Avadon 2 - Review @ GameBanshee

GameBanshee's Eric Schwarz's takes a look at Avadon 2: The Corruption in this new four page review. Here is the conclusion for the those to lazy to read the link.

Overall, Avadon 2 is very much more of the same for Avadon. What Avadon did well, in its interesting political situations that tread morally ambiguous ground, is still alive and well in Avadon 2, perhaps even better. There are also some enjoyable side-quests and a few companions I liked, even though a few too many characters were too bland and stock for my tastes. The Tinkermage character class is also something different and is more interesting to play than most of the other choices, too. Even though the overarching story itself is not very interesting, it's still a step up from the first game's.

Yet, Avadon 2 also maintains all the same issues the first game had in spades. There is too much of a focus on combat, and the combat that does make up most of the gameplay simply isn't very good most of the time. The quest design is often absurd and illogical in the way it cuts off opportunities from you arbitrarily. There's still an over-abundance of purely cosmetic choices, where a line of dialogue will change but the end result will be identical. And perhaps worst, it's simply too big and bloated for its own good, and doesn't have enough for the player to really do - that Diablo-level of depth to the character system really does lead to a mechanically shallow game on the whole.

Avadon found its niche of fans, of course, and Avadon 2 will still please those players who want more of the same, but as a sequel, and Spiderweb's umpteenth game overall, I feel these issues shouldn't be overlooked. At $10 on Steam and GOG, and $20 at Spiderweb's official site, Avadon 2: The Corruption still follows the Spiderweb mantra of providing a lot of game for your dollar, and I still do appreciate Jeff Vogel's incredible effort in building such huge RPGs with such a small team. But, take away the sheer size and ambition of the "one-man RPG studio", and the game both comes up lacking next to Spiderweb's excellent Geneforge and Avernum games, and unambitious when taken as a sequel to the first Avadon.