Review! The Witcher 2: Enchanced Edition

System:  PC (also available on Xbox 360)
How far did you get:  One completion

The Witcher 2, a game originally released for the PC and later ported to the Xbox 360, is the sequel to a game where you play as Geralt of Rivia, a white haired monster slayer who seems to have lost his memory.  The Xbox 360 version was released as the Enhanced Edition from the start, and the PC version was updated to the Enhanced Edition for free when this happened. 

The most notable addition is that there is a legitimate tutorial.  The original game had an opening that sort of acted like a tutorial, but it didn't really tell you how to do anything.  To be honest, the new tutorial isn't that helpful either.  Rather than tell you what keys to press, it will give you a general idea of what button to press.  For instance, instead of "press left click", it would say "press the attack button."  At one point I was actually stuck in the tutorial because I didn't know which button threw bombs, and I actually had to exit back to the main menu to access the key configuration. 

Once you get through the tutorial, you're in for a really deep, mature story.  Every decision you make in this game has consequences, and for everyone that you do something good for, someone else is going to get screwed over.  Every time you are in a position to make a decision, there is never a real right answer, and it makes for a really intriguing experience.  At the end of chapter one, you are given a choice on whether to side with one of two different factions, and chapter 2 and 3 are vastly different depending on which you choose. 

The PC version is stunning to look at.  In fact, the only PC games that probably look better than this are the last two Crysis titles.  It does require a very powerful PC to run on Ultra, and a pretty good one to run at all.  It manages to load big open spaces without a hitch, and look absolutely amazing in the process. 

The game is designed in an interesting way, too.  It's not quite open world, but it's not quite linear either.  It's a bit like Dragon Age, but more open world.  It has a prologue, 3 main chapters, and an epilogue.  In each, you are exploring entirely different areas, but most of the time you are allowed to explore them at your own pace, and you can do whatever quests you want to do in whatever order you want to do them in.  Side quests are entirely optional, but the rewards make them worth it.  The side quest stories are also incredibly in depth and no less interesting than the main quests.

The combat is a mixed bag, though.  It's different from any western style RPG I've played, but it doesn't always pay off.  The controls are not very tight.  There's a delay when you click to swing your sword, making the game feel almost like a free to play MMO.  Fortunately, it is in depth and challenging enough to keep you feeling engaged.  While many games of this sort will have you relying on health potions and healing magic to keep you alive, The Witcher 2 wants you to not need to do something like that in the first place.  The idea is to use buff potions on yourself before battles, so you'll survive the fight.  If you're getting low on health in a fight, you're just going to have to play better, buy or craft new armor, or use different potions before the fight next time.

The crafting system is a mixed bag, too.  The mechanics of it are actually quite good, but you only need it for particular things.  If you do all the side quests, you'll almost never need to craft armor or swords, as the side quests give you some really awesome gear.  Potions and enhancements are a different story.  They aren't exactly lying around to pick up in most cases, so you're either going to need to buy them, or craft them.  Considering how plentiful ingredients are, you'd be silly not to just craft them in most cases. 

The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition is truly a must play for fans of the western style RPG genre.  Despite a few snags, it's unique, challenging, nice to look at and tells one of the best stories the genre has seen yet. 

Rating:  88/100

Review! Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers

System:  Nintendo 3DS
How far did you get:  One completion

Like most Shin Megami Tensei games that have released in the past 10 years or so, Soul Hackers is a side story to the main entries in the series.  Soul Hackers is a bit different, because it's actually one of the first side stories, released on Sega Saturn in 1997.  The game has been updated and ported to the 3DS, and is available in the US for the first time ever. 

As the game has eluded us in the states for so long, it garnered a reputation of being one of the best Shin Megami Tesnei games, causing fans of the series to be rather frustrated until this game was finally announced for released here.  The truth is, there isn't anything particularly special about Soul Hackers. 

With the exception of the sprite art, this game is full of visual ugliness.  The dungeons are all bland and boring.  I spend most of my time in dungeons looking at my map on the bottom screen, as I knew I wouldn't miss anything on the top screen.  The cinematic movies were all ported as is from the Sega Saturn version, and they look terrible.  It almost looks like stop motion, which might have been cool if that's what they were going for, but I don't think it was. 

The amount of fun your going to have with this game depends a lot on how long it takes you to figure out how to actually play it.  As a jrpg, you expect a certain amount of stat handling, but this game doesn't make it obvious as to what you should do with certain stats.  For instance, there is are 2 currencies in the game, macca and magnetite.  Macca is just your money, but magnetite is where things get confusing.  Magnetite is required for your summoned demons to live.  If you run out, they take damage for every step you take.  You also get magnetite for winning battles, but you don't get macca.  If you want macca to buy things, you're going to need to stockpile magnetite and sell it for macca.  If you try playing the game with 4 demons summoned at all times, you're never going to be able to stockpile any magnetite, which is a fact I didn't come to realize until I was about halfway through the game.  I thought I needed my demons to win fights, but the truth is, you only need them for bosses.  If you build your two human characters right, you should be able to defeat all the regular enemies using only them.  In fact, you'll find that fighting regular enemies is actually much easier when you don't summon demons, because you won't have to worry about trying to keep them alive and you won't spend magnetite trying to heal them.  Once you figure that out and buy some anti-death magic armor for you two humans, the game quickly becomes the easiest Shin Megami Tensei game.  The hard part is trying to figure it all out. 

Soul Hackers also doesn't help you out much when building your human characters.  When you level up, you are allowed to distribute points into whatever affinities you want to.  While this sounds great, the game doesn't tell you that your main character never learns any magic, despite what you do.  So you may spend the first part of the game throwing points into magic and intelligence on your main character for absolutely no reason.  Fortunately, I decided from the start that I was going to use my main character as a tank, but not everyone will do this.

On the more positive side, the battle system is just as great as it is in any Shin Megami Tensei title.  It doesn't have the press turn system that some of the newer games do, but it does focus on buffs and taking advantage of enemy weaknesses.  The demon recruiting system is as in depth and fun as it is in any SMT game, as well, though I found the personalities began to repeat themselves far too early in the game. 

The story is fairly good for it's time, but it didn't impress me as much as other titles in the series, and reminded me more of Persona than a main series game.  It's dark, but not as dark as I had hoped.  The main cast of characters, called the Spookies, are a hacker group trying to explain all the strange things happening around the city.  They all have pretty distinct personalities, but I didn't get all that attached to any of them.  The ending was pretty lame, too. 

Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers would probably be a pretty good starting point for anyone looking to get into the series, as long as they can figure out how to play it fairly early on.  I'm less inclined to recommend it to Shin Megami Tesnei purists, though.  It's a bit too easy, the story isn't really up to par, and the visuals and sound weren't very good. 

Rating:  68/100

Review! The Last of Us

System:  Playstation 3
How far did you get:  One game completion, played around with multiplayer

Naughty Dog, the developer behind the incredibly well received Uncharted series, has returned with what will likely be the last game they make on the Playstation 3, at least exclusively.  The Last of Us is a stealth driven survival horror game set in a post-apocalyptic United States.  This is clearly a different kind of game than Uncharted, so if you expected this game to play like Uncharted in an apocalyptic setting, you might want to get into a different mind set.  It has the same visual style and great storytelling as Uncharted, but controls more like Resident Evil and plays more like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell.

The controls are what stop this game from being one of the better games I've played recently.  The combat design is actually really well done.  The enemy AI is great, the buildings are all strategically laid out, and the stealth system actually makes sense.  Unfortunately, maneuvering around enemies is an absolute pain, particularly after they've spotted you and you're fighting for your life.  Despite what many people will say about this game, it is absolutely in your best interest to attempt to never be seen and play the game as stealthily as possible.  Not doing so will put you in some of the most annoying situations I've encountered in video games.

The zombies are where this is most frustrating.  They're harder to sneak up on than humans, more difficult to kill once you do sneak up on them, and god help you if they've noticed you're there.  I consider myself a pretty calm gamer (and person in general), but this game had me yelling and getting very close to throwing my controller.

While the enemy AI is pretty amazing, the partner AI is the absolute opposite.  Despite who I had running alongside me, they were almost always getting in my way.  The game doesn't have the nice feature where you push people aside like Assassin's Creed has.  Fortunately, for some reason, the enemies never seemed to notice them.  It's bad game design, but I was happy to catch a break.  If my partner is going to run around like a moron, at least they aren't screwing up my stealth strategies.

On a more positive note, the game tells a wonderful story.  It has a few dips middle, but it starts strong and ends strong, and most of the game that doesn't involve you actually playing it was pretty awesome.  While the event scenes were all very well done, you get the most from the story when listening to the chatter between Joel and Ellie, the main characters.  At first they're relationship is a bit off putting, thanks to Joel telling Ellie what to do and Ellie just doing it, but it doesn't take long before they form an interesting, albeit complicated relationship.

Visually, it makes you wonder why we need new consoles.  If all developers were as skilled at making beautiful looking games as Naughty Dog, I'd be perfectly happy sticking with my Playstation 3.  It looks at least as good as Uncharted 3, and at times even better.  There was a particular scene where Ellie is hunting a rabbit, and the animation on the rabbit was mind blowing.  The Last of Us uses the in game engine the whole time, and it was hard to believe in many instances.

The combat itself is at least pretty set up to be pretty interesting.  If you like the thrill of not having enough ammo and supplies in a world full of dangerous things, you're going to like what's going on here.  This isn't a third person shooter.  You're never going to have 100 bullets for your gun.  In fact, you'll rarely have 20.  Certain zombies can only be taken down with certain types of weapons, which can be frustrating, but it keeps you on your toes.  For instance, you can't punch a clicker.  It will bite you.   

There's a crafting component in the game that adds a lot to the survivalist environment and gives you something to do besides hide and kill stuff.  You can't ignore it, as you're going to need healing supplies, and a few of the other components you can craft are incredibly useful when you're in a tough spot.  Most of your down time in this game will be spent scavenging through houses and building looking for crafting components.  They're one of the few things in this game that are plentiful.

The multiplayer is plagued by the same problems the main game has, and it's all a bit too simple.  Both multiplayer modes are survival style modes, which isn't anything you haven't seen before.  It's a lot like a stripped down version of Uncharted 3's multiplayer, only there is less ammo and you don't hug walls when you crouch next to one.

The Last of Us is a decent game, but a better interactive story.  I'd be more inclined to recommend it to someone that likes Resident Evil and stealth shooters than I would someone that likes Uncharted.  I certainly don't think it lived up to the hype, but it is worth looking into for the story. 

Rating:  74/100

Progress through The Witcher 2 and Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers

Here's a video update for where I am in the two games I'm trying to play.