PC world. Even if you don't care about the plot, you can always just make some crazy powerful characters and tear it up. Rated: 8.5 out of 10 Editor: Andy McNamara Subscribe to Game Informer ( http://www..com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AN45D/ ) -- Game Informer Review See more ( javascript:void(0) )