Game Review: The Witcher 2, Assassins of Kings.

The fantasy genre is taken for granted in almost every medium these days, far too often we know the story long before it's even begun being told. It takes spice and a touch of something wild and different to really make a world stand out anymore. The World of The Witchers is not your average fantasy setting. It is a world of intrigue, sex, brutality, and a good dose of gritty humour. Later; The peasants would whisper that the Witcher arrived on the Xbox 360, and raised the bar of the fantasy action RPG by the length of his silver sword. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a journey you will be glad you embarked on. If you have the mettle for it, of course.

    From the moment we take on the role of Geralt of Rivia: a hardened warrior galvanized by mutations and training into an elite rank of monster hunter, the gritty realism of the world we have found ourselves in is thrust upon us. There is no time for introductions, locked in a cell for a political assassination he didn't commit, Geralt must break free and clear his name. Along the way encountering the darker side of his wild, monstrous world. Dwarves, Elves and Sorceresses all have their place in this world; but they are not the dainty silk draped Elves of the woods or gruff mining Dwarves we've come to expect. These Elves are a brutal separatist army bent on regaining their place in the world by guerrilla warfare. These Dwarves, a broken people troubled by war and oppression, longing for freedom in any place they can find it. Political and personal wars help make The Witcher the first truly mature experience you will likely encounter in a game. The dialogue is coarse and colourful, the problems are real, the villains are truly wicked, and when one of the Witcher's many lovely ladies undresses for sex, they aren't shy about showing their charms. At no point does the graphic nature of violence or sex feel explicit or unnecessary however, but fits in stride as part of the brutal world we find ourselves in. This is not a game for the faint of heart, and it's both refreshing and important to video games as a whole for the player to be treated like an adult for once.
   The first thing I noticed about the Witcher is the level of detail placed on characterization. Immediately anyone will notice the visuals of the game, some of the best seen on the system so far, from the gloriously detailed environments to the clawed, savage monsters, but the people within the world are where it shines brightest. These characters have personality, and it shows. Every different character is so distinct in both speech and physical quirks, it makes it easy to find a favourite amongst the varied cast. Within a minute of meeting the dashing Vernon Roche, we get the measure of a military commando who'll do whatever it takes to solve the mystery of regicide, with his commanding voice and his impatient hand gestures. We can guess the cocky personality of his lieutenant Ves from her swagger and cocked hips before we've even heard her utter a single word. Even minor characters found by the roadside have distinct physical aspects or voices that stand out, making so many little parts of this world memorable and full of life, coupled with a heavy dose of irreverent humour throughout. The voice acting is charming and for the most part excellent, you can't help but love Zoltan's gruff brogue. With this many characters to love and hate, Talking about your favorites begins to feel like discussing a dark, violent soap opera. If we like a character, we also might be able to steer to story towards interaction with them. The story is wonderfully mutable, a friend might request the assistance of Commander Roche in his journey, like an off the rails federal agent, while you might instead decide to ally with the cunning, ruthless Elf Iorveth and watch the goings on from the side of a dangerous underdog. Fans of complex RPGs will not be disappointed with our protagonist either. Geralt himself has choices to make along his path. There are no simple black or white choices in the Witcher. Morality is not an issue, no good/evil slider to guide your hand. Simply tough choices that fall into your hands, with long standing results that change the shape of the story to come. Not just the main story is open to a personal touch, of course, as along the way Geralt will encounter a multitude of side quests to indulge in. The game shines again in this aspect, going for a smaller variety of very charming, memorable side quests full of personality rather than a large number of repetitive fetch quests. Enter the town fight club for fun and profit, Ghost hunt along the rocky shore, Track down the gorgeous Succubus picking off men in the frontier town. (Or seduce her yourself?) Every quest adds to the atmosphere and makes Geralt a little more of a character that is very easy to love. He is very human in his faults, his desires, and makes for thrilling playing.

