For the longest time my only experience with the world of The Witcher was reading the occasional comic on Penny Arcade. But one day, console-owners rejoiced when developer CD Projekt RED announced they were bringing an expanded version of the acclaimed The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to the Xbox 360.
This console version seemed like the perfect opportunity for those who missed out on the first two games to dive into the series, but did The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition survive its transition from PC to console?
Well, you know what they say about things that appear too good to be true…
For people new to the series, you play as the titular witcher: Geralt of Rivia. A witcher is a mutant whose job is to essentially slay monsters for gold. Because witchers aren’t entirely human, they’re looked at with distrust and sometimes outright hate from the populace at large even though they provide valuable services.
Despite being a monster hunter, by the time the game ended, Geralt hasn’t done that much monster slaying for profit. Instead, the player gets wrapped up in a nearly impenetrable plot tied together with poorly designed game mechanics. Those coming into the game looking for a simple hack n’ slash action RPG will be sorely disappointed.
If you try to fight that way, even in the game’s tutorial section, you will get destroyed. Despite being tweaked to accommodate an Xbox 360 controller, combat in The Witcher 2 is an overly complicated affair with severe balance issues. In the beginning of the game Geralt, the White Wolf, is weaker than a kitten, but by the end of the game you’re a walking murder factory able to eliminate foes with your blades, magical Signs, and a whole array of alchemical potions and traps. The crux of the problem is all of these tricks and traps are incredibly difficult to use.
The targeting system is incredibly finicky with Geralt sometimes hopping incredible distances between foes when the player wanted to fight the guy right in front of him. Also I found the camera controls to be too loose when aiming ranged weapons; even worse, there’s no option to adjust the sensitivity.
The game’s controls were unresponsive, sometimes requiring multiple button presses, especially when I’d try to cast a magical Sign or throw a bomb. All in all, the combat in The Witcher 2 evolved into something I dreaded to more of a minor chore by the end of the game. The Witcher 2 prides itself on telling a “gritty” and “mature” tale that you won’t find in other RPGs. Well its story certainly is gritty, but for those new to the series, it’s also completely impenetrable.
In this Enhanced Edition, the developers added several cutscenes to bridge this game with the first one that fail to do their job. There’s such a thing as starting a story in media res, but The Witcher 2 takes it to ridiculous extremes.
You start the game fighting alongside some king as he goes to reclaim his bastard children from some rebels. You don’t know any of the characters. You don’t know the kingdoms and the different powers. And you don’t know why Geralt should care about any of the people around him. When this king gets assassinated you’re supposed to instinctually know just how big of a deal it really is. The game tells you that redheaded Triss Merigold is important to Geralt, but I never felt any big connection between them because it never showed me their bond.
It didn’t help that both their voice-actors are laughable. Geralt’s in particular is especially flat and monotone. Both Mark Frost and Peter Egan do a good job with their roles though. Players new to the series will struggle trying to understand all the different terms and names while the game continues to reference past events like we know what it’s talking about. Geralt in particular is fascinated with something called the Wild Hunt, but it never makes an appearance in this game.
Everything is poorly explained and such a mess that by the end of the game, I’d stopped caring about anything other asking the game to point me in the direction of who I needed to stab next. When the developer has to include a conversation between the main character and antagonist with over ten different dialogue options, each of them long-winded, you know they dropped the ball when it comes to story.
The game does present the racial tensions between humans and non-humans, much like Lord of the Rings’ elves and dwarves, in a believable and nuanced (also “gritty” and “mature”) manner, and there are several choices you can make over the course of the game about who to support in this conflict that lead to radically different outcomes. However, none of them satisfy because of how the game loves to keep the player at a distance. The Witcher 2 feels like a game that actively works against the player rather than with them.
A lot of the game’s mechanics revolve around pure guesswork. The game loves to tell you what you’re supposed to do next in a quest, but most of the time these hints are so vague and the mini-map is so useless that you can spend up to a half hour wandering around trying to find a single quest marker. The same guessing approaching even applies to combat as well. Many of Geralt’s abilities are activated by mediating and drinking potions before combat. To be clear, you can’t swill down some strength enhancing brew mid-fight. Instead, the game expects you to guess when you’ll get into a fight and be preemptively prepared. Problem is, when you don’t know what type of monsters you’re going to be fighting, you might find yourself drinking an entirely wrong combination of potions.
Obviously the visuals aren’t as good as they are on PC, but they still are some of the best seen on the Xbox 360…when they’re not constantly plagued by clipping and texture pop-in. During dialogue scenes, every time the camera changes angles all of the textures have to reload even when the game is installed to your console’s hard drive (which the instruction manual strongly hints you should do).
I’m not sure who this version of The Witcher 2 is for. PC gamers have probably already played it, and all the extra content included in this port is available to them for free. Unless they want to use a 360 controller that badly, they have no reason to purchase this. New players, already at a disadvantage by starting a series midway through, will find themselves lost and confused by the messy, dense plot and poor exposition that assumes the player is incredibly familiar with the game’s world.
Poor player direction and feedback, a complicated combat system, and a backwards difficulty curve round out the experience. Despite all the additions and enhancements, The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition is an unsatisfying game that won’t appeal to series newcomers and never lives up to its own ambitions.
This review was based on a retail copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition for the Xbox 360
Gamer Limit gives The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition a 4.5/10.
Are you fuc*ing kidding me? Witcher 2 is one of the best game on the X360.
Just brushing off the abnormally low score by implying that that all other review scores are overinflated is also “just silly”. When a review is the lowest of over 30 reviews on gamerankings, and lowest by 30%, then it does give the apperance of putting out a skewed review just for the sake of site hits (ad revenue), whether this was the case or not.
Even though I love the two Witcher titles, I enjoy seeing these reviews, because ultimately I find it hard to recommend them to the general populace.
They’re fairly convoluted in terms of gameplay mechanics, and not really user friendly. While I enjoy the game immensely, better concessions should have been made to accommodate an audience who has no idea what The Witcher even is.
