» Rating: 9.5/10
» $61.90
» Role Playing Game (genre)
» PC (platform)
IT'S no walk in the park to be a swinging bachelor. As a monster-slayer-for-hire, you have to swing your silver sword against undeads, swing your fists against tavern brawlers, swing your mug of ale to win drinking challenges, and swing your way into bed with the many women you meet.
Frankly, as Geralt the witcher, you don't look so hot - a deep scar runs down your eye, your hair's as white as snow, and you havea wrinkled face with corpse-pale skin.
But somehow, you will manage to convince over 20 ladies that you are well worth the experience, if you play it right.
Often, you need to save their lives, sometimes, even to kill for them. Flattery works too, even cliches like 'only a blind man will not notice you.'
The ladies range from farmhands to barmaids to witches . There's a short blurry clip of you and your partners engaging in love-making acts and you will receive a card with a picture of each lady in various suggestive positions in your journal.
The US version of the game sold here is censored, which means you won't be seeing any nudity.
You can choose not to go horizontal with the women, but many of them are necessary to complete some side quests in the game.
However, frolicking with ladies is not what makes this game good and you will be sorely disappointed if you expect titillation.
This game is really an excellent sword and sorcery role-playing number with awesome graphics and an excellent storyline.
Opening cinematics are entertaining as Geralt tries to subdue a really ugly monster with large teeth.
He punches and whips the creature but avoids killing it. He baits it to follow him into the basement where he then hides inside a coffin. The next morning, the creature has morphed into a beautiful red-haired girl.
The game starts with an amnesic Geralt saved by a group of monster-slayers called witchers. That same red-haired girl turns out to be a sorceress friend of your witcher team, and your girlfriend.
Many humans have become xenophobic and they are out to kill anyone outside the ordinary - elves, dwarves and witchers.
As you leave your love and friends behind to regain your memory and to search for answers, you will be faced with many difficult decisions.
In the early part, for example, you must choose between fighting for a witch who messes around with voodoo dolls or join in the rabid mob who are baying for her blood.
Combat is interesting. It's all about timing and not speed-clicking your mouse till it breaks.
Click once on the monster, and Geralt executes a set of slashes.
Click too fast, and he loses the momentum. But if you click just as he finished his last stroke, you automatically follow up with a second set of attacks and so on until you chain up to five combos together.
You'll also need to read your journal about the monsters you're facing because each has a different vulnerability. You have three attack styles - strong, fast and group. Strong is slower but deals more damage and usually works best against huge brutes.
Magic is important too. You have five main spells including one which knocks down enemies to deliver the coup de grace, fireball to incinerate en masse and a protective magical shield.
But at some point in time, you'll need to make a choice - to either specialise in sword or sorcery or be a mediocre jack-of-all-trades.
To succeed in difficult fights, you must learn to pick herbs and brew potions, which can really turn the fights in your favour.
You must also improve your alcohol tolerance to best other drinkers, to get important information and even to complete quests.
Together with an engaging storyline that keeps you guessing on who the good and bad guys are, the Witcher truly deserves to be the best fantasy role-playing game of this year.
YOU can make loads of money from gambling in dice. The novice gamblers tend to change only one dice and usually weaken their hand after they reroll.
Drinking and brawling are also important because you can get a lot of extra information and items from winning beer and fist fights.
Geralt has talents that can improve his resistance to intoxication and turn him into Muhammad Ali. It's a good idea to invest in these talents early.
You can probably get all the bronze level talents but pick your silver and gold talents carefully.
Over-the-shoulder mode is best for combat, because you can execute additional moves like sidestepping and leaping over the enemy.
