The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

The Witcher 2 is nothing short of a masterpiece in gaming history, one that I will never forget. The story is amazing, only leaving you wanting more and more at every turn. The characters are so well done and developed, that I actually began to develop feelings for them. The combat system has drastically improved from the first Witcher, now it's action oriented, yet still very challenging. The choices you make will truly affect your game, and more often than not, you have to chose the lesser of two evils. The world and atmosphere of the Witcher 2 is a very dark and gritty place, there isn't always a happy ending. The lore, and even what it means to be a Witcher is presented extremely well in this game, making you feel an outsider to all races at times. Last but no least, the soundtrack is badass, and adds even more feeling to the game. I highly recommend this game everyone, you buy now yes?

This game really felt like a let down. While the game progresses in much the same manner as the first one it's story isn't anywhere near as interesting. Gameplay is not as diverse, combat is different, but not really improved. The plot is simple, often confusing, and overall uninteresting. The game has some truly fun moments, but not enough to make you forget about its shortcomings. A beautiful game in its visuals with many interesting characters but weak overall writing fails to really make anything truly notable. The mini-games are a joke. I really don't see any reason for fist fights and arm wrestling to be in here, they are a waste of time as they are basic and uninspired mechanics. Dice is ok but still not interesting enough to really make it worth while. The potion system is a let down because you can't use a potion while in combat, you have to meditate before you can use one and they don't last very long. This makes them essentially worthless because it's difficult to set it up where of will be able to activate a potion before a combat. This game is fun and worth playing, but overall disappointing as it feels like a step backward for the series with it's weak story, some weak game mechanics, and some odd design choices.

(My review is for the newly released xbox 360 version. Please excuse any differences I reference here. The content in the game is the identical and my overall view of the game is the same.) I am one of the lucky ones. Even though I had pre-ordered and paid off the Dark Edition, I applied and was chosen as a reviewer. I received my review copy from CD Projekt Red on Mon. the 16th. I ripped open the packaging with all the excitement of a kid on Christmas day. I received the full game, a thank you letter and access to a special ftp site to use in my review. I even took the time to install the game to my hard drive. So by the time I was ready to play, my excitement level was through the roof. Of course I was promptly disappointed. After an amazing new intro scene I was thrust into a tutorial mission. This mission would have been fun if not for the constant, irritating and poorly timed tutorial pop ups. Often times describing the play and controls in a less than optimal fashion. This ended in an ever more typical arena fight that decided the recommended difficulty for the game. Of course I did poorly and it was recommended that I play on easy. Of course I chose to play on normal and went forth to delve into the actual story of the game. Within five minutes I had a better grasp on the controls than the tutorial gave me. Within another 5 minutes I was hooked. While the movement and camera work is a little on the sloppy side, the game as a whole is incredible. The graphics are better than most and honestly at times downright beautiful. The story is deep and immersive. Though at times you might feel a little lost if you didn't play the first game. Especially when you run into characters from the first game who reference things from it. It also doesn't do a great job explaining your memory loss issues that persist from the beginning of the first game. All of these things are minor gripes. There are control issues and glitches as with many other modern games, but nothing game breaking. Nothing even close to the issues from Skyrim. Every issue I have with the game can easily be patched out. Can we get an adjustable camera speed please? Even as it is I love this game. As I'm writing this I can't stop thinking about when I can get back into it. I want to learn more about the characters and story. I want to flesh out the world. I want to milk all the juicy goodness from this game. MMMmmm delicious. One of the more odd things I've found is that I can't stop walking. For those of you that may not understand. In games like this you walk faster and then begin to run the more you tilt the analogue stick. I just can't get myself to run. As I walk I feel like a traveler in this world. I want to walk at a normal human pace for multiple reasons. I want to enjoy the beauty of the scenery. I want to hunt for herbs and ingredients. I don't want to run into a group of bandits I didn't see coming. I'd rather get the jump on them. The Witcher 2 just makes me feel like I'm Geralt of Rivia and I love it. All the decisions I make feel real with legitimate repercussions. Not just pointless filler that pretends to have an affect. I am shaping my world and my story as I play. All of these things add up to one wonderful game. Oh and to prove my point, I went in this morning and picked up my pre-ordered Dark Edition. If you have any interest in this game and have managed to get to this point in my wall of text, just get it. You won't regret it. Thanks for reading.

As one of the (hot female) characters in Witcher 2 says, sometimes we need the bare truth to penetrate our self-deception. I have some bare truth for the creators of this game. Problems are rife. Here are some examples: - You're fighting a room full of bad guys.. suddenly you enter into a killing blow animation. All the other bad guys vanish, the camera angle changes to cinematic, and neither you or your target are standing where you were standing in battle. What? - Changing running direction results in a 1 second delay while the character turns around. This makes moving about very unintuitive and laggy.. perfect for an interactive story but not for a combat game. - After fighting side-by-side with the King's men, you then go on a killing spree of those same men while the story still has them as your allies. What? - Set pieces are abysmal. In one scene, you run from a large and intimidating foe, and the entire mechanics are: run in one direction, occasionally press 1 button. The visuals are impressive but who cares? Space invaders requires you to move in 2 directions and press one button - that's 50% more engaging. To think that a team of people spend weeks on scenes like this is really disappointing. It really proves the critics have lost all credibility.. old news, I know. "Redifines expectations of the genre"? Please!! It's not all bad though.. the good: - Beautiful looking scenery and landscapes. Really rich detail in your surroundings - Satisfying spell and combat animations - Great dialogue for a game - Rich, deep characters. The king is like no other fictional king I've ever seen, and in subtle ways. - High level of visual and audio polish - When the story isn't completing shooting itself in the foot, it's actually great Should we be judging a game against it's peers and past games? Or should we also judge them against future potential? I would be really really disappointed if this is the best that CD Projekt can do, or the game industry in general. This game rocks in many ways, but some fundamentals are shaky. This game is Anna Kournikova, not Venus Williams. To score a 10, we want the best of the two.....

This is the worst Witcher, has the worst playability, the worst RPG mechanics and maybe the worst story (I'm still wondering if The Witcher 3 story is worse), but even with all that, is a good game that fits perfectly in the triology and a huge technical jump from The Witcher 1 This is the darkest and more political Witcher, where Geralt will get involved in many troubles that he never wanted to be part of. You may get frustrated by the poor game balance, but there are some mods for that.