Reviews should always be a guide — never an ultimatum. If you’re an RPG nut, read some other reviews in addition to this one — you may find the game interesting. If you’re completely new to the series and you’re looking to get your feet wet, you’ll find this review to be helpful. Different perspectives are always a great thing.
You call this a review? A person lashing out on a game and listing all the worse things about his experience while playing a game is a review???
But when you read garbage like this you will want to go and read reviews by real game critics and ignore this, whatever this is!
“A person lashing out on a game and listing all the worse things about his experience while playing a game is a review???”
I don’t get it. By that logic, a person praising a game and listing all the best things about their experience while playing a game also isn’t a review.
It’s a review. You don’t agree with it, but it is a review, and there are a ton of other ones out there. For what it’s worth, I’ve loved The Witcher series since the beginning, but again, it’s good to have an alternate perspective from someone who’s never played it.
Chris,
I am curious as to what kind of game you think deserves a 4.5? For me, a 4.5 is a game that is broken and not worth the gamers $.
Also, just based on the fact this game is scoring an average in the high 8′s, doesn’t a 4.5 score raise any red flags?? Doesn’t anyone at Gamer Limit review the review? Isn’t there a scale on what the score mean? Or is this simply a ploy to get more hits on this site? Screams a lack of integrity.
The review Policy is here – http://gamerlimit.com/about/gamer-limit-scoring-system/
4.0/4.5 is described as “A title with potential that was executed poorly. Many issues that outweigh the few good qualities that do exist.” which is consistent with his opinions in the review. As a newcomer to the series he felt the bad outweighed the good and does not recommend the purchase. Remember 5.0 is ‘mediocre’.
Game scores tend to be pretty inflated (check the mean game score vs movie score on metacritic), but as long as the review backs up opinions and is consistent with the site’s review guidelines it’s a valid review. This review does both. You can disagree with the opinions, but attacking the integrity of the reviewer and the site because you disagree is silly.
Just brushing off the abnormally low score by implying that that all other review scores are overinflated is also “just silly”. When a review is the lowest of over 30 reviews on gamerankings, and lowest by 30%, then it does give the apperance of putting out a skewed review just for the sake of site hits (ad revenue), whether this was the case or not.
Game is hard, but for me I’ts really great. If you wanna play casual RPG, Dragon Age II is for you. Leave Witcher alone.. Cheap commercial:/
The worst review ever. Shame of you, pig.
Are you fcking kidding me???!!!! This review is stupid and full of shit, I bet the reviewer is some Dragon Age or SKYRIM lover and hater for everything else, or he was EA bribed him for this lame review to destroy the nice 90% average score on metacritic which Witcher 2 had, until this lame review showed up…
Don’t mean to be rude but I really think this reviewer has a problem. Term ”retard” would be suitable, if I were to use psychology.
“It didn’t help that both their voice-actors are laughable. Geralt’s in particular is especially flat and monotone.”
Lol, are you serious or just a retard? Obviously you don’t know anything about The Witcher universe. The game has one of the best voice-actors compared to any game, period. If you are looking for laughable voice-actors look at SKYRIM, where everybody are monotone and sometimes it sounds like all the characters in the game are only 4 voice-actors over and over again… The Geralt’s voice should be badass and a little bit monotone, it’s a big part of his character. This review is ridicullous, really.
one of the best games ever
one of the worst review ever made for a good game
This is what you wrote my friend, is simply rude … You’re an idiot!
Bobby sounds like he is a simple man with simple taste. You sure you are reviewing the right genre here feller? Maybe you should keep your reviews exclusive to EA and Bioware games. I hear they are big on one button gameplay and dwarf sex in them parts of the woods.
Wow just wow, Half of the things you mentioned was your inability to play the game which i find rather pathetic. I do respect your opinion to each his own as they say, and if you don’t like the game you more than welcome to say so. Bu this? I mean you should not be reviewing the game if you can’t even figure out the game mechanics xD Can’t you read? or was the tutorial too hard for you?
It’s 52 reviews vs yours i don’t think anyone will choose to listen to your opinion!
I see that plot was too complicated for you… Maybe you should play Angry Birds or sth?
Just suggestion 
I am quite sure, it might be bit too hard for him xD
I means this review was just his bashing the game and not reviewing, it’s not a review it’s just a rant on why he didn’t like it!
You sir are a true tool, you should do something else for a living as reviewing games is clearly not for you.
g
What? Are you kidding me?! Did you forgot to play your Pokemon today and that’s why you are bitching around?
wow dude complete utter bullshit all other reviews about this game are way more spot-on then yours. What does that tell you about your review? Obviously it took almost a whole year to them to port it to the xbox CDprojectred should be commended for a job well done unlike other shitty ports stick with generic games dude this one wasn’t for you.
“You start the game fighting alongside some king as he goes to reclaim his bastard children from some rebels. You don’t know any of the characters. You don’t know the kingdoms and the different powers.”
What the **** kind of criticism is this? Did you know the Illusive Man and Miranda at the beggining of Mass Effect 2? Did you know Hawke, Bettany and Varrick in Dragon Age 2? Did you know why you should care? Yea…
Too hard? Did you know that there is easy difficulty option in the game? Something that even a one armed casual gamer could handle?
Game is not holding your hand all the time? You don’t have a giant marker on the map when quest tells you to FIND something? Why not 1/10? Let’s do the trolling properly!
Spot on!!! i guess he should first how to play the game and then review it or if he still can’t play it after a tutorial just quite all together and allow some one else to do it
You know what is hilarious about your comment? First in those games you mention the game actually does get to telling you why you should care pretty quickly. Second this does not ever happen in Witcher 2 save with Triss.
In actuality the only reason Geralt gives two craps about the king is because 1: he is getting paid, and 2: he gets blamed for killing him. So in actuality he doesn’t give a crap about the kingdom or the politics, he just wants to clear his name and ultimately get revenge.
