NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - Review @ Worthplaying

Worthplaying has posted their review of Obsidian's NWN2 expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, with a score of 8.1/10, though the reviewer seems to have had some significant frustrations with it:

It wasn't far from the end of the first chapter that I became completely overwhelmed: Enemies had gained the ability to slay my level 19 Barbarian/Weapons Master in one hit, and dumping every spell Safiya had in her inventory didn't seem to be helping matters any. Even with other characters doing support duty during the epic fight at the end of Act I, things often came to a bloody and brutal end. I ascribe a lot of this to my inexperience with high-level characters and monsters. Based on this, I really have to suggest that players interested in Mask finish NWN2 first, simply so they have a smooth grasp on the intricacies of the game...

...The manual takes great pains to point out the interface changes, optimizations and overall improvements to the engine, but to be very honest, I didn't see much of it, aside from a few new color and lighting effects. Mask still has one of the most severe problems I noted with the original package: In many ways, the graphics are just a notch above average, but even with a relatively powerful machine (more substantial than when I reviewed NWN2 last year), frame rates are rather low, the characters look strictly okay, and there is a lot of stuttering and slowdown when things get hectic. Again, I have to question an engine that has this many issues running adequately on a dual-core system with a strong video card...

The module itself, as with the original campaign, helps to move focus past the technical foibles and back to the game itself. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer is every bit as tightly written as the original, though it moves much faster and is a fair sight shorter. I do, however, like the characters, and it's pretty awesome that your lead character can, in theory, be something completely horrific that you can embrace, if you feel the need. I've always been fond of wide-open forks in the plot, where a decision really does seem to have some impact on how the story unfolds. Mask of the Betrayer, as an extension of the original Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign, is a strong RPG and something any D&D fan should check out.