   Where the RPG blends with the action is often cause for concern, but the Witcher again pulls off a system that is complex but very easy to use. Geralt is a swordsman, using an interchangeable duo of swords to deal with different enemy types. The sturdy steel blade for the human enemies in his path, the shining silver sword for the many supernatural beasts you may encounter in the shadows. Geralt has a wealth of other abilities at his fingertips however, and soon you'll find yourself using them fast and effectively. Placing flaming traps in your opponents path, tossing poison bombs and knives into the fray, and making clever use of Geralt's five different magical abilities will all lead you to victory over your opponents. A different approach is possible to each battle, and it's immense fun to experiment to see what works best for your play style. For example, wading into combat is possible when you coat your blade in fiery oils to enhance its effectiveness, coupled with a spell to shield yourself from enemy strikes. Yet for the same battle you could also lure your enemies to you, hitting the first in line with a snare spell trapping him in place, then take psychic control of the next in line and turn him back on his fellows....The options are many and varied, and easy to do seemingly complex arrangements of abilities thanks to the simple switching up of spells and weapons with an intuitive selector wheel. A slightly more unique aspect of combat in the Witcher is Geralt's use of potions and alchemical compounds to enhance his abilities before even entering combat. A variety of mixtures and potions exist to be purchased, looted and stolen throughout the game, each with a unique effect on our hero. Have a bad feeling about what's up ahead? Drink a potion to enhance your magical abilities or give yourself a regenerative edge for that long pitched battle. Be too liberal with your potions of course, and the toxic effects will start to kick in, forcing clever selection and planning.

   When you begin to find your stride in combat, you will also find that the character customization extends to each realm of Geralt's expertise. A melee expert can venture down the swordsmanship path, become proficient in attacking multiple opponents and brutal instant kills. The mage in you can select the Magic tree, and enhance the abilities of Geralt's spells, taking control of more than one opponent at once or creating a shield that reflects damage upon nearby opponents. The third option is the most unique to the Witcher world, the alchemy tree. Advancing into it makes Geralt's creations far more effective, be they bombs, oils for his blade, or potions for the battle ahead, All the way up to a chemically induced berserker rage to tear through your opponents. Of course any combination of the three trees is possible, and all compliment each other consistently and seamlessly.
   The game will last a solid 20 hours to the average gamer, with a lot more exploring to do as one wishes, and on the harder difficulty levels will be a challenge to even the most skilled player. Best of all, I had that feeling the moment I finished my first playthrough, of 'Well, what if I'd chosen this...' and wanted to start anew almost immediately. The Witcher 2 will draw you back in for another run, you just have to know what will happen on the other side of the stories many flipped coins. The world of the Witcher is one vibrant with life and fun and conflict and love, and one that I fully hope I can revisit again soon.

Game Review: Game of Thrones

   Before anything else today, I'm going to go on record as a Song of Ice and Fire fan. A fucking big one. No fantasy world created by an American author has ever been as complex, interesting, and utterly absorbing as George R R Martin's world of Westeros.