Yeah, I guess that nowadays saving your own skin is not epic enough to make anyone care. It should be no less than saving a kingdom. No, a planet at least. Or a galaxy!
My point dude is just that, Geralt didn’t care that the King was dead or even that he died on Geralt’s watch. He only cares because he took the fall for it.
One of the reviews complaints was it never properly explained why he cared about what was going on at the game start and my point is it couldn’t because Geralt didn’t care to begin with.
Oh please go back to playing Angry Birds
(ehm, my bad, that would be too much for you)
from your review even Tetris is too difficult for you to understand.
As much as I think the Witcher 2 is horribly over rated, and in fact the whole series is. And I agree you need to either play the first game, go out of game to learn back story from the novels, or do both to actually know what is going on I have to say….
This score is maybe a tad bit low Bobby.
You are dead on accurate about the challenge though. The first level of the game was by far the hardest level of the game. First time I fought the games main enemy it was a hard fight, I even lost 2 times before taking him down. In the climax I beat him like a one legged man at an ass kicking contest. It actually felt unfair.
However I haven’t played it on consoles, have no plan to, and imagine it would not play well considering how demanding a pc game it was. So I am going to just take your word on how it handled.
For reference I would have given the original pc release like a 7.5 or 8 tops.
jerzy
“(…) the game expects you to guess when you’ll get into a fight and be preemptively prepared. Problem is, when you don’t know what type of monsters you’re going to be fighting, you might find yourself drinking an entirely wrong combination of potions.”
Because leaving a town, passing through a gate with a “Warning: Monsters!” poster and entering dense forest doesn’t give you a clue about anything. Not to mention how wrong can you be with choosing health regeneration, stamina regeneration and damage bonus potions. So entirely wrong combination that purely by mistake works on all occasions, duh…
“When the developer has to include a conversation between the main character and antagonist with over ten different dialogue options, each of them long-winded, you know they dropped the ball when it comes to story.”
Yeah, I know better solutions from 10/10 games. Only two dialogue choices should be included, both of them having the same result, giving a false illusion of choice. That’s how it should be done!
No! There should be three options. Red, Green and Blue.
Andy, this is so true! Good job making this awkward comedian a.k.a reviewer look like a 100% tool.
Bobby Hunter, by all respect but you are an Idiot and also those who authorize such people to do such blank-faced reviews.
This ruins the average score wich was about 90% … it’s a GAME i dunno what some people expect games to be.
Stupid reviewer = poor review. If you want piece of fame – this is wrong way.
One of the best game ever and one of the worst review ever….
It’s a shame.
One stupid person destroy 90% average score on metacritic.
Ugg. Triss want reply to review. She read many review. Triss not like Bobby. Triss think Bobby stupid person.
Stupid grammar = Poor reply.
i know poor little bobby you want to get more attention, but hope it will get opposite effect and peopels stop reading yours site… you show you are really TROLL, live in your world and be happy that you down metacritic to 89%- yes now its your 5 min of fame !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was my first and last visit.
I see there are also trolls among so-called reviewers. Let’s not forget that Bobby is supposedly a science fiction writer and yet he cannot grasp the simplest aspects of this game. Come on son you can do better than this. LOL.
I’m completely new to the series and am not confused by the story. Ya know, paying attention, and stuff like names and context clues are like, hard and stuff, maaan.
Is anyone else as lost as this guy was??
Also, yes, the tutorial was hard and I got stomped, but it helped me learn the controls(imagine that?), and now I have no issues.
Is that you? Come on, we won’t tell…
Been taking lessons at the Jim Sterling School of Trolling for Hits? Idiot.
I can’t respect your opinion. You are an idiot for thinking this game would hold your hand. They inspect you to use your head and be smart with your moves instead of simply hacking and slashing. You should not be reviewing games if you sit there and criticize a game for being “too hard”. It’s not like any other game out there. This is for mature hardcore gamers which you obviously aren’t one.
As for the story aspect of the game. I have never played the first witcher so yes it was a little hard to understand the game at first. Then after I few hours I was hooked. Your choices play a role in a way I have never seen before in a video game, not even the Mass Effect series.
You should not be reviewing this game. Nowadays games hold your hand and take it easy on you well The Witcher 2 is different and you can’t seem to understand that button mashing and skipping cutscenes will get you nowhere in this game.
This review sucks.
WAAAHHHH THE GAME IS TO HARD
45/100!!!!
I know I’m gonna get bashed for saying this, but I actually agree with about 90% of what the reviewer said. TBH, I think the only “Cons” that he pointed out that I disagree are the uselesness of the minimap and quest markers (I actually enjoyed having to find things myself) and the quality of voice acting (loved it, mostly).
As for the rest, agree 10%. but still would’nt rate the game below 5.0
Please never write again.
what a shity review, W2 was my 1 rpg, playing on normal dificulty with no problems, you should try arkanoid or somthing, Witcher ifs for adults
backwards posting
I wonder how much EA is paying this guy.
What a troll review.
Is dis nigga serious?
It’s because they can’t accept that someone with such terrible taste in vidya could actually be paid for his opinion.
The way you come off to your critics is “WAAAH this game is too hard 4/10″ and “I LOVE [AAA title here], the bag of money the publisher gave me has no influence on my opinion”
And yet, here you are judging them for their “dissenting opinions” as well.
If a reviewer gives a game high scores, then the game proceeds to fumble after release with a majority hating the game, maybe, just maybe, the reviewers were biased. Especially when the financial report of the producers of the game list advertisment costs as the highest expense for the fiscal year
This is probably the most retarded review I have ever seen. In other words you find the game too hard and want the plot to be spoon fed to you? Just go play Call of Duty son.
YEAH DIZ GAME IZ SOH SHEEET IT’Z FORE NERDS WIT NO LIEVES IT DOESN’T EVAN HAV GUNZ LOL
What sort of brainless cretin do you have to be to get a gig as a games journalist these days? Let’s break this down.
