Neverwinter Nights: The Shadow of Undrentide Expansion Pack

It introduces an immersive 20 hour campaign where you start from sratch with a new Level 1 character, while not being as long as the NWN campaign, I actually found the SoU campaign even more gripping that the NWN one.
My reasons for that being that the new snow, desert and ruins areas look lovely and are a lot more involving that the areas in NWN. The story views alignment constantly which adds a lot more roleplaying to it, making it true to Dungeons and Dragons. Also the plot apparently starts off simple, merely recovering some artifacts, the game beginning in the snowy town of Hilltops but then the plot progresses and it brings you to the Anauroch Desert, and the ruins of Undrentide...
The way the plot works I find fascinating.

Also Prestige classes have been added, extremely powerful classes that you can multiclass to as long as you meet the requirements, there are 5 in all including

Blackguard -the evil version of a Paladin
and
Arcane Archer -An archer combining magic and archery
which make playing the game even better.

In addition to this there are new spells and feats, including a really cool spell where you launch up to 20 missiles.

And finally, the new content can also be used by characters returning to the NWN campaign, adding even more replayability.

The Shadows of Undrentide expansion takes Neverwinter Nights to a whole new level. It is definately worth the money.

Yes there are the new prestige classes
Yes there are the new feats, skills, spell and creatures

But the game itself has two main problems.

Firstly it is for level 1 characters so you can put your level 17th you created in Neverwinter to one side, bit of a shame really as I wanted to contine with my character.

Secondly its too short. I can complete this game with all its sub quests in 20 hours, and for £15 thats a bit much when you consider that the first game costing £30 takes around 100 hours.

Personally I feel that this game was a filler for the "Underdark" adventure out at the end of November which is for high level characters.

Undrentide is a city built by an ancient culture of mages called the Netheril, who mysteriously vanished some milennia before the game is set. It now lies beneath the vast Anauroch desert to the east of Neverwinter and Hilltop (the frosty settlement where you start your adventure). I'll say no more about the story, but there are some treats in store for you.

In terms of new features, SoU adds additional depth to the game. New Aurora toolset capabilities include three new environment schemes and placeable objects that can realise a frozen wasteland, a parched desert or visually striking ruins. The placeables add a new level of intricacy to the game's environments, which in the original Neverwinter campaign had a tendency to be empty-looking and repetitive. Good news for module builders.

The five new prestige classes help to further customise the roleplaying experience which, in retrospect, were a little stifled before. The new Shadowdancer class is great for Rogues, Elven Mages or Rangers seem at home with the Arcane Archer, Druids may feel quite at home with the Harper Scout class, and for the evil character, the slinky Assasin and Blackguard classes. These have been implemented fairly well, and provide worthwhile new abilities to your character, should they wish to develop into one of them.

Although relatively few new creatures have been added to the game, they are used effectively and add a realistic diversity to the experience. Although Medusae and Sphinx are uncommon, they are nonetheless looking great, which is not unusual for the level of detail Bioware is hailed for.

The mechanics of the game, however, are slightly disappointing. You will find yourself trudging around a lot through landscapes which can be tricky to negotiate, and on several occasions your henchmen may have trouble getting around, and if they're not by your side in battle, it could mean curtains for your character. The shops and essential facilities in Hilltop are annoyingly far from Drogan's home, and the new teleportation device, although more well balanced than the uber-useful Stone of Recall, is limited by power crystals which can be tricky to replicate.

The henchmen provided in the game are competent, provided your character is a warrior-type. None of them are good fighters, and none of them can take a good pounding. Meanwhile, a fellow student Paladin is left behind doing just about nothing. Perhaps if Bioware/Floodgate had made her recruitable, the game would be more appealing.

Contrastingly, if you are a fighter, the game shouldnt present you with too much of a challenge. If you can wield a greatsword and wear platemail, chances are you'll have an easy ride.

In summary though, aside from a handful of mechanical problems, the game itself is very nicely put together. Using higher-level settings, though, a high-end system is essential, as the gameplay can be somewhat jerky with all the added detail to compensate for.

4/5: Good graphics, good plot, good features, funky new possibilities, but slightly disappointing level design. Its more of the same, really.