Avernum 2

Take these criticisms with a grain of salt. Comparing Avernum 2, a shareware game, to the likes of Baldur’s Gate 2 or other successful, big budget RPG games is inherently unfair; but let it be known that Avernum 2 holds its own against those titles. If you are a fan of RPG games, you will enjoy Avernum 2. If you have to have eye and ear candy as part of your gaming experience, you may not appreciate the action and story of Spiderweb Software’s game; however if you are a fan of those great dungeon crawling games from back in the day, you will love Avernum 2.

While Spiderweb Software has always been known for simple, yet entertaining role-playing games, I'd like to see them branch into something more extravagant. Their current games will never compete with a Baldur's Gate or Diablo, but I feel they could if the games were given added flash with modern graphics and sound. The story is always the central focus of a true role-playing experience, and they have carved out some interesting worlds with their series. Of course, Avernum 2 will run on low-end machines that do not feature fancy graphics cards or environmental audio, and they are budget priced. For a fast and fun RPG fix, Avernum 2 is worth tinkering around with. If it's Baldur's Gate you're expecting, this isn't the place to look. Bottom Line: Avernum 2 keeps to Spiderweb's tradition of entertaining yet simple RPG games. It runs on low-end systems, is budget priced, and is fun to play with. It won't be competing with Bioware's AD&D series, but can still manage to amuse.