>Geralt hasn’t done that much monster slaying for profit
Complete lie. The first two acts, despite being focussed on the unfolding conspiracy story, revolve around massive multi-stage Witcher problems (the Kayran and Sabrina’s Curse). There are also a ton of monster-slaying side-quests which are only for profit. Besides, the game is very clear from the very beginning in showing us that this is not a safari trip: you are here to find the Kingslayer.
>the player gets wrapped up in a nearly impenetrable plot
Firstly the plot is far from impenetrable and is even neatly explained by your arch-enemy at the very end. There is not a single loose end or bad arc in the whole thing, and the hints are dropped early and often enough for you to try to piece it all together. The goals and relationships of each party in the conspiracy are just sublime. Second, I would bet my own dick that this hack never called Half Life 2 out for having a plot which is, actually, impenetrable.
>Those coming into the game looking for a simple hack n’ slash action RPG will be sorely disappointed.
You actually can hack and/or slash your way through the combat of this game on Easy but guess what: this game is actually going to force you to think outside of combat. It’s unfair, I know, pressing your lifeless, soup-like brain into use against its will.
>The crux of the problem is all of these tricks and traps are incredibly difficult to use.
You obtain the potion/oil/trap/bomb. You put the trap/bomb in one of your trap/bomb slots and then you press the button to use it. You put blade oils onto your sword. You drink the potions. Each potion/trap/bomb/oil tells you in the description exactly what it does. You can research monsters to find out exactly which effects they are vulnerable/immune to but the game is extremely forgiving in this aspect. You avoid playing The Witcher 1 – where preparation and alchemy are important – because it would make your brain carve a suicide note on the inside of your cavernous skull.
>Geralt sometimes hopping incredible distances between foes when the player wanted to fight the guy right in front of him.
THIS IS A VERY DELIBERATE GAMEPLAY MECHANIC. IT IS NOT RANDOM IN ANY WAY.
If the 360 version has the same target icon as the PC version then this guy is actually a vegetable.
>You start the game fighting alongside some king as he goes to reclaim his bastard children from some rebels.
>You don’t know any of the characters.
Is this a joke? How are you supposed to know all of the characters at the very start? When you read a mystery novel do you expect a foreword in which the writer details the killer’s background and motivation?
>You don’t know the kingdoms and the different powers.
>And you don’t know why Geralt should care about any of the people around him.
It’s a fantasy setting, how much do you really need to know to get going? The whole point, which is clear from the FIRST CONVERSATION is that Geralt DOES NOT care about kings or battles and really wishes he was off doing something else.
>When this king gets assassinated you’re supposed to instinctually know just how big of a deal it really is.
A man who rules a nation by Divine Right; who can choose the life and death of any subject in his domain; who spends his time organising the aforementioned subjects to gear up and die in their thousands… is a pretty big deal. When this person, with all of this power, still cares about how Geralt perceives him and goes on to promise Geralt what he really wants – the freedom to leave – then yes it should be a big deal to you personally. Oh there’s also the bit about him getting killed on your watch by a Witcher and you being accused of doing it, is that important?
>You can’t swill down some strength enhancing brew mid-fight. Instead the game expects you to guess when you’ll get into a fight and be preemptively prepared.
A change from the system in the first game and, here we have it folks, the ONLY piece of legitimate criticism of the game in this “review”. It’s clearly a design decision and the fact is that you can apply/use anything that isn’t a potion instantly. Here’s a thought: perhaps the designers wanted to catch you with your pants down. The merits/flaws of this compared to the potion-spamming route are clearly things that the devs have considered.
Enjoy your Tetris! Your review blows!
I can understand the criticisms for this game, as most of your points are valid and things I have experienced myself. I attempted to play The Witcher: Director’s Cut on PC a while back, but never really got into it. I picked up Assassins of Kings for the 360 and can corroborate some of these points.
The story IS difficult to understand if you’re a first-time player of a Witcher game. Geralt meets several characters in the first game that are either referenced or present the Witcher 2. If you haven’t played the first game, you won’t know why these people are as important as they seem to be. Several events from the first game are also talked about in this one, and again, it’s very difficult to grasp what people are talking about.
Whether someone’s voice is appealing to you or not is subjective, and I won’t comment on that too much. I will say that, so far, I enjoy all of the performances so far. Geralt is a gruff sounding manly man, but it’s rubbed off on me now.
Combat IS a little clunky, but it’s mostly for ranged weapons, like you mentioned (throwing daggers is especially difficult with a controller). Everything else really comes down to a learning curve. Most of the potion-drinking is about anticipation. You need to be able to guess the types of creatures/people you’re going to be fighting. It can be difficult and confusing, but they don’t cheap out with encounters either. They’re not going to throw fire-hurling mages at you in the middle of a forest. You’re not going to see ice-spewing enemies hiding out underwater. Most of the enemy encounters make sense for their surroundings, but even then, I think most players will just use potions preemptively as a form of caution.
I’ve noticed a few instances of texture pop-in, but I’ve never really been bothered by that. It can be off-putting sometimes, but the Witcher 2 is fairly consistent with load times. Screen-tearing is something I’ve seen maybe once in the ~7 hours I’ve played the game, and again, it didn’t really bother me that much. It was quick and painless.
I understand your criticisms and think that your opinion is justifiable. I, personally, have had fun playing the game, despite its confusing nature, but I can understand why you would not think very highly of this particular title.
The brainlessness of this “reviewer” just… blows my mind! 0.0
quite possibly the worst reviewer ever, jesus this guy doesnt belong in his own business, good thing i use adblocker so im not giving this horrible website any ad-revenue
this man deserves to be fired, i can see that people are entitled to their own opinions but this is just plain unprofessional, he blatantly states that the game is bad due to its difficulty, im having trouble understanding why someone who is supposedly a professional video game reviewer is actually COMPLAINING about the difficulty, the plot was wonderful and saying that its impenetrable just shows how incredibly dense he is and just goes to show that sometimes people are just not cut out to be game reviewers, a complete joke and it should be treated as one
FYI, we have a history of enjoying difficult games:
http://gamerlimit.com/2011/10/gamer-limit-review-dark-souls/
http://gamerlimit.com/2009/09/gamer-limit-review-demons-souls/
Bobby just didn’t like this one in particular. Sorry, guys.
but he is hating on the game due to a difficult to understand story, difficult combat, and different gameplay elements that must be learned by trial and error. i respect this site and ive agreed with many, many reviews that yall have written in the past but why hire a reviewer that cant even play the game that he is reviewing?
