The development company tasked with producing a worthy successor to the original Neverwinter Nights juggernaut was Obsidian Entertainment. While the company itself is a relative newcomer to the industry, it was founded by former Black Isle Studios staff - whose experience and involvement with other memorable Forgotten Realms titles is well known, so it comes as no surprise to us that they were able to turn out such a remarkable sequel.

Following a quick flick through the manual and installation of a large patch, we were ready to go. Neverwinter Nights 2 uses Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 rules as opposed to version 3.0, and a number of small but significant changes soon become apparent. Rather than bore you all to death with a detailed account of these, we'll focus instead on the general improvements and additions that have been made to the game.

Character creation remains much the same, with both manual and quick-start options to suit the gamer who wants to have a hand in every minute detail - or for those who just want to jump in and play. There are some new races and classes available, as well as plenty of scope for character development and modification. The expanded selection of prestige classes - not available initially - is a prime example of this. Of course, with their background knowledge of the rules, D&D players will have the jump on everyone else when it comes to character development, but for everyone else the substantial manual and in-game descriptions go a long way towards filling in the blanks.

While much of the adventure takes place in and around the city of Neverwinter the game begins far to the south, in the village of West Harbour. Here a tutorial takes place in the form of a Harvest Festival in which your party members - up to 4 in total - compete, using skills related to their class. By the time you have completed the tutorial and eventually reach Neverwinter you will have a good handle on your party's abilities and the game mechanics – particularly where combat is concerned. Since combat plays a large part of any decent RPG, this is a good thing.

One improvement we immediately noticed was in the interface. The radial menu has been replaced with context-sensitive dropdown menus; a new mode bar enables you to toggle various modes, such as stealth, detect, tracking etc. Everything is literally a couple of simple clicks away, which makes for a much better flow.

AI during combat is generally pretty good – both for enemies and for party members. You can now dictate your comrades' actions - one at a time, and those not under your control will use potions and spells to best advantage. You can't always count on them to cover your back during battle, however: occasionally party members would run in Keystone Cops fashion, back and forth between two points on the map - or simply do nothing during combat. This was largely due to terrain obstacles and line of sight, but annoying nonetheless. Fortunately, you can pause the action at any time with the space bar to issue individual commands to each member of the party. This feature proved essential to success in later stages of the game, when faced with increasingly tougher – and numerous - foes. Another useful feature is the Broadcast Commands option, by which you can issue orders indirectly to your companions during battle.

During several large outdoor skirmishes involving multiple groups of enemies we found that, rather than rush the party and overcome them with sheer numbers (which would seem the most logical approach – even for monsters at the lower end of the IQ scale), they sometimes attacked in 'movie-fashion' one group at a time, while the rest stood on the sidelines awaiting their turn to step up and be slaughtered. This was a tad disappointing – particularly after we'd taken the time to scout out the terrain for possible choke points, and worked out a plan of attack.

All role playing aficionados - whether they prefer the pen and paper or video game variety, love a great yarn. It doesn't have to be highly original – and these days most aren't, but if there's a rich, convoluted epic which involves saving the world from some evil horde, they are drawn to it like flies to a ripe carcass. The storyline for Neverwinter Nights 2 easily fulfils our expectations, offering plenty of tasty side dishes in the form of secondary quests, as well as an engrossing and meaty main course, which gradually unfolds via a series of cinematic cut scenes and text dialogue, with 'multi-choice' replies from your character determining the quantity and quality of information, as well as having some effect on the story's direction.

Many of your in-game decisions and responses will affect your character's alignment, as well as your standing with other party members. Just as in real life, you will never be able to please everyone all the time, and to save on excessive intra-party bickering you may have to juggle party members around to find the most harmonious blend of races, classes, alignments and personalities. Occasionally the storyline dictates that you enlist the aid of an 'unsuitable' companion, such as a chaotic evil character in a mostly lawful good party, but we considered this a good opportunity to venture outside our comfort zone.

With any good RPG, interaction between individual party members provides some priceless moments of entertainment, camaraderie and a few secondary companion-related quests. This was a feature we enjoyed in the original Neverwinter Nights and it is also present in Neverwinter Nights 2. The inquisitive gamer will find plenty of replay value in backtracking to previous saved games and choosing different paths to satisfy their curiosity as to "what might have been." Other welcome distractions abound in the form of crafting various items which can then be sold or used to kit out your party.

The multiplayer options offer the opportunity to indulge in a little social adventuring via a LAN or online. With no poring over rulebooks required and all of the number crunching taking place in the background, you can sit back and immerse yourself in the official campaign with up to three other players, explore a world created by a fellow gamer, or even host a module you have created yourself. While it's not quite the same as sitting around a table playing D&D with your mates, the DM Client allows you to recreate that 'pen and paper' feel, with one player taking the role of dungeon master, calling all the shots from behind a virtual DM's screen.

This brings us to the new and improved toolset, with which you can design your own scenarios and create your own worlds. Folks who pre-purchased the game will have had the opportunity to download and try this feature prior to the game's release, and we can confirm that with a little time and effort it is possible to produce some impressive results. We predict this powerful tool will result in many hours of continued gameplay thanks to player-created modules, just as it did for Neverwinter Nights.

On a high end machine the graphics are top notch – particularly combat and spell effects, however those with a minimum spec PC will have to turn down (or off) a lot of the visual bling in order to achieve a playable frame rate. If you fancy a game of 'spot the difference' the screenshots included in this review are a mixed bag of high and lower quality. We noticed a few graphics bugs as well as some clipping and pathing issues, but these proved minor irritations when weighed up against the game's better qualities. One last gripe – small but worth mentioning, is the sometimes lengthy load time upon launch. It doesn't happen every time, but the delay can last up to several minutes; you'd certainly be forgiven for thinking the game had crashed… we did.

Complimented by a wide range of sound effects and a high standard of voice acting, the evocative musical score provides a wonderful backdrop to the story, with dynamic mood and tempo changes kicking in on cue. Charging into a fight will launch a rousing battle theme, while walking into a pub will trigger a jaunty ditty straight from the repertoire of a travelling minstrel.

So was Neverwinter Nights 2 a sequel worth waiting for? Most definitely. To be perfectly honest, after having to fiddle with the graphics settings and coming to terms with all the changes, it took us a few hours to warm to the game… but once we did we were well and truly hooked. Despite a few minor faults, this one's a winner!