Now then, let's get on with this one. You've read some shitty reviews of this one already, I'm sure, and it's fair enough. It's a licensed game, not even based on a film but a television property, and we all know they tend to be about as entertaining and satisfying as poking a dead dog with a stick. Cyanide games had a shitload to live up to with this property, and as far as Gameplay goes, average would be fairly flattering a description. Game of Thrones fans are an obsessed lot, and I'm not going to tell you the game is brilliant. But, surprisingly, It grew on me. There are aspects of the game that I enjoyed, it kept me coming back to it to finish it.
In Game of Thrones, we take the role of two characters, the tales of which intersect and eventually coincide. Mors Westford of the Nights watch, a grizzled old war veteran who also happens to be a skinchanger, And Alester Sarwyck....a grizzled war veteran who also happens to be a Red priest of R'hllor. Okay, there isn't a huge difference in the characters. They could have been wildly different, instead we get too loosely samey old bastards, scarred and bitter and hateful, but that's what this world is all about after all. 
In general, I think fans of the books will enjoy the world as it is presented. The development team are all fans themselves, they took an interest and they stuck with it. That was important to me, it felt put together with at least a fair bit of love for the property. On your journey through the game you will head to an assortment of areas throughout Westeros, from King's Landing to The Wall, and they are one and all faithfully recreated with equal inspiration from the show and the books. Its visuals are nicely put together, if gritty and rendered in quite mediocre graphics. Cyanide studios did not have the budget or the manpower that a bigger, more notorious developer could have put into this property, which is of course a shame as we could have seen something great. As it is, we have a low budget production, and it does show. The graphics are not horrible, but certainly nothing to be wowed by at any time. Visuals are often forgettable, but the important things do come across. You'll instantly recognize Lannister banners and the likeness of King Robert Baratheon in paintings within the Red Keep, for example. A few stars from the TV show were drafted in to lend their voices, and it's particularly good to hear Lord Varys's velvet tones so much, as great as you'd expect, but these celebrity additions painfully outline how awful the rest of the acting in the game is. Our two protagonists are standared Solid-Snake sounding growlers, but most of the rest of the incidental cast are clearly Americans doing bad regional European accents. Surely they could have done better?
All this is rolled up into a storyline that does fit well into the universe, and could easily have been a side story in the first book. Family treachery, back stabbing, child murder and illegitimate heirs form the whole basis of the plot, which are of course all staples of the series. It fits, It just isn't mind blowing. Another nice addition is that our heroes really do barely fit the stereotype by any means. They are Ice and fire heroes, meaning they barely qualify as good men half the time. They are self-serving, hateful men lost in the past, and most of the games four endings are unpleasant, unhappy resolutions tainted by the machinations of more powerful personalities. Just like the books. They didn't bottle out with happy endings or baiting for a sequel, it all ends satisfyingly well.

Of course, you can't review a game without getting into exactly how it plays. If you've come for a taste of the Game of Thrones world, I'd say you'll enjoy yourself enough to warrant the purchase. If you're a gamer looking for a good time, you'll want your money back. In essence, the whole game works like a simplified, clunky imitation of 'Dragon Age: Origins'. It shares a near identical ability wheel, where you select a short order of attacks and abilities that your character will slowly develop as they advance level by level. Mors has his trusty dog with him at all times, that can be ordered to attack and knock down your enemies, whilst Alester has an assortment of flame based abilities including some healing spells. However, if you're anything like me, you just won't find yourself using much of any of these many abilities. A short way into the game you'll have found something that works for you with each of your heroes, and you'll likely never stray from using them again. I for one found an ability that allowed Mors to knock his opponent to the ground then stab him repeatedly, finishing off any foe in a matter of seconds, and I never really needed to use anything else. The game never throws in anything to switch up the combat, it's just swordsman after swordsman, with the occasional bowman to polish off on the sidelines. The vast majority of all combat scenes in the game consists of room after room of these same enemies. It gets predictable fast. There is some good enmity in some detestable villainous gits to fight, but again, they fit the same battle drill as all other enemies.
There is a great variety of weapons and armour to find and use throughout the game, but again, you'll likely end up finding something early on that you like, and never end up using anything else, ever. At no point did I ever feel the urge to pick up a bow in the whole course of the game. Neither did I ever find a use for the game's many different armour types, as 'heavy' is always stronger, more resilient, and doesn't seem to have any real drawback. All the game's most powerful items are nice nods to canon characters we know, but as badass as it felt to be strolling around in Ilyn Payne's executioners cloak, Barristan Selmy's jousting helm and wielding a Valyrian steel sword, it never really gives you the feeling that any piece of equipment is that much better than anything you've had before.

You'll be hacking through an assortment of side-quests and mumbling through character interaction as the game progresses, and although most are simple fetch quests, a few are more interesting and unique. Like using Mors's skinchanger abilities to take the consciousness of your pit bull, catch scents hidden around Castle Black to hunt down conspirators against the Old Bear. Anyone into Game of Thrones will know what that means and be at least a little interested, everyone else will be lost entirely. 
That's the heart of the matter, really. Ones entire opinion on the game will simply be based around how much they enjoyed living for a little in Westeros, however clunky and restricted such a journey is. I personally enjoyed myself while it lasted. It could have been a lot more open, it could have been a better glimpse into such a complex, well defined world, but for now, it's all us fans have to explore. If you're a fan, give it a chance, you might like it, and for the ultimate in bad in-jokes, do keep a look out for Maester Martin along the way...

This review of Game of Thrones was based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.