Yes. I've been looking forward to the game for over a year, and was disappointed to see that the reviews weren't that great. But I was undeterred. It's made by the same people who made Baldurs Gate and Champions of Norath, which are some of my most favorite multiplayer console rpgs.

The graphics are a bit underwhelming for a game made in last 2011, but not horrible. There are skill trees like you find in several rpgs, but I think you'll probably end up learning most of them in one playthrough. The dialogue is a bit like mass effect (almost exactly like mass effect) where you can make choices and stuff, and investigate topics further. I don't think there's an equivalent to paragon/renegade, so that is a bit lacking, but i'm not sure. There are a lot of zones. At least thirty, and not including bonus challenge zones. It took me and my friend like four hours just to complete the first zone which was in Fornost Forest, and we're not exactly newbies to rpgs.

The combat system is neat, but a bit clunky at times. It sort of hack and slash hybrid, a bit god of war -ish. You have spell hotkey wheels, which is not uncommon, but there are several of them and it can get a bit confusing as to where the spells are placed. Also, if you are in the middle of a move, they won't pop up at all. But, I do enjoy the combat. When you damage a person enough, it goes into a slow motion mode where you can decapitate and decimate an enemy, and it's pretty cool, especially when you and your teammate pull off a combo together. Everyone also has a ranged attack, which is nice. You hold down left trigger (almost like bringing up the scope in CoD) and the right trigger fires. You can blow the heads off of enemies and everything.

The multiplayer itself, is interesting. It can drag a bit as the world is more open and there are a few more people to talk to than you'd expect from a Snowblind game. It's a good twenty minutes of talking in Bree before you ever swing a sword, but after that the mission is like 4 hours. But, the first thing you will notice, is that it is an actual splitscreen multiplayer. You don't have to follow your other player around on screen like in other rpgs. You can level up and check out your inventory at any time without stopping the other person from playing, except when the other person triggers a conversation.

There are only three characters to choose from (at least to start. I don't know if there are other unlockables or DLC) They all have voice acting and dialogue which is nice. In two player splitscreen, the third character is actually still with you and is controlled by the computer. I played the mage and my friend the dwarf warrior, so the third guy was the elven ranger, which is handy since he would just snipe everything with his bow pretty much.

You can swap characters with him at the various checkpoints, and that may be the only way to upgrade his gear. I haven't done it yet so I'm not sure, but you can give items directly other party members through the inventory screen. It is also worth noting that every chest can both be looted seperatly by both players, and it will have different loot for both of you, which is a huge upgrade from previous games where (if you were fair) you'd alternate weapons racks and chests. It uses that weird system where you can press A to loot them all, or X to loot individual pieces, which I'm not sure why. There are also salvage piles as well to loot, and crates where both players will get the contents of as well. It took us a bit to figure this out, as one person would see the loot on their screen, while the other couldn't. There are also secret treasure rooms that only certain characters can see. The made will see an arcane symbol and dispell it, while the dwarf will see weakness in the rock structure and smash it. The mage can also pick flowers to make potions. I'm not sure if the others can do anything like that. If a person dies, they can be revived (fps style) by holding down A next to them, and it does get interrupted if you are hit. I'm not sure if they can bleed out, and I'm not sure what happens if everyone dies, as that hasn't happened yet. the npc character will revive you, which is probably one of the best features in the game. My friend loves to rush in and get personal with the dwarf, and I'm glad the npc is there to revive his ass when he inevitable gets his ass kicked by a troll.

The items themselves are nice. Your equipment screen is separated into like 14 different slots. Hat, shoulders, necklace, gloves, bracers, chest, ranged, left hand weapon, right handed weapon, left ring, right ring, pants, boots, waist. The items also come in many flavors, light grey, grey, blue, green, orange, I guess it's the rarity, but it is hard to notice the color while in the inventory screen. Some of the are socketable with rune stones, and some pieces are part of a set which gives set bonuses (very much like diablo), and some items can vary in quality from high, standard and poor, which has a significant increase in cost. Some items also have innate equip bonuses aside from armor. You can get raw stats, bulk health and mana, resistances, elemental damage, and stuff like that. Also, you do have to repair your gear (and sometimes the people sell you already damaged gear, which is annoying). It's another money sink, but you don't have to do it too often.

The game is actually quite well balanced. You soon realize that you can't just brute force your way through everything, as you will chug down more potions than you have, and they are expensive, so teamwork will be necessary. Normal mode is fairly challenging as is, and there are two more difficult modes than that. You will start taking spells that do stuff other than blast enemies to hell, such as a dome shield that prevents projectiles from hitting you (Which is a huuuuuuuge lifesaver in the Barrow Downs), and the dwarf gets a war cry that gives health regeneration. In addition, some spells can be upgraded even further through the talent tree to add more bonuses. The dwarf's warcry can revive teamates later on, and I think the projectile sheild can be detonated like a bomb.

So yes, I definitely recommend this game. Don't listen to the reviews and try it for yourself.

 

How powerful of a machine are you running it off? I'm stuck on a semi-decent laptop and I just want to be sure it works for me.

 

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine for me. It would be better if they use other chapters instead of the UltraSmurfs.

 

Cave Story +

Dark Souls

Skyrim

Honourable mention to Skyward sword because I enjoyed it, but I can't honestly call it a great game.

 

I think that the Witcher 2 is the best game this year. I just love the world,the characters and the way the story is told (And how that story continues the one from the books)...
The graphic is great and the Gameplay is also very good. And it is one of the few games where difficult really means difficult.

I also don´t understand why everyone loves Skyrim so much... And how you find the motivation for replaying it. I mean there aren´t exactly many choices to make that would make the experience different. And while the world is big and has many quests in it i have to say that there are too much quests in it... A dungeon every 5 meter is just something that destroys my believe in the game world. And the story just sucks... i mean in Oblivion at least some of the stories were great but in Skyrim they are all boring. Only the Daedra quests are at least somewhat interesting..

 

Regarding the Witcher 2, do you need to have played the first game to follow it? My laptop is nowhere near powerful enough to play it, but it's being ported to X360 and I'm considering getting it when it's released.

 

Well you can probably understand and follow the story if you just read a summary of the last game but to understand the relationship Geralt has with the many NPC´s and get the many subtle hints that are in the game you should have played the first game... and to be honest even then you will not understand everything. If you really want to understand the game and the story behind everything you have to read the books, because the Pc games are just a continuation of them.

 

Hmm. Fair enough. Got loads of games to finish before it's even close to release anyway, so I'll think about it.

 

From someone who played the witcher 2 but not the witcher, it can stand on it's own merits. Not saying there aren't things to miss, and some things you'll have to infer to a degree, but it's not really necessary to enjoy it.