Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is one of the best games in years, improves on it's predecessor, and you should buy it.
The gameplay in Shadows of Amn is almost exactly like Baldur's Gate with a few new twists. You are still able to access the inventory easily, and can still pause the game at any time which remains essential to beat the game. This game is also not as challenging as the original Baldur's Gate which was amazingly difficult at some points.
The graphics are mostly the same as the one used in Baldur's Gate which used the Infinity Engine. While the graphics still look good they are not as superb as they were in 1998 which was two years ago. Many games have shown better graphics in their games to date, and why Black Isle Studios didn't upgrade their graphics is puzzling.
The sound in the game is even better than the original Baldur's Gate which had great music and voice acting. There is a great variety of background music used. The voice acting is even better with more characters in the game actually speaking their dialogue instead of you having to read it.
The value of the game is astounding. The game is about as long as Baldur's Gate to finish but there is a lot of replay value to be had as some quests require that your main character be a specific class. There is just as much people to talk to in Shadows of Amn as in the original with more NPCs that can actually join your party. The story of Shadows of Amn is the best part of the game by far, the epic feel of the game truly is amazing with many twists and turns in the story.
Shadows of Amn remains to be a better version of the 1998 Baldur's Gate with a great new plot that will keep you enthralled for many hours of gameplay to just complete the main objective, and then more to finish all of the side quests. This truly is the best RPG game to come out in recent years.