New Releases 11/27

Baldur's Gate: Enchanced Edition

Baldur's Gate is one of the most beloved RPG franchises of all time. Developed by BioWare and released in 1998 (goodness, what a great year for video games! The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout 2, Xenogears and Resident Evil 2 were all released that year, just to name a few) it quickly became the de facto setup for most western RPGs. BG was the first game to use BioWare's Infinity Engine, an engine which they would go on to use for many of their other games, including Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment.

Taking place in the Forgotten Realms (a fantasy setting created by Ed Greenwood which has gone on to spawn countless numbers of books) and using the 2nd edition rules from the pen and paper roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, Baldur's Gate was released to critical acclaim as it whetted the appetite of what many RPG players sought in games. Now, 14 years later, the game is being released with revitalized graphics and touch controls for iOS devices like the iPad, as well as Android tablets and PC.

The Enhanced Edition is not being handled by BioWare (RIP), but instead by Overhaul Games, a company whose moniker hopefully doesn't hold true for BG, as it would benefit from some slight improvements, but needs no drastic revisions. Some of the added features sound nice, such as cross-platform multiplayer and matchmaking, but some fans are wary that the changes Overhaul has made are too much. One such change is the level cap being increased, supposedly to make the game easier, but as I said not everyone is content with such changes. For those people, I recommend playing the original version. For everyone else, newcomers and series veterans alike, there's Enhanced Edition.

Have you ever wanted to be a bow wielding elf? Pocket picking hobbit (called halflings in D&D settings so Tolkien doesn't sue)?  Spell-casting wizard? You can in Baldur's Gate. I originally played it on the PS2, and from what I gather it was a pretty different version from the original PC title, so I look forward to checking out BG: EE.

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is available to pre-load for PC right now for $19.99 (I think it becomes available tonight at midnight), with iPad and Mac OS X listed as being released in November, and Android simply stating TBA.

Here's the teaser trailer: