The Witcher

Bewitching

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Witches, dragons, elves, orcs, necromancers, hobbits, magic potions, swords, cross bows, cauldrons, castles, dark woods, misty hills, and dwarf mines - it just doesn't do much for me. I had my fill when I skipped through Lord of the Rings. Spending a year (which equates to 'skipped') reading a book with a million pages about little folk destroying a ring is enough. We don't need more games, movies, and books. Move on, do something else - fantasy ain't no longer where it's at.

You might think, once you've taken into account that opening volley, that I'm not the best person to review The Witcher. I'm probably not. I wouldn't go near this game if I had to buy it. But every now and then reviewing games for the good of gaming does offer a few unexpected pearls in return (besides the free game and kudos, but forget that, we do this for the love of the culture - sort of). While certainly without being forced to play The Witcher I would never have bothered; what an experience I'd have missed out on. Indeed this review should have been in ages ago, but I couldn't bring myself to put a finger to key - there was so much to do and experience, I didn't want to utter a word with so much left to uncover and so I didn't, I waited, experienced and played.

'Played' is a slightly misplaced word, 'listened' would be more in-keeping with the nature of The Witcher. I'm pretty sure that CD Projekt would much rather be making films than games as the sheer volume of dialect and 'storytelling' sees you as much a viewer as player. While, to many, this will be off putting, the quality of the narrative is such that The Witcher is stronger for it.

While labelled as an RPG, The Witcher bears only a fleeting resemblance to what fans of the genre might expect. You play Geralt, a silver-haired growly-voiced nutcase, whose girly long hair and effeminate walk detract from his skills as a warrior. It's non-negotionable, Geralt is the only playable character in the game and is uncustomisable. Put bluntly, if you're not into a hero that looks decidedly unheroic, you're out of luck. Geralt's weapons, namely a sword and a bit of alchemy, are pretty much a mainstay throughout the lengthy game experience. Your sword can be modified, the armour only slightly, leaving custom-heavy enthusiasts perplexed. Geralt isn't that likable either. He often does the wrong thing and you're left to deal with the consequences of his actions, however it's refreshing to play a character so unsavoury.

Pleasingly, the game can be played for the top-down, no doubt homage to traditional role-playing games like Buldar's Gate and Diablo. It does lose some of the cinematic appeal that the over the shoulder viewpoint offers. It is, however, infinitely more playable as combat is clear and gameplay mouse driven using hotkeys for magic, attack, use, etc. Fighting from the third-person perspective is cumbersome at times as opponents, while still active in the battle, become untargetable. Assassin's Creed perfected this as once a fight broke out the camera panned back affording you a full view of the event - enabling you to act accordingly. Switching between the two views is possibly the best way to remedy such design flaws and it's testament to CD Projekt's ingenuity that it offers an alternative to what the industry typically expects from such a game.

Battles are placed somewhere between turn-based and button mashing combat. Clicking on your enemy makes Geralt swing his sword, you combo your attacks by timing the clicks of your mouse with the swing of the sword. In practise all you're really doing is clicking in time rather than indiscriminately. Fighting is given variety by the availability of three fighting stances depending on what you're confronted with. Unfortunately it's fairly blatant as to which stance suits each opponent, it would have been nice to discover through trial and error.

The Witcher is a bit of an oddball. Genres exist, over many years defined and redefined, but successful games rarely detract so heavily, while still claiming to be a part of one genre. The Witcher is an RPG is spirit rather than in practice. It'll suffer because of this. Those not usually drawn to role-playing games will ignore it out right and it will also infuriate hardened fans of the genre. Despite this, The Witcher is an excellent game that holds a narrative as well as any other - to enjoy it you'll be a gamer who relishes sitting and listening as much as actively being involved in what's taking place on screen. I'd insist that anyone, at the very least, give it a couple of hours to see if this game captures you as it did me. A drop in the ocean compared to the game's epic 60-hour narrative.

80%

By Gary Flavell