After the combat system and talent trees in the first game were so fun and interesting, trying to play Witcher 2 is just painful. I wish I could give it zero stars. CDPR took a quirky, unique game and turned it into an Assassin's Creed clone (and not even a very good one). Pretty much everything the first game gets right, the sequel fumbles horribly. First: combat is just boring. It's the same old button-mash from every Lego game you've ever played, and lacks any interesting mechanics aside from Signs (which are never explained). Riposte simply doesn't work. Even in the tutorial, the icon rarely shows up. In the actual game, when a good riposte would be very useful: forget about it. I never once saw the icon. Gone are the three fighting styles (fast, strong, and multiple opponents), replaced with the standard two-button option of "fast strike" and "strong strike." Gone are the helpful tooltips telling you "click NOW to parry," "click NOW to crit," or "click NOW to combo," replaced with a static "block" button, as in Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. Next: the controls. They're just horrendous. Since the game is a poorly-done console port, trying to line-up Geralt to search a small item on the ground (a purse, for example) is simply not worth the effort. Managing inventory is likewise a nightmare. Finally: difficulty. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, but Witcher 2 has me pulling my hair out. With no tutorial, you're thrust into the deep end of the pool, expected to figure out how to manage Signs, potions, and oils with almost no prompts at all (you're literally told a total of one time "don't forget to use signs"). I've just spent two and a half hours on normal difficulty, and I've had to repeat every section at least six or seven times. Currently, I keep dying at the dragon because there's no way to heal outside of meditation, which I can't do in the middle of a siege. After an intriquing Diablo clone, a poorly-ported AC clone is a real disappointment.
In the beginning, at least. I'm about three hours in and it's been almost all dialogue with about three fights and some shopping. The original Shadowrun Returns was amazing. It was a good mix of action and talking built on a solid engine that really didn't show us what it was capable of until Dragonfall. The Dragonfall campaign was a significant improvement over Dead Man's Switch (the original SR campaign), largely due to the fact that it made you (made me, anyway) care about many of the NPCs and gave you a full crew (and then some) to run with and fall in love with. Hong Kong is (in my opinion) a middle ground in just about every respect. I've yet to fall in love with the full cast but they seem very well fleshed-out. The game (the beginning of it at least) is really a lot to read through and I'm dreading doing it a second time. I'm really hoping it turns into more of what I loved about Dragonfall and (to a lesser extent) Dead Man's Switch. I suspect that it will and I hope I remember to update this review when it does.
My best friend always said this game reminded him of Black & White so that's what I was expecting. Maybe that's coloring my opinion and I hate when that happens. Having played into it about a half-hour, I see what he meant; the art style is very reminiscent of B&W (while not seeming like a rip-off or a parody). Maybe I just haven't played enough into it but I really don't see the appeal. I remember a couple of my friends going nuts over this game back in the day but this is the first I've tried it. I see the charm in the art style/visual design and the story is nice but I just don't see the allure of the gameplay. I'd be very interested in an updated version with a revamped control scheme. The game's not "bad" and if I'd played it back then I'd be playing the shit out of it now and loving every minute of it. But as something new, it's not grabbing me faster than any of the other Great Old Games I've played recently.
