INB280 Game Analysis: The Witcher (PC)

Game Summary

Produced by polish developer Cdprojekt in 2007, in which players control and amnesic monster hunter Geralt and he journeys across the landscape of Temeria, to regain his memories, slit up some monsters and get laid. So basically it’s a standard RPG adventure with nudity thrown in (if, like me you bought a copy in the UK)

Game analysis

As anyone knows, the most important aspect of any RPG is the story and as someone who has read the book The Last Wish, which the game is based on, I was disappointed. The story is fractured and disjointed to start with, and the player’s ability to influence events through their choices in game only serves to make things more confusing.

Not to mention the fact that most of the "choices" are presented in so many shades of gray that its impossible to tell if you made the right choice until a few chapters later when the consequences come along and unexpectedly bite you in the ass.

The story and game play aren’t the only things that are cluttered. First of all the menus. There's your inventory, map, alchemy, quests and potions,etc and whilst this is standard for most RPG’s, most RPGs like fallout or Oblivion have them in easy to use quick tabs. The witcher by contrast has the habit of throwing it all at you at once, kind of like in dudgeon siege, another game the witcher has a lot in common with, endless running, confusing, menus and ONE CLICK COMBAT. Come on, in the 7 years since Dungeon siege I thought we’d got to the point where one click combat was reserved for MMOs and low budget titles.

And finally to the topic of the saucy nudity, ok the books had sex and granted if your retelling the story as a game its necessary to include such events, what I found unnecessary was giving the player what amounts to a nude playing card after each encounter. This is obviously the producers pandering to all the lonely male gamers out there and whilst I could go on about objectification of women, the point I’m trying to make is that if the Witcher was a good game it wouldn’t need such blatant gimmicks to draw people in
　
Conclusion

The Witcher looks like a game of today what with all its sparkling aesthetics, but with the mechanics of a game from 6-7 years ago or alternatively an MMORPG. The story is fractured, the menu is confusing, blending magic and combat is the games sole redeeming factor however even this positive ray of hope is quickly buried by the witchers major crashing issues and LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG loading times