The in-game view is overhead third person, much like Baldur's Gate, though the characters are much larger and the area on screen at any one time is small. The graphics are far more crisp and sharp than Baldur's Gate, and for a third person perspective, the player is immersed in this virtual world to an impressive degree. This game really is a hoot to play! There are in-game quests, of course, but these quests are all related to the overall plot. In general, you don't have to go out of your way to fulfill the quests, as they are all directed toward the dungeons that you have to traverse anyway. May as well help out the local citizenry in the process!

     You can custom design your party, which is always fun, and watching them grow in power as the game progresses is satisfying indeed. One thing to note (and whether this is good or bad is up to the individual, but I found it to be good): your characters start at level 1, so there are very few spells and cool abilities to be had at the beginning. This is why leveling is so satisfying. To see your characters be able to cast new spells, and with those spells, grow that much more able, really is a treat. If a character starts at level 10, then each new level doesn't really empower them all that much more. At level 1 though, each new level is a new world of ability and capability to explore, and for me, this only added to the experience.

     The battles are designed to be completely turn based. Unlike Baldur's Gate, which is designed to be real time (though they threw in a turn based option by allowing the player to pause the game and assign actions). This turn based game play, to me, is a plus and a minus. It's a plus because it allows the player to have total control as well as seeing the results of their actions without everything on the screen happening at once. This allows for far more strategic planning, and a far more satisfying fight. On the negative side, it can get boring to the point of frustration when there are a lot of NPC monsters to fight. You watch while each one moves to where the fight is and takes their action individually. It gets frustrating when you have been fighting a pitched battle for ten minutes, and then end up getting wiped out, and you have to start that battle over again from scratch. You learn VERY quickly here to save the game and save often.

     Spell casting in the game is a lot of fun. There are a wide variety of spells (at higher levels) and each has their own graphic. As well, the spell casting interface is menu driven. Click the icon and a menu appears. Click on the spell level choice and the available spells appear on a menu, then simply choose the spell you want to cast. This is a nice feature and allows the player to play the game without a legend to understand what each spell icon means. One problem I had with the game though, was a lack of variation in the scenery. The first dungeon you venture into is HUGE! The entire first floor is stone worked, and I admit that the first time I saw it I was impressed. However, after clearing the level and finding the exit to the next level, I was ready for a change of pace. Instead, I got another huge level and exactly the same kind of landscape. This made the game visually disappointing, and took away from the over-all effect.

     The initial release of the game carried with it a few bugs that proved to be annoying. For instance, I ran into a bug that would not allow me to reload a previously saved game. This would not have been so bad if it had happened early on in the game, but I was easily 10 hours or so into it, and nothing is more frustrating than having to go through the same areas you already went through, just to catch yourself up to where you were before the bug hit. Now several patches have been released for the game. So while it is frustrating that the bugs were there in the first place (especially so when that bug causes you to lose better than 10 hours of game time), at least the game manufacturers are releasing patches to help things along. Pool of Radiance is a fun game, I have to admit that much. I enjoyed it a lot, but I often found myself bored and frustrated with it, and this really isn't what I pay my gaming dollars out to accomplish. Still, if you are a hard core Dungeons & Dragons fan, give this one a go. It's not Baldur's Gate II, but it is fun in its own right.