Because he wanted to do it. As I said in the comment below, he was excited for the game, and has a history of enjoying RPG titles.
I have the PC version and picked up the 360 edition, but I have been busy previewing Guild Wars 2, and reviewing other titles.
i was wondering why i never used this site as a source, then i realized that it hired reviewers that cant even perform their job correctly, paid reviews should be illegal
For the record, Bobby did buy the game of his own accord and out of his own coffers. He was excited for it — it just didn’t pan out for him. It happens.
What a retard, there is a Character Journal in the Menu in case you dont know about the background of some characters.
Trashy review.
I love the Witcher series and this doesn’t really make me angry. It’s the reviewer’s impression of the game, and it’s just as valid as anyone else’s. He is not supposed to adjust it for public opinion. A lot of people will disagree with it, but that’s not a problem.
The problem is in the belief that aggregating review scores can represent a game’s quality (to the point where it’s affecting developer payrolls), when it really can’t. Some of the most cherished works of art have been met with mixed or bad reception in their time.
But due to the nature of the internet, people are immediately reaching for the fastest source of information and that’s Metacritic. It’s become a powerhouse and it’s leading to reviewers not applying their own ideas, tastes and opinions to their analysis, but a unified set of standards of “this” being 8 for graphics, and “that” being 9 for story, lest they be shunned out as loonies. It’s ridiculous and spawning the wrong kind of discussion as you can see here.
I think it would be for the benefit of this site to drop review scores and count on people just reading what you wrote about the game instead. You’re not IGN or Destructoid or PC Gamer, so people don’t visit you in droves to check out your scores (unless they’re strikingly different like here), but compelling, informative writing can really build a regular viewership and promote healthy discussion.
It certainly worked for RPS, I don’t think it would hurt for you to try.
Second pretty accurate assessment. The combat mechanics in the game are bloody horrible. They nerfed Quen to bloody uselessness which accentuates the problems with the combat. The fact that combat hasn’t been improved in the EE is the biggest flaw of it.
There is a rule in story telling for visual media: “Don’t tell it, show it!”. It is so basic and The Witcher 2 violates that rule to ridiculous extends. The entire dialogue at the end is just one huge bad storytelling.
Personally I like the voice actors of everyone except Saskia. But that is a personal preference and pointless to discuss.
Just as pointless as talking about what number the game should be rated. I don’t know if the 4.5 is fitting or not. But more mature people know that the important part of the review, the actual review if you will, is the text. And it is fairly accurate.
The replies to this review just show the immaturity of those. In fact judging by the comments most of the posters here are porbably not old enough to play the game, they are definitely not mature enough.
This was not a review. A review should not reflect obvious bias towards the product. It is obvious that the reviewer was not the right choice from this game. All I got out of the review was that the game doesn’t spoon-feed the player. That does not make the game “unbalanced” or it’s mechanics “poorly designed”.
Also, the story is deep. Of course if you haven’t played the original game, there might be some issues seating yourself into the sequel. With that, the developers not only added in the extra cut-scenes throughout the game, but also released videos that did well to explain the events of the original game.
Reviews are simply opinions. I get that. At the same time, when you task the wrong person to review a product, ending with a review such as this, there is a problem. There is nothing broken about the game, but the score does not reflect that. His lack of patience or interest in this type of game leaves it with a score reflective of a designed experience.
FIX
“His lack of patience or interest in this type of game leaves it with a score reflective of a POORLY designed experience.
Bobby Hunter are you serious?Dude this game is fantastic, the art, sound, combat, cgs, story…EVERYTHING…I suggest you quit your job, because you S-U-C-K TO REVIEW A GAME…GET ANOTHER JOB PLEASE…THIS GAME HAD 90 METRA CRITIC SCORE, IDIOT
X-com whoever I assume you are an idiot. Gamer Limit is a small time review site. I doubt many of the writers even get paid much if anything for what they post. I seriously doubt they are getting kickbacks from EA or whatever other crap you dream up.
The reviewer didn’t even say the game was too hard, he blatantly beat the game. He said the difficulty curve was out of whack (it was when I played the PC version too), the story didn’t make sense to someone who didn’t already know the Witcher storyline (it probably doesn’t), and the controls were poor and sometimes unresponsive.
I don’t think that this site gets kickbacks from EA either, but I do think that this reviewer and site is stupid and desperate enough to give a great game (which got more than a 130 positive reviews on the world and only a few mediocre reviews) a really bad score just to attract users on this site.
The difficulty curve is fine, and it was tweaked a long time ago in the first PC version patches. I played The Witcher 2 at first and the story was completely understandable. How can he blindly expect to know every character from the start of the game? Did you know who are Miranda or Illusive man in ME2 from the first time you saw them? This is ridiculous… really. Obviously he didn’t put any effort into playing this game, I bet he didn’t read the journal either. Controls were unresponsive in the PC v1.0 (quen sign didn’t activated after the roll etc.), but then the patches all fixed it. And this Enhanced Edition bringed more than another 100 enhancements. So those arguments are invalid.
Isn’t it weird that the PC version despite many flaws on it’s release didn’t get a single negative review, and this much better Enhanced Edition gets here 4/10 ? It’s not the game what is broken. It’s this site and obviously the reviewer.
You do know he is reviewing the 360 version right? I have also said before I think the game is massively over rated. It is not a 10/10 or even 9/10 game. I think 4.5 is harsh (I would have given it a 7.5) but as a guy who still scratches his head wondering why people think this game was “that good” I can relate to a 4.5 a lot better than a 10 or 9.
