Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (pc: 2007): Reviews

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Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer


8.8

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 36 votes
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Official Website

In Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, players are transported back to the Forgotten Realms shortly after the events detailed in the original Neverwinter Nights 2. Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, the player awakens alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. Surrounded by a horde of evil spirits, the player embarks on an epic adventure that reveals his true destiny. Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer presents players with an exciting new campaign; epic levels; dozens of new feats and spells; new races, base classes and prestige classes; new companions; new weapons, armor and crafting options; hordes of new monsters; and enhanced modding tools. [Atari]

PUBLISHER:	Atari
DEVELOPER:	Obsidian
GENRE(S):	Role-Playing Game
PLAYERS:	4
ESRB RATING:	T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE:	October 9, 2007

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...

Game Informer

Mask of the Betrayer delivers on all fronts: tactical battles, exceptional story, and great characters. It’s truly remarkable how far NWN 2 has come. It’s not perfect, but as far as I’m concerned the smooth execution and excellent new content in this expansion make this the best electronic D&D experience since "Baldur’s Gate II."

AceGamez

You know in the pit of your soul that this is a power the likes of which you have never felt before. In time, you will find out what you have become - and, more importantly, what you will become.

Computer Games Online RO

Regardless of these problems however, Mask of the Betrayer is a triumph which should be saluted by all RPG fans, since it proves once and for all that “old school” RPG principles – wonderful story, interesting characters, great dialogues – which seem to have been forgotten by newer “RPGs”, are still as valid as ever.

ActionTrip

The addition of dark powers broadens the depth of the game and blends perfectly with the storyline.

Jolt Online Gaming UK

By tackling the epic levels of Dungeons & Dragons, Mask of the Betrayer has a lot to offer both as an adventure and as an upgrade to the existing game.

Pelit (Finland)

Shares most of the same flaws and virtues than its predecessor. The story starts off a bit too slow and the constant need for spirit energy can be a pain at times, but the pace picks up nicely towards the end. There's tons of stuff to do and in that regard Mask feels more like a completely new sequel than just a normal expansion pack. [Nov 2007]

IGN

It's a more stable experience, seems to run slightly better, and more importantly delivers a narrative that, for the most part, proceeds along without getting tangled by the catches of cliche.

PTGamers

MotB is an obligatory expansion pack for fans of Neverwinter Nights 2, a solid and interesting follow-up.

PC Gamer UK

If only it could have retained its sense of humour, this would be really good stuff. [Dec 2007, p.90]

PC Gamer

Mask is much more polished than NWN2's initial release, and while there are still a few loading and scripting bugs, they shouldn't deter you from enjoying this classic D&D adventure. [Holiday 2007, p.78]

Digital Entertainment News

There's absolutely no reason why anyone who owns Neverwinter Nights 2 wouldn't want this expansion, Mask of the Betrayer.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

An eerie, enthralling role-playing game that never settles for a cliché.

GameZone

This is a truly solid and enjoyable expansion. It can be very hard on the player, but part of the magic of the NWN series is that it requires you to think about what you are doing.

PC Zone UK

All in all, this is a rather well-thought out expansion; Obsidians's release of a broken game is the only betrayal. [Christmas 2007, p.93]

Worth Playing

A strong RPG and something any D&D fan should check out.

NZGamer

Unfortunately, the camera problems from NWN 2 are still here.

Gaming Nexus

No masquerade this; the first expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2 inherits the family jewels, lines up a commendable dramatis personae, and simply continues to ladle up what D&D fans grab their bowls and spoons for -- although there’s no room at the table for newcomers.

PALGN

Not since Planescape Torment has the AD&D rule set shone so brightly. It's just a shame that all the fantastic elements of Mask of the Betrayer had to be contained within the same awkward engine that Neverwinter Nights was.

Game Chronicles

The game plays well but you should have at least a decent computer to play the game on medium settings.

1UP

The new Mask of the Betrayer expansion is a stronger, more complex, and ultimately more satisfying game.

GameSpot

Mask of the Betrayer offers up a deeper, darker, and ultimately more satisfying role-playing experience than Neverwinter Nights 2.

YouGamers

Mask of the Betrayer is a great epic level fantasy role playing campaign, based on aging and limited technology, with two glaring flaws: a dysfunctional multiplayer mode and a very high barrier of entry. That said, if you finished Neverwinter Nights 2, this expansion is definitely worth getting.

GameTap

Even with significant flaws, it's still easily the best D&D game I've played since the power-duo of Baldur's Gate II and Planescape: Torment.

GameSpy

The new modding tools are an excellent addition to any homebrew RPG designer's bag of tricks and the single-player campaign is worth playing simply for the terrific story.

