Ведьмак 2: Убийцы королей

Just a spectacular game. I believe that ALL RPG players should posses this game. The storyline is immersive and compelling. The look and feel of the game had a tremendous amount of work put into it, and it shows. The combat makes you respect your opponents. If you don't you'll be reloading often, but if you put some thought into your attack plan, use the items and skills afforded you then satisfaction is glorious. The music had me humming even after I shut the game down. And the choices...ah those choices. Brilliant!!

TW2 has the potential to be a masterpiece with future patches. But as of 1.0, it's only a great game. The story is superb, the art is stunning and the combat (once you understand all the mechanics) is gritty, complex and satisfactory. The main problem is the difficulty curve: it's inverted !. In the beggining, the tutorials are almost innefective (PC folks tend to read the manual, but if this game gets ported to consoles, it should be redone) and you tend to miss important info. Once you get the hang of the combat in the lower levels, the feeling is awesome. You must prepare for battles, keep your distance, avoid getting surrounded, set some traps, craft some bombs, manage your vigor ... it's a pure adrenaline rush. Then ... you level up and the game gets A LOT easier. Combats turn into a button-mashing chore. I finished the game for the awesome story, but the difficulty curve in the game left me with a bitter aftertaste. A mod like Full Combat Rebalance, by the CDP devs or by the modding community should do the trick. Once the game gets patched, i'll make another review.

* TW2 is not really a RPG but more a game of skill (player ability is more important than character progression and equipment) * game has a frustrating inverted difficulty curve and no tutorial. Starts VERY hard and then becomes very easy due to over powered unlocked abilities. * gameplay obviously designed around a gamepad, for better or for worse. * turns Geralt back into the character from the books and takes TW1 along for the ride. :D May need to read books to fully appreciate. * everything is morally ambiguous. very few if any 'bad guys'. * beautiful art and great voice acting.

Never since the days of Baldur's Gate 1 and the original NerveWinter Nights have I been so impressed by an RPG. It blows Dragon Age out of the water, redefines the genre and impose itself as the new model to be followed.

I love CDP's approach to games. No dumbed down story, no DRM, no price gouging DLCs, and actually rewarding those who buy instead of punishing them. This really shows they're a bunch of gamers at heart. (Take note EA/Bioware!) I hope they keep this attitude as they get bigger and I'll continue to support them all the way!