Both of those scores imply the game is perfect or almost there. This game was never either of those things and it always had some big flaws everyone just seems to gloss over.
He has got a point……………
The game sucks if your a complete idiot.
EA needs to buy CDPR and then they will give their games better reviews.
Well, all in all…I guess CDPR pays the price for being the coolest dev out there AND being indie.” Oh, an indie dev?
Let’s give it a bad review and get alot of hits. Who cares about indie devs anyway?!” This will keep happening as long as CDPR stays independent.
I don’t like to be rude, but the reviwer is probably a “retard” …
I would accept that the xbox version is a bit “laggy” while talking of the commands, and SURELY it’s very heavy in termo of resource… but, if you could not play a game like that becaouse “you can’t know which monster you’ll encounter” or you don’t have the patience to read the diary and the dialogues if they’re longer than a line… it’s YOUR problem, not the game’s problem.
That review made me laugh. Seriously, that guy Bobby Hunter is clearly not smart enough for deep and mature games like The Witcher 2. Maybe he should just accept that he didn’t enjoy the game not because the game is limited, but because his cognitive capabilities are limited.
Next time, Game Limit should leave The Witcher 3 to someone more intellectual, someone who enjoys deep, mature and difficult games, so the simpleton Bobby Hunter can stick to his hack ‘n slash and other easy handholding games. Seem simple game with simple gameplay that basically holds your hand through the entire experience are more his kind of game.
What a stupid review. I can’t even.. I do not know man – go back to Mass Effect – green, blue and red!
*shrug* this always happens, people have different opinions and it’s best not to stress about it. Tho 4.5 is usually reserved for badly broken games tho I don’t how that particularly review uses the scores so that might not be the case here. It’s one of the reasons why you should take scores with a grain of salt.
“Those coming into the game looking for a simple hack n’ slash action RPG will be sorely disappointed.”
Obviously this is not his type of game.
lol metacritic. I wish that site just burned.
And lol this review. I am sure that even guys at CDPR are facepalming at it.
They did it to get attention. Guess which review from Metacritics will get most of hits now?
the cool thing is see Chris Carter trying to save the ass of Bobby Hunter, impossible mission!
The cool thing is this website gave 5.5 to Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City….And 4,5 to witcher 2………..something is wrong…
I was thinking the same thing. A broken, glitchy, and overall bland (opinion) title gets a better score than one that was simply not made for the reviewer.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL @ the review, its a joke. LOL
Yeah, and that’s why we have every year more clones of CoD, NfS, … every year easier games… that’s why “mature” games mean only that you can slice your opponent in half.. but when we get a truly MATURE game where you must THINK about what you do, how you react to situations, a game where YOU make your own story, where the world totally reacts to you and changes, where you must explore the world around you, where you must THINK in combat, …where the world is as it is – not black, not white, but different shades of gray ..a game that’s made with love and care.. where everythink you see in the game makes sense.. with truly MATURE themes – politics, murders, conspiracies, rapes, intrigues, etc.. a world where the “good” ones have unclean intentions and the “bad” ones have reasonable reasons.. and the game has great artistic vision and beautiful graphics.. great music score and great voice acting.. yeah, and you give this game a score 4,5 from 10? ..ok, i rather play this game than your “one of the best of its genre” ME 3.. ok, everyone has the right to his own opinion, but if you like RPG genre, than you i think, must play W2.. that’s like if you would loved the classic mafia settings in films, i would recommended to you to watch the Godfather films.. i don’t know nobody who wouldn’t like Godfather if his interested in mafia films.. and so it is with W2 – it’s a hard game, it really is, but that how RPG’s always were – i’m mean the classic RPG’s, no the more mainstream and modern types of “RPG’s” like ME or DA2..this is just a very bad review of a great, hard, MATURE game
lol shitty review of amazing game
Joke of a review. Way to troll for hits. Did you play a different game from the rest of the interwebs?
There are so many things wrong with this review it is simply bewildering. The review troubles me because it conveys all of the worst stereotypes associated with console gamers-that we are likewise dense, unwilling and or incapable of appreciating complexity, slow, and apparently unwilling to read. Really, there is a glossary and a bestiary for a reason!
In short, if you love RPGs, don’t listen to this prattle- the Witcher 2 for the 360 is a gloriously faithful port of the PC version, but one that fits very well alongside other great RPGs (and honestly, topples most of them in terms of storytelling).
The controls work fine, as they were obviously designed with a gamepad in mind. If you are a hardened gamer, and yearn for something you can sink your teeth into, the Witcher 2 is an experience that shouldn’t be missed. Unlike so many other modern games, it treats its audience with respect and intelligence. A must buy.
Bioware pay …
What an awful review, really and truly.
You picked the wrong man to evaluate the game. I have not heard one bad thing said about the Witcher 2 until I came across this.
Terrible, you should review it again, only this time with someone competent.
Looked at the score on an aggregate website, thought “I would love to see the comments on that one”, read the comments and laughed. It was then that I actually read the review and now I’m finding myself agreeing with them.
You should take those aggregate score logos from the bottom of your page, they aren’t doing you any good.
How much did you get for that?
-they publicly gut you, skin you and hang you
-for what
-for your shit review
Downright praise-worthy.
Way to ruin the games 90% on metacritic with a horrible review. 45 denotes a broken game. Meaning you are biased and just wanted to give the game a bad score. If the game just didn’t mesh with you, you should have still be able to recognize the positives. Numbers may be arbitrary, but this game deserves no less then an 8 in a fair review. 7.5 if you really didn’t enjoy it for whatever reason.
The worst review ever. This fuc*ing site are sucks.
Just DIE
Well I think you already know that this review is a piece of garbage, however what you don’t know is that you should tell your mom about what kind of horrible human being she created. I guarantee she will announce that she just lost her loving son.
