There is a place, far to the north, that lays the control and powers of the more civilized in the land. It is a region known as the Silver Marches, or the Savage Frontier. Those in the south consider it a land of barbarians and monsters.

It is in the town of Hilltop that a well-known adventurer named Drogan settled to begin a school to teach younger adventurers. Unbeknownst to his students, Drogan is a member of the Harpers, a powerful organization that tracks evil in all its permutations and combats it where necessary.

His students are trained and upon completion of the training receive a final test. The test may take many forms. It is on the eve of such a test that four students come together, to discuss that which one of them will soon understand. Some are deriding the efforts of others, there is pontificating and mockery. Suddenly, their discussion is broken by the sounds of battle below.

Master Drogan is under attack from a host of kobolds. All seemed vanquished when one sneaks up from behind and thrusts a poisoned dagger in the back of the aged adventurer. He falls to the ground.

The students rush in, dispatching the remaining kobolds. A stranger appears, aiding the cause and then tending to the wounds of Drogan. Ayala is also a Harper, and she has been tracking this particular band of kobolds for several days. But more than just an attack upon the dwarven mage, the kobolds had something far more sinister in mind. They have stolen four artifacts entrusted to the care of Drogan; four artifacts of immense power that the Harpers thought were safely hidden away.

Thus the final test is modified. Your task is to find these artifacts by journeying across the vastness of the savage lands, from the Silver Marches to Anauroch, from Hilltop to the Floating Cities of Netheril.

The adventure begins.

Neverwinter Nights: The Shadows of Undrentide is the 20-hour expansion to the original take. This PC release from Atari, BioWare, Wizards of the Coast and Floodgate Entertainment is rated Teen for blood and violence. The original Neverwinter Nights is necessary to play this expansion.

Those who thrilled to the adventures of the original Neverwinter Nights title will doubtless be excited for this title, and with good reason. While sporting the same game mechanics, Shadows adds new character classes, including five prestige classes, new mobs, weapons, feats, skills, and spells. The game also comes with the new Neverwinter Aurora Toolset Wizard, and includes three new tilesets. Players can create their own adventure within the Neverwinter Nights universe.

Something strange first occurred when launching the program. The game does a system configuration to set up the title for your system. A message was received that the host system did not meet the minimum speed requirements which may interfere with the game performance. Wait a minute! This game calls for a minimum Pentium II 450 though a Pentium III 800 is recommended. The host system has a Pentium IV 2.26 gig processor. Not only does that meet, but it exceeds the requirements. Further, the game only seeks an Nvidia GeForce 2 card, when there is a GeForce 4 card installed.

This discrepancy may have been the reason that the first launch of the title resulted in a stall and crash at the main menu. It may also be the reason that some characters seemed stuck in a loop of repeating the same animation.

Once the game was going, though, it was an enjoyable if all to brief return to the style and immersive action that made the original title so addicting.

The controls are the same, and the sound track to this game is as richly textured as the graphics.

Shadows of Undrentide is a solid adventure, there is no doubt about that. But while it promises 20 hours of gameplay, it is nothing when compared to the original title. And perhaps that is the one thing that really stunts this game’s reception. While it is an expansion, it has to live up to its parent title - and in that regard, it falls a little short. This is still a lot of fun - it just doesn’t last very long.

Gameplay: 8.7
The game is like stepping into a comfortable pair of shoes. The mechanics are essentially the same, and there seems to be a strong similarity to the cutscenes from Neverwinter Nights. While still good, this is a shadow of the original title (in more ways than one).

Graphics: 8.5
The game still features rich details and but the animation loop for some characters was annoying.

Sound: 8.8
The vocal characterizations are very strong and the musical score is solid.

Difficulty: Easy
Comparatively speaking, the depth of the original title is lacking. This is a nice module, but if you were able to work through Neverwinter Nights, this will not offer much in the way of a challenge.

Concept: 8
A lot of the game style is derivative of the original title. At times it feels as though the game is rushing along, and at others retreading familiar plot moments with different names inserted. Still, the new character classes are a nice touch.

Multiplayer: 8.8
This is still an incredibly strong feature and with the new tilesets, this adds more depth to the package.

Overall: 8.5
Neverwinter Nights was arguably the best RPG of last year. This title, which has a few faults, allows players to re-immerse themselves in that rich world. The main fault of this title is that is not long enough. Atari/BioWare will be releasing another expansion, Hordes of the Underdark, in the near future (late November), but while Shadows is truly a wonderful return to the lands, it is too quickly worked through.