EuroGamer

It really isn't for anyone other than the devoted western-RPG head. Which is fine; the devoted western-RPG head has had a particularly weak year, and will lap this up. As they should. But if you're not in their ranks there's little here for you.

The average user rating for this game is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 36 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Elias O. gave it a6:
A game deserving of a 8, too bad that it's only a expansion of a mediocre game.

Ed S. gave it a5:
This is a difficult, burdensome NWN module, due to the gameplay-stilting "spirit eater" aspect. Thankfully I found the "cheat" to turn this feature off.

Scott gave it an8:
I think its a great edition to nwn2 and smooths out some things. I still hate the camera and the lack of it really following you character correctly. I have played D&D online and the camera is perfect for me there, i wish the camera was better. And the new way cameras work to me made it all worse. But if you can get past that its awesome. The new races and classes make it that more enjoyable that i will be playing through the main story line again with the new options!

Jiz gave it a10:
A very creative game.

J.J. gave it a7:
I have to admit: I've played about halfway through. I cannot agree with what othes have said concerning the performance issues which plagued NWN2. (Or the polish, but I'll talk about that later.) Truth be told, there hasn't been much of a performance upgrade from when it was first released. The engine is still god-awful. 8800GTX and Core2 @ 3.2 and 4 gigs of RAM, with all shadows disabled and 2x aa 8 af, the game clearly dips into the 20fps range at times when outdoors. And the outdoor areas in MOTB are smaller and less populated with stuff than they were in NWN2, so much so that the game feels like a beta or a user-made mod. Still, the game still simply doesn't look good enough to warrant the resources it seems to demand. However, Bioware wisely decided to start MOTB in an indoor area, which is much easier on the hardware than the large, highly populated town that the PC found herself in in the first game. NPC AI is horrible. Your companions bug out on one another when running behing you, cast ridiculous spells during combat, etc. My party NPCs have continued to fight each other to the death after winning a battle, more than a few times. Others have mentioned how difficult the game is, compared to the original. And it is. If you start fresh with the mediocre items the game provides you with and, most importantly, you choose not to micromanage companion NPC attack behavior, you will be dying a lot. I played through the first chapter as a paladin, and it was such a struggle that I had to roll a pure fighter, just to make sure I had the mojo to get through the scripted fight sequences. The story (so far) is typical NWN-- lots of mysterious warring factions with motives opaque, each led by a boss who is in thrall to another boss who is in thrall to another. As usual, it's easy to lose track of who's who. But however it pans out, one or more of them is responsible for removing the silver shard from your chest and/or cursing you with the 'Spirit Hunger' mechanic new to MOTB. (A nuisance mechanic more irritating because I can't spend forever re-arranging my inventory like I used to. Sitting in town and setting up your gear and swapping junk between party members just might get you killed, in the long run.) Instead of typical fantasy-world RPG companions, it seems as if Bioware wanted to do some really weird stuff this time around; Half-Celestials with antlers, A Narcissistic Sex-Starved Half-Witch-Goth-Boy, a undead-unliving curly-plumed Bear God who's colored like a Rocket Pop-- and others--will fill your party. Your home base at the beginning of the game is a theatre called The Veil. The Veil's nemesis is The Sloop. There's some dialog about how the Sloop puts on light fare to appeal to the masses, while the Veil's productions are deeper and more meaningful. It is clearly the game commenting on itself. Whether or not MOTB is deeper or more meaningful is debatable, but the notion that it's presumed complexity is the the cause for the Veil's financial struggles, as well as the notion that their plays are simply too much caviar for the general is probably correct. Here's the short version: It's not as good as NWN, the expansions, and NW2. It still performs horribly. It is darker. It feels much more narrow and slapdash than NWN2, which for all its problems had a wide vision and clean, professional layout. The only thing keeping me playing it is my interest in what happened to me and my companions from the first game, and the irritating level of diffuculty.

Shama L. gave it a10:
Easily the best RPG since BG2. It's so head and shoulders above NWN2 it's ridiculous.

Matthew W. gave it a9:
This is how NWN2 should have ran and looked like when it was released. They have polished the game to a beautiful level and the new graphics are beautiful. The extremely upgraded influence system is fantastic, it actually gives you stat and feat bonuses from your companions, It also has a huge influence on the game as well. The only thing I wish they would have gotten better is the camera, it's still clunky and broken, not as bad as when the first game came out but it's still pretty aweful. But if you can get past that there is a wonderful game here. It turely does feel epic. When you consider lvl 20 in d&d is nearly god -like then you can see how powerful these 20-30 levels are, but trust me, the game is challenging and you'll need the extra power, every battle is a hail of magic and steel it's almost surreal the amount of power your characters release, and the new graphics engine was specifically designed to improve the look and effects of magic spells. The story is fabulous as well. I recommend this to d&d fans or anyone who just loves RG's.