Anonymous
TrueGamer512
Watch your back Tommy boy. The witcher is going to rip your heart out! But seriously, a moronic reviewer plus a moronic site = a moronic review. Simple as that! Tommy obviously wasn’t smart enough to grasp this game, which is pathetic. That’s one of the main reasons why an average console gamer is seen as a complete retard. Sad but true.
Jesus christ, reviewer is retarded or something? Never read such a bunch of bullshit!
Shame on you! This only shows that you’re paid by Bioware,Bethesda etc. But CDPRed doesn’t pay so you jsut bashed the game, and ruined metacritic score. Way to go… morons
That was some shitty review. Not only does it sound like the reviewer doesn’t understand or sucks at the combat(which is admittably challenging) it’s also making way too big of a deal out of the game not spoon feeding you with all the info. This game requires you to think a little, take some time and research of what’s going on. I was a newcomer to Witcher 2 on PC when it released in 2011. With all the balancing they’ve done to the game(especially the EE) as well as a tutorial, extensive info and better designed… everything you bash it for being vague about its mechanics, you wouldn’t have survived the first chapter of the game on PC. They’ve done so much to make the game more user friendly since the launch and it’s pretty much in perfect balance. Only thing I’d complain on the consoles would be the checkpoint system with the lack of quicksave.
Oh and that comment about a 360 controller… The PC version supported the 360 controller since the launch and that’s how I played most of the game through on my first playthrough.
I know that the Dragon Age Origins review on this site is done by different people but it’s the same site and they gave it 95/100. It’s at least equally vague about all the stuff you can do in the game. It’s much more complex than Witcher 2 and the 360 port is not exactly the best.
This review is borderline retarded.
Only other explanation is that author wrote it on hangover and miclicked 9 with 4. Oh those nasty keys, running around the table… Need… more… vodka…
I can respect the reviewers opinion for for not likeing the game. It’s his opinion, and even though I love the game, I understand that it isn’t for everyone. They main sticking point is the score. A 4 out of 10 is for a game that that is bad or broken. This game is neither. A score of a 6 or 7 seems more fitting. Just because a reviewer didn’t like a game doesn’t make it a bad one.
I should be sacked for this review. You only casaul bitch. hatters gonna hate.
Well, hey dont blame yourself, blame everyone else
Honestly this isnt even a review its just random crap that partially seems to have some connection to the game.
But honestly this guy is supposed to be a scifi-writer?! His writing skills seem to be awful, and the same seems to apply to his logics?
To be honest i hate people like him, because they are the reason games get more stupid everytime. I may not have the same ammount of time i used to have for playing games still why even play games when they are so retarded that its almost the same as watching a michael bay movie while besides randomly clicking buttons on your remote control?
no point to comment on this, the comments get deleted by them either way. They don’t like us expressing our opinions about this pathetic review
10/10!
@Chris Carter
I can hardly understand both the review and the score. The Witcher never promised to be easy. It never promised to hold hands. It has an extensive diary that should be read to catch up on the plot, the characters etc.
It’s all ingame. It’s a bit oldschool. It’s what many fans love.
Admittedly, The Witcher 2 could have done many things better. The controls and mechanics are the biggest sore. Being caught up in the middle of a situation you do not yet understand? Happens with many games, ME2 for example. Or Skyrim.
However, even if all the reviewer’s complaints were spot-on, still a 4/10 is an abysmal score! This is not a broken game. This is basically bug-free, beautifully looking game. Perhaps for a different audience then the reviewer (I hate sports games, but I don’t go around rating FIFA 1/10! I just don’t play those), but that shouldn’t change the score. The lowest acceptable score for a fully working game is around 7 I guess. Anything less would have to be properly justified. Here it isn’t. This is a true AAA title and a sole 4/10 review shows that something here is broken.
gamerlimit.com has made a huge mistake and I hope that you will pay for it. I, for example, am not going to keep visiting it unless you will find a time to attempt to make an alternative review on your own.
Fully agree. I hope they will make another review by someone else and swap those reviews on metacritic. It should be forbidden to publish reviews full of misleading informations and lies.
They already hurt themselves, because everyone knows now that this review is only to get clicks from angry users. Nothing else. They are throwing shit on a great game just to got money from ADs.
Somebody should really make a petition to get this review down, it might speed things up a little bit.
I believe that a new review from Chris Carter (who enjoyed Dark Souls) would be much better and objective.
Also a break down of how the overall score came to 4.5/10 will be really appreciated…
Here is the breakdown:
- Money received from the Developer for the review: 0/10
- Ability of the reviewer to comprehend complex plots: 2/10
- General goodwill of the reviewer towards other people: 3/10
- Reviewers interest in establishing his credibility: 2/10
the same here!
Sorry I had to leave a comment to this bullshit. Ahah hilarious review, keep your xbox and leave the good games to the people intelligent enough to understand them.
A game for adults? Yes, but publishers should write on the box: “Only for intelligent people.”
NOOBS REVIEW
You sir are an idiot. There is more than 100 PC reviews of the original Witcher 2 and not a single one is complaining about things like you do. And there are 60 positive X360 reviews of this even better Enhanced Edition, to which developers putted their hearts, time and effort and not guess what? Not a single one of those reviews complain about stuff like you do here.
This review is a bad joke, your writing skills are a bad joke, and all of your lies in this article are a bad joke. I hope this site will burn in hell….
This has got to be the worst reviewer on the internet. 4.5/10 for the Witcher 2. Why don’t you troll harder?
Friken hell dudes, what ever happend to freedom of speech!
If you fan bois dont like the review go and find one which makes you feel warm a cuddly!
So what some one has a different view from yourself, you freak out and cry about it!
I never comment on this kind of stuff, but it is getting to the point when sad little fan boy’s need to be told!
I really enjoyed your review, Hunter. I bought The Witcher 2 EE recently but haven’t been enjoying it, and your review really crystallizes my feelings towards the game. Keep up the good work.
Seriously you people need to calm down. Its his opinion get over it. Crying over its metacritic score going down? Really? Its not the end of the world.
