Also, the party bar is where you activate the camp function. When you regroup, they will then be standing right where you want them to be. The way you do this is by placing each character where you want them to be when in formation, then click the 'formation' button. On the party bar, you are also able to create your own custom formations. It's a small thing, but it is nice to see. When you click on many barrels and containers in the game you'd have the option to open, search, and even smash them. A Half-Orc Monk, who isn't exactly on the bright side, wouldn't carefully open a container to find what is inside, he'd smash it to bits. Now, some characters would look in it and carefully extract the contents, but not all characters are that sophisticated. One of the nice little additions to the gameplay with this type of interface is the ability to interact with objects. Thankfully, almost every action can also be carried out by a series of hotkey commands, which can shorten down the right clicking a bit.

Right clicking on your characters, enemies, and objects activates everything else. At the top left corner of the screen is an initiative bar that shows the order of combat, while at the bottom of the screen you have a bar where you can access the map and options and another bar for your party. For the most part, you have a completely full and unobstructed view of the screen. Simply right click on a character and you get the full range of options from viewing their character sheet to casting spells and using items in your inventory. Next up, the simplified interface is in place, and while it can take a little getting used to after the last couple years of the Infinity Engine's split view, it is actually very functional. A handy slider in the options screen that can be adjusted at any time does all this, and it's a very welcome addition to the next generation of D&D PC games.

In Pool of Radiance, you are able to set the gameplay to be 100% turn-based, all the way up to the real time chaos that Badlur's Gate fans may be more accustomed to. While in Baldur's Gate you could pause the action to think out your tactics, everyone still attacked like a horde of Zerglings in Starcraft. One of the things that the recent D&D games have lacked is true turn-based gameplay. I recently had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with a near-final of the game, and let's just say that things are turning out quite nicely. As you can see in the multiple preview updates below, we've been keeping an eye on the new Pool of Radiance for quite a while now, but there are still more details to clue you in on before the review.

Pools of radiance