When I went to play Defcon, I was hopping that it would be about carefully preselecting your targets for your warheads, your priories for your subs and and your bombers, so that when 0 finally hits, you can only watch and hope for the best laid plans to succeed. Nope. Instead, you get a micro heavy RTS, with every single click you make having drastic consequences. If that is for you, more power to you, fast paced micromanagement is not my cup of tea.
I was on the fence about purchasing this game, but was ultimately glad that I did. It's placement in the series allowed them to play around with the itemization, and stray from pure AD&D 2nd ed. just a little bit, ultimately for the better. There is some very tight encounter design that makes the combat more interesting, and the power level this expansion takes place in is that nice sweet spot where you have a lot of options, but aren't going to completely blow the enemy away every time without careful planing. Also of note for those who like to play Kensai dual class into mage, there is just enough XP to regain your fighter classes if you switch at Fighter 9, allowing you use all those scrolls you found in Bauldur's Gate 1. Huge plus for me. In terms of story, the expansion doesn't disappoint. I never felt like it was trying to shove any agenda down my throat, like some of the reviews have stated. There is a decent gradient of morality, and you have good opportunities to play to your alignment. You have a fair degree of latitude in how you approach the solutions. The story does a great job of making you feel like a hero, and makes for a satisfying conclusion. There were a few bugs at launch, but they seem to have been mostly fixed now. None of them stopped me from completing the game, but they did force specific solutions that I may not have perfered to take. All in all, it was a decent expansion to a well loved classic. Disclaimer: I did not complete Baldur's Gate 1 until the Enhanced Edition came out, and currently in the process of playing through Baldur's Gate 2.