So, I’ve really tried, but I can’t understand what the big deal about this review is. If you read other reviews that just happened to give the game a good review, they touch upon many of the same issues Bobby does. Bobby just didn’t enjoy himself enough to look past these faults, and really who cares? How many times does this happen in real life? Someone hypes up a game to be amazing and so when you play it, you find it isn’t? Doesn’t this happen with “amazing” movies or restaurants or anything other blow-out-of-the-water over hyped item you can think about? Guess what, people have opinions and I think Bobby gave a truthful expression of why someone like him may not like the game. For those of you whiners who disagree, guess what? There are other reviews you can find solace in that gave this game a good review. I mean really, calling someone a liar, an idiot or anything other name because you actually somehow felt personally outraged about a review is a legitimate response? Guess what, Bobby clearly didn’t agree with the other writers who gave is a good review and I don’t seem him mocking them. Why? Because at the end of the day he did his job, gave his opinion and locked up shop. Get over it.
Hey Chris Carter, we are waiting for your review for The Witcher 2:EE
, your review for Dark Souls was great. So I’m looking forward for this one too.
Wow. One of best RPGs I have ever played gets score below 7.0? Mind blown right there. I hope that everyone who comes by this review will be wise enaugh to check out others before saying “no” to The Witcher. This game is highly recomended for anyone who enjoys playing RPGs.
I find that the reviewer who played this game didn’t prepare.
But there is one thing clear. The Witcher 2 is a “sequel”, in that sense a gamer who has never played Witcher 1, will not understand Witcher 2. That is what a sequel is supposed to be like.
Witcher 1 is also based of short stories compiled into a book. Obviously a lot of information is lost, just like when books become movies. A clear example is the Harry Potter books and movies.
But lets say you never read the books, which is ok, because if you actually read all the journals in Witcher 1 you will understand everything perfectly!
Witcher 2 continues on from Witcher 1, so of course they are going to assume that you’ve played or at least going to play Witcher 1.
This is a clear rambling of a person who has no idea what the Witcher story is really about, and NO! The are not expected to explain and repeat themselves in Witche 2, when almost everything is clearly explained and shown in Witcher 1.
About the Xbox 360 errors, how does it feel get a shitty port? Because PC players experience that shit all the time.
I do agree with him and I didn’t enjoy the battle system in Witcher 2, yet, I did enjoy that the game was target those familiar already with the first one and the book fans.
The story lacks of real continuity the save export let me wandering: What the hell dude? What about all I did in the last game? Where is it!?
It’s a great game, but not that great either.
Yeah. Actually, it’s all you nobs who are the problem here, not the reviewer.
http://insultswordfighting.blogspot.ca/2012/05/impassioned-plea-for-apathy.html
Witcher 2 is one of best games Don’t listen to this f*&king stupid reviewer.
This review score is the equivalent of the angry/whiny reader reviews on metacritic for mass effect 3 because of the ending. Not a professional assessment of a game. There is nothing in the Witcher 2 that justifies such a low score. There is just too much great game there for the bad things about the game to knock it down that much.
I can see it being scored at 6/10 at the lowest if you really did not like it, but you should be able to objectively look at the positives of the game and see that it is a good game that you just don’t like instead of just instantly labeling it a terrible game.
Also this guy gave game of the year 2010 to Darksiders. Mass Effect 2 came out that year. Enough said.
Loved Witcher 1, disappointed with Witcher 2. This review has the guts to point out some of the things that didn’t work as well.
Hi, Bobby! I love the Witcher 2 (I think it’s in line to be my favorite game this year!). While I disagree with your final rating, I certainly see where you’re coming from… The game is, to put frankly, not accessible. I had to go online to find help on numerous occasions. Though, once I got the hang of it, I found a game that has a more unique personality than most everything that has come out recently. It’s for this reason that I enjoy it; The game has its own unique feel to story and combat that no other game shares.
That doesn’t mean the game is inherently good, however. I really like it, but that’s only *my* opinion. I don’t mind that you disagree, unlike some… This is the internet. People don’t forget how to respect each other here – they only forget why they should bother.
Don’t let the haters get to you.
The level of personal attacks in this comment section just blows my mind. So the guy didn’t enjoy the game as much as you all seemed to. So what?! Like probably 95% of gamers out there, I do a little research before I make a purchase. And if someone bashes a game that I have played and enjoyed, I don’t give two craps. I certainly don’t treat it like a personal attack.
Calling someone a retard, a tool, an idiot etc. just because he dared to make some criticisms makes you all sound ridiculous. It’s a video game.
All of those commentators who are baffled by the review score, read Bobby’s review of Kingdoms of Amalur, and I guarantee you it will all suddenly make sense. It all comes down to expectations, and how dangerous they are. Certain expectations were had for Witcher, and I’m certain that we can all recount stories of how we felt when our own personal expectations have been let down in the past. It’s absolutely no excuse for the kind of vitriol evidenced in this thread, but internet anonymity makes it easy to spew unfounded bile, so go figure.
That said, there is still a place for disagreement, and for discussions that evolve from a measured and polite manner of lodging these disagreements. I disagree completely with the review, not simply because I think Bobby is wrong (which I do), but because all we can truly expect a reviewer to be, is consistent. If you judge harshly, be consistent. If you criticize a poor mechanic in one game, do it in the same way where that mechanic is mirrored in another game. Be consistent.
And yet when comparing your Amalur review with this one, consistency is the last word that springs to mind. I’d argue that the only area one can legitimately argue that Amalur outdoes the Witcher (and I say argue, since I’d argue it doesn’t) is combat. Graphics, dialogue, voice work, storyline are all far stronger in The Witcher 2, yet they count for naught?
Bobby doesn’t owe us anything. He did his job, he wrote a review and expressed his personal opinion. But I’d challenge him to explain how Amalur could score a full 4 points higher than TW2. I’ll be amazed if he can come up with more than half a paragraph.
Nice