With a game of this scope it's extremely hard to cover every important aspect. Especially when at first glances Neverwinter Nights can be compared to recent releases like Dungeon Siege and perhaps even Diablo 2. A simple action RPG it is not, though, and a quick glance at the manual shows depth that for some may be overwhelming. Thankfully Neverwinter Nights is fairly accessible to start with and even RPG newbies should be able to enjoy the game a great deal while they are mastering its complexities.

Visually Neverwinter Nights is pretty impressive. Lighting and environmental effects are cutting edge and the transition to a 3D engine seems to have been a bit of a breeze for Bioware. Flickering torch light makes shadows dance on dungeon walls and floors and if you have the system to handle it you'll be marvelling at the quality of these effects for quite a while. The game's environments are quite nice on the eyes but unfortunately can get a little repetitive due to the limited number of tile sets. We can't imagine this being a big negative for most gamers though. The only other down side in the graphics department are the slightly blocky character models. Again it's not a big issue but eye-candy fans will notice that the character models are fairly basic. It is pleasing to note that even low-end to mid-range machines Neverwinter Nights stills looks good. The flashy extras are gone of course but it's not hideously ugly.

Jeremy Soule certainly seems to have a monopoly on big name RPG soundtracks these days. Baldur's Gate, Dungeon Siege, Icewind Dale and now Neverwinter Nights. Its not hard to see why people keep going back to him to produce the goods and true to form he has delivered another epic soundtrack that brings to life the world of Neverwinter. If you're going to spend serious hours with the game at some stage the dynamic soundtrack will get repetitive but you would be hard pressed to find a game with a better, or more appropriate score.

Sound effects are also excellent and the positional audio is brilliant (if you have the sound card to take advantage of it). Voice acting is something that Bioware seem to have completely under control and the same level of quality that was on display in their previous titles is back in a big way. Some of the voice acting could be considered a little 'overcooked' perhaps but when you compare to it the usual standard of voice acting in computer games (starts at appalling and peaks at unbearable) it's more than tolerable. Atmosphere is a tricky thing to maintain in a computer game and Bioware seem to know that audio plays as much of part in the mix as the quality of visuals and whats actually happening in the game.

It's not hard to see that Neverwinter Nights looks good and sounds amazing. You don't need to spend much time with it to find that out. However the depth of gameplay on offer is huge and it is extremely hard to cover it all in one review. What is impressive about the game is that the depth of its mechanics are so are easily acessible but do not overwhelm. Bioware have chosen to use the 3rd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rule set and even those with only a fleeting idea of what D&D actually is will be able to appreciate how well this rule set works in a computer game context. The new rules are much more flexible in regards to character development which is a godsend for those of us who are schizophrenic and want to try a bit of everything. When your character levels up you can select which class you want to gain a level in so it is possible to have characters with a much broader skill set. Of course if you try and master too much you'll end up with a character who can do everything badly and nothing well so a degree of focus is required. We've heard from the D&D nuts on the Gameplanet team that the implementation of the 3rd Edition rules has been executed well and that it's as close as you can get to the authentic experience without getting out the pencils and paper.