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Baldur's Gate

EMAIL PRINT pc

9.2 User Score:

Universal acclaim

Based on 16 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 32 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Interplay

Developer: Bioware

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 6

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 30, 1998

Summary

Baldur's Gate takes you back to the Forgotten Realms on a visually dazzling role-playing adventure, one that brings to life the grand tradition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons through cutting edge art and technology. Immerse yourself in this quintessential medieval fantasy world, where entire nations hang in the balance of your actions, dark prophecies test your resolve, and heroic dreams can be fulfilled at last. [Interplay]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Adrenaline Vault

Baldur's Gate is not a computer role-playing game...it is THE computer role-playing game.

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100

Quandary

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.

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100

Game Revolution

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.

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100

Computer Games Magazine

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.

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PC Gamer

This is the best roleplaying game you can buy. Period. [Apr. 1999, p.94]

IGN

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.

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Game Over Online

With true AD&D rules, emmersive gameplay, incredible depth of the story and graphics to beat, this is definitely one RPG worth playing.

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GameSpot

With its thoroughly addictive gameplay and meticulous attention to detail, largely manages to meet, and even surpass, gamers' high expectations for this ambitious game.

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TotalGames.net

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!

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PC Gameworld

While it doesn't exactly bring anything new to the genre it is a genuinely good CRPG which brings the Forgotten Realms to life.

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Electric Playground

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.

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Yahoo! Games

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.

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GamePro

It’s a huge, sprawling, wonderfully involved game that makes you feel as though you’ve read a fantasy trilogy by game’s end.

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All Game Guide

Interacting with characters is where your charisma and party's reputation really pays off.

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Happy Puppy

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.

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FiringSquad

Despite our nitpicky issues with "graphical cleanliness" and clunky multiplayer, Baldur's Gate simply shines.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mathew M. gave it a2:
Quite possibly on the list of the worst five role playing games I have ever played. Don't think that the fact that Black Isle, developers of Fallout and Fallout 2, is on the box means that it is up to that standard. Boring, cheesy storyline that is not even half up to par with any average Dungeons & Dragons group at your local card shop, slow, redundant gameplay, poor engine, and awful graphics combine to make one of the RPG genre's greatest settings into a disaster.

Patrick G gave it a10:
10 years later after it's release Baldur's Gate is still a fun and amazing RPG experience to play. When Bioware created this game, the created a enjoyable story with good graphic and sound effects and music. There is a good balance with what technology can do and how to make the game fun. The engine support tons of options to the player to interact with the world: talking to NPC, getting sidequest, customize equipment of the party and their progression with proficiency and spells to learn, finding and disarming traps, replenish missiles stock, use potion or not, weapon is destroyed... need to replace it, found a new magic item... need to identify them... the interaction and options goes on and on. The battles are the core of the experience and this is where I think BG shines the most. The player can choose different tactics to approach a situation: cast defensive spells, go spy, backstab, run and hide, cast healing spells, protect some member, boost a fighter, charm an enemy and make him attack its friends, find a inn to sleep... The game offer lot of challenges and has the complexity to keep the player always looking for his next move which create a sense of need and can be define with great addictiveness. The great story line and it's sidequest keeps the player involve in the progression of this marvelous game. I'm rediscover this classic with an enhanced and updated version thanks to Baldur's Gate TuTu. Worth to play and replay if you like epic game D&D game with an easy interface to control your party - which I found was missing in all the neverwinter nights games after.

Nova gave it a10:
Amazing game- great graphics for the time, wondrful story and character development. Download Baldur's Gate TuTu and you can play BG using the BG2 game engine - more diverse weapon proficiencies etc. Can revitalize this game for people who have played it through 300+ times like me.

Bakleth gave it a10:
I still go back to this game even now(2008). It's the only one that's always got a place on my hard drive. Plot driven, but not linear. Want to wander for a few hours looking for random encounters?Want to pile headlong into the best story in RPGs? Yes, I know it's over 10 years old and the graphics won't stand up against anything modern, but the gameplay simply has not been beaten yet.

SHODAN gave it a9:
Complex, believable plot. Detailed, subtle world inhabited by meaningful characters with personality and back story. Beautiful, appropriate and effective score and art-direction.

Medillen A. gave it a10:
one of the best RP game ever. and for the record, the n00b who ended dead with kobolds must have been really a very awful player. I really don't see how that is actually possible.

Meta Physical gave it a10:
A truly *epic* RPG game that has revolutionized what the gaming industry now sets as a standard for its games - this game can totally engross the player in its amazing, seemingly limitless world, fully catered with an excellent plot, amazing playability, and everything one could probably ever want in an RPG.

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What The Critics Said

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