Review: Mask of the Betrayer (2007)

First, an apology to the legion of readers of my blog (all 2 of you) for not updating more often. I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had the energy to update the blog. I'm going to try and do better, so expect me to update for a few weeks and then come up with another good excuse as I don't update for a month.

Unlike most of my reviews, the subject of this one isn't a movie. It's the single-player campaign of a computer roleplaying game based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules and set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Er... most of that might not make sense to someone that's completely unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons, so let's just say that it's set in a fantasy world and leave it at that.

Mask of the Betrayer (MotB) is an expansion to Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2), and picks up shortly after NWN2 ends (or at least after the ending that's considered to be the 'official' one). At the end of NWN2, the hero and his party were trying to escape a collapsing underground complex after defeating the main villain of that particular story. When MotB begins, the hero awakens in a dark cavern of some sort, and he finds that the silver shard that had been embedded in his chest since he was an infant (the result of a battle that took place between two forces in his homeland) is gone and that a strange hunger has taken its place. As the story unfolds, the hero learns that he is very far away from home, and that he has been thrust into a situation that involves an ancient curse, a now-dead god, and an ancient betrayal that was all prompted by love. And I'll leave it at that, as far as the story goes, as I'm not going to give any spoilers.

So how is the game? In a word, excellent. It definitely has flaws, but these are mostly technical. You'll find yourself constantly re-adjusting the camera to see the screen as walls, objects, etc, obstruct your view of the action, for one. For another, the AI for your party is better than it was in NWN2, but it's still not as good as it should be. These are easy to overlook, though, in the face of what the game does right.

First of all, the characters that can join your party are very well done, and all are a bit unusual (in this way, MotB might remind those that have played Planescape: Torment of that game). They include a bear spirit, a handsome hagspawn that walks in dreams, a half-celestial that turned her back on her family, and a Red Wizard of Thay (you'd have to be familiar with Forgotten Realms to know what those are) that is definitely NOT represenatitve of that group. There's one more, I believe, but I didn't do what was necessary to aquire him. Each of these companions has their own personalities and rather deep backgrounds.

The game story is also very good. Unlike NWN2's official campaign, MotB isn't about saving the world, or even saving a small piece of it. It's about saving yourself, although it isn't really that simple (or necessarily that selfish). As I said before, I don't want to provide any real spoilers, so I won't elaborate on the story. Just trust me that it isn't the usual, generic "save the world" (or destroy it, if you're feeling evil) story.

So now the question remains... do I recommend this game? Well, if you're looking for an action game with tons of hack and slash, then no. This game has a great deal of dialogue, some of it is voiced, some of it isn't. You'll probably spend more time talking to other characters or trying to solve puzzles than you will fighting. However, if you want a game that has interesting characters and a great story, you'll probably like it.

One word of warning, however. There's one aspect of MotB that's apparently a "like it or hate it" feature. It's called the "spirit meter", and it plays a major role in the game. Without spoiling things, I'll just say that it has a significant impact on your character and how often you can rest, and gives a sense of urgency to things. Personally, I thought it was a great touch. However, from what I've seen online, quite a few people hate it, too.