The Witcher - Reviews @ GamersHell & GamesRadar

Two more reviews have appeared for The Witcher, CDProjekt's cRPG based on the works of Polish author Andrej Sapkowski. Both are highly positive in tone.

From Gamer's Hell:(8.5/10)

Combat is deeply satisfying, even though the dodge manoeuvres which have been implemented into the combat aren’t awfully useful unless you’re really stuck in a rut. The swordplay is excellent, but lack of control on the players’ part can make it seem repetitive, but don’t get me wrong, it’s never dull to watch. It can, however, be hard to execute in the early stages of the game; before you quite understand it and before you start distributing talents. With a bit of practice though, it doesn’t have a massive learning curve...

Quickies – “The Good”

• A highly polished game at release.
• Combat is fun.
• Animations are well performed.
• World is interesting.
• Graphics are competent and efficiently coded.
• Game is resource efficient.
• Individual voice acting is superb.
• Isn’t too demanding on the system.
• Is a lot of fun!
• It’s hard to believe this game was licensed from a book!

“Quickies” – The bad
• Lots of people look the same.
• Not without its glitches.
• Combat can seem a little broken on the odd occasion.
• Combat style match-ups can seem very arbitrary at times – with opponents parrying you perfectly every time unless you use the style the game deems appropriate.
• Lots of people sound the same.
• Foreign roots show (e.g., coherency of certain plotlines).
• Difficulty isn’t awfully consistent, especially moving from Vizima to The Swamp for example.

GamesRadar, true to their usual style, posts a positive (9/10) but rather tongue in cheek take:

 Fantasy games come in many shapes and sizes, but most of them strictly follow the code of featuring the great, the good and the virtuous fending off the bad, the corrupted and the green-skinned. Sex is generally confined to a pretty elf wearing a chain mail bra, and political comment never strays much further than a Greenpeace quest in which raw magic has infected some wandering hedgehog creatures and not only rendered them mad, but also significantly upped their armour stats.

The Witcher, then, enters our midst as somewhat of a game of our times. The authorities in and around the plague-ridden city of Vizima perpetuate a culture of fear and suspicion - freedom fighters could just as easily be called terrorists and racial segregation is rife. Moral values aren't so much blurred as smudged about the place by a recently-licked thumb - even those who might openly oppose the oppressors are seeking some kind of capitol gain, the undead have a conscience, drug use is a major issue and individuals will use whatever means necessary to get their way - by betrayal, or by allowing you pump them for information.