Gameplay:
Geralt of Rivia comes back in the sequel The Witcher 2, hunting the king slayer who framed him for killing King Foltest. Not much has changed in this game from the first game. You have magic through different signs and swordsmanship to help you fight through all of the enemies and creatures. You can build up your character as you level to make your magic, swordsmanship, and alchemy stronger. As the witcher, he always carries two swords. One sword made of steel to fight the human enemies and a sword made of silver for slaying the creatures of the game.
Weapons and equipment both can be upgraded with runes and armor enhancements so that you can make your gear even better. You can also earn and buy diagrams for making your own sword and gear which turn out to be considerably cheaper if you have or can get the materials for making them. On top of crafting you have alchemy. You can earn or buy formulas to make several different type of potions that benefit you in many ways. You have to meditate to use the majority of these potions, so you will have to be out of combat! Some potion-made enhancements can be placed on your swords at anytime.
The game campaign has game changing decisions that you will have to make for Geralt which in turn makes the game even longer to play if you want to see all the different variations that you can end up with. Throughout the game you will always have the main quest with several side quests you can accept to level your character faster and earn more money. There are also some small mini-game like options including arm-wrestling, dice poker, and fist fights. All are relatively easy, especially the fist fights where you have to use the WASD keys when it tells you to. If you pay attention you will not lose a fight the whole game. The Witcher 2 then takes things to the next level letting you go into the inns and have sex with hookers. Bribing with the right amount of coin will earn you a R rated cut scene that is not shy to show anything.
I played the game on Hard, and being somewhat challenging it did take a little getting used to. Once I learned how to control my character it was pretty easy. The boss fights can be a little tricky, but using the right mix of signs and swords will make most fall pretty easy. There are four difficulty levels you can choose from: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane. I can imagine insane would be pretty tough and you would constantly need to rely on a lot of potions, bombs, and traps to survive. Hard mode will probably be the funner choice for most gamers!
The sound in The Witcher 2 is pretty good. Nice effects of hearing the wind howl, monsters growl, guards yelling, hookers moaning, and the clinging of swords. There is so much more than just that but while using headphones I could even tell which direction I was about to get attacked from.
There is one additional game mode called Arenas. In arenas you are setup in an arena against the odds, each win you will get points and a choice between weapon or gear. It is a nice little game mode if you want to just jump in and beat some butt.
The Witcher 2 is a beautiful game. There are great graphics with sharp textures and detailed environments. The grass will sway, blood will stain your sword, everything in the distance does not look like a flat picture but rather like it is actually there. On my PC the game runs great averaging 50-60+ FPS the entire time. You may notice the game stutters for a split second every now and then, this is due to it loading things from the hard drive. It is not an inconvenience or a big stutter and according to your hard drive setup you may not even notice these load times!
Conclusion:
The Witcher 2 was a very fun game for me to play through. The combat is fun and fluid, giving you different ways to play the game. There is also a lot of depth with the different story changing decisions you have to make. Nice range of difficult levels for all type of gamers. Beautiful environment with some of the best PC graphics. This is one of the few games I was sad to beat, but you can always play more to choose the different paths!
GRAPHICS: 10/10
GAMEPLAY: 9/10
SOUND: 9/10
OVERALL: 10/10
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