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Baldur's Gate PC
Metascore
91 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
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  1. Adrenaline Vault
    100
    Baldur's Gate is not a computer role-playing game...it is THE computer role-playing game.
  2. Computer Games Magazine
    100
    If you play through the entire thing, side quest after side quest, and if you take advantage of the immense amount of replay-value, you may not need another game this year, except perhaps the expansion pack. Don't desert us now, BioWare.
  3. Quandary
    100
    It's been a long haul, more than two months of solid game-play, but I have been absolutely engrossed by every minute! Very few games earn such an accolade from this reviewer.
  4. Game Revolution
    100
    This is, without a doubt, the closest thing out there to actually getting together with a bunch of your friends on a Sunday afternoon, taking your characters into a dungeon, and using you own BOO to find out if that bottomless pit was actually bottomless.
  5. IGN
    94
    Not only has the game shown that you can build a statistics heavy game without making it boring or confusing, but it has shown that it's possible to build them with style and beauty.
  6. PC Gamer
    94
    This is the best roleplaying game you can buy. Period. [Apr. 1999, p.94]
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  7. Game Over Online
    93
    With true AD&D rules, emmersive gameplay, incredible depth of the story and graphics to beat, this is definitely one RPG worth playing.
  8. GameSpot
    92
    With its thoroughly addictive gameplay and meticulous attention to detail, largely manages to meet, and even surpass, gamers' high expectations for this ambitious game.
  9. TotalGames.net
    92
    That's the great thing about Baldur's Gate, not only does it look "the dog's," it provides the player (and multiplayers) with a living, breathing world complete with specific rules which must be adhered to. Now that's magic!
  10. PC Gameworld
    92
    While it doesn't exactly bring anything new to the genre it is a genuinely good CRPG which brings the Forgotten Realms to life.
  11. Electric Playground
    90
    Everything that fans of AD&D have always wanted in a computer game. The only thing that will prevent it from being perfect for everyone is the very fact that it follows the AD&D rules so faithfully.
  12. GamePro
    90
    It’s a huge, sprawling, wonderfully involved game that makes you feel as though you’ve read a fantasy trilogy by game’s end.
  13. Yahoo! Games
    90
    Offers an amazing amount of control over how the game is played in a game session. It is very easy to set up a multiplayer game, and just as easy to join one in progress over the Internet or LAN.
  14. Happy Puppy
    80
    The only drawback to the graphics would be the lack of a rotatable battlefield, as it is sometimes hard to figure out where you can and cannot go in cramped quarters, canyons and towns.
  15. FiringSquad
    80
    Despite our nitpicky issues with "graphical cleanliness" and clunky multiplayer, Baldur's Gate simply shines.
  16. All Game Guide
    80
    Interacting with characters is where your charisma and party's reputation really pays off.
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User Reviews

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User Score
9.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 147 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 31
  3. Negative: 2 out of 31
  1. DantheMan
    10
    'Legendary' is a term much bandied about these days but this game is one than genuinely deserves the adjective. Many people consider this game to have single handily have saved the single-player RPG genre on the PC just when it looked dead. It represents a definite turning point in the history of gaming. This can be hard to appreciate today because even I'll concede that the graphics are dated. But the truth of the matter is that RPGs have never been about graphics anyway. What made Balder's Gate innovative it was the first RPG to actually use NPCs to advance the story in a mission critical way. It put their stories, their personalities, their goals on a footing that was equal to your own. What made it show-stopping was the nature of those personalities. They were all different, all unique, and they all didn't necessarily care about you. You had to not just manage combat but manage people if your little band was going to finish the game. Yes, the combat can be unbalanced at times. There are a few bugs. But if you cannot laugh when Minsc shouts, "Go for the eyes, Boo" there is something wrong not with the game but with your life. If you want, you can break this game down and find all it's flaws; they exist. But if you don't cheer sitting in your chair when Minsc shouts, "Butt kicking for Goodness!" you have no heart. This isn't just so much a game as it is an experience. That, it seems to me, is what an RPG is all about. It's about creating experiences; it's about making memories. It's playing your role to the hilt and loving it. Baldur's Gate might not have been the best, some people argue the sequel is better, but it was the first to offer that immersion in a way no other game had up until that point in time. If you haven't played this game you should. Because this is where it all began.… Full Review »
  2. KaiEkkrin
    8
    This was my first CRPG, so the rose tinted glasses are firmly on. Baldur's Gate combines an epic storyline and tactical, party-based combat with an explorable open world, in a way few future games have: most have either become more linear in their pursuit of story (future Bioware games) or focus on the open world at the story's expense (Elder Scrolls). Combined with the hand-drawn style world map full of areas that only appear on it when you walk off the edge of a zone in a funny direction, this results in a remarkable feeling of existing in a real world that's bigger than your own tale. Baldur's Gate (plus its expansion, Tales of the Sword Coast) kept me engrossed for a whole month, playing solidly, and even then I hadn't found or seen everything. It has its problems of course: being based on the D&D 2E ruleset, it has ridiculous mechanics like resting (which means you don't want to use your best magic, for fear of it being unavailable later), and I wouldn't recommend playing a pure fighter or other non-magical character: all you can do with those characters is point and click during combat, so you'll feel disconnected from your own character as a result of spending most of your time with NPC spellcasters. Save up your consumables for the end: the final encounter is a large difficulty spike.… Full Review »
  3. Synplasm
    10
    I must have had about 7 different computers since this game came out and this game has always been one of the first things that I've put on the hard drive of every single one of them. I 've also bought the whole series 3 times. Over 50,000 possible parties of 6, no two of which would play out the same. This says it all. An emphatic, nailed-on, incontrovertible, fantastic 10.… Full Review »
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