The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings

The Witcher 2 Assassin's of Kings was released on May 17, 2011 and was developed by the studio CD Projekt RED.  It is the second game in the Witcher series and will be followed up by the much anticipated The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which is expected to be released sometime in 2014.  The game was developed in the REDEngine by CD Projekt RED, allowing the developers to create nonlinear RPGs, instead of licensing out the Aurora game engine that was used in the development of its predecessor The Witcher.  As a result of the change in engines, CD Projekt RED was able to build the game without having to sacrifice gameplay, story, etc.

Geralt of Rivia

The Plot:

The plot of The Witcher 2 is a continuation of The Witcher that was released in 2007.  The player takes on the role of the famous Witcher Geralt of Rivia.  One month after the events of the first game, Geralt finds himself acting as the bodyguard for Foltest, king of Temeria as he attempts to put down a group of rebels that are holding two of Foltest's illegitimate children in a nearby castle town.  Once the assault on the castle is successful, Foltest is murdered by a large Witcher and Geralt is left to take the blame for the assassination.  From there, Geralt embarks on a mission to bring the true assassin to justice and clear his name.  Along the way, Geralt will meet other characters of either human, elven, or dwarven descent that will help Geralt during the  course of his journey.  In addition, other challenges such as giant monsters and curses will be presented to the witcher and must be resolved before Geralt can continue on his mission.

Geralt and King Foltest

Foltest murdered

The Setting:

In the world of The Witcher games, there are two primary groups of nations, the Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire to the south of the kingdoms.  Over the years, Nilfgaard has attempted to conquer the Northern Kingdoms and prior to the events of the first game, the Northern Kingdoms had united to stop a major Nilfgaardian invasion.

The story of The Witcher 2 occurs across several locations in the Northern Kingdoms.  These locations involve a small trading post called Flotsam, a section of one nation called Upper Aedirn that is currently the site of a war between the kingdom of Kaedwen and the forces of Aedirn's crowned prince, and finally a town by the name of Loc Muinne.

The Player Makes The Story:

Throughout the course of the game the player will be placed in situations that will require Geralt to make a choice of how to resolve a situation, and at the end of each chapter Geralt will have to choose to either side with the humans or the elves.  Each time the player has to make a major decision, the story will branch off into a new direction and at the end of the game, the player's choices results in one of multiple endings.  Normally, games that have branching storylines don't actually result in unique multiple endings, however The Witcher 2 accomplishes this with incredible ease.  Finally each major decision made by the player has an effect in the story of The Witcher 2.  Most other games would only have the player's decisions affect the end of the game's story and the stories of future games.

The Gameplay:

Combat:

Combat in The Witcher 2 could be classified as a free flow style, where the player chains together his/her own combos using fast hits and heavy hits, although the game does not keep track of how many hits the player has landed.  To perform a fast strike the player uses the Left Mouse Button and to land a heavy strike the player uses the Right Mouse Button.  When fighting with swords there are two types of swords that Geralt can use.  The first sword is a steel sword which is meant to be used on human enemies.  The second sword is a silver sword that is meant to be used on most forms of monsters throughout the game.

 

Geralt fighting enemy humans

In addition to using swords, the witcher also has a large assortment of potions, traps, bombs, and projectile weapons that can be used to aid the witcher in battle.  The primary use for the potions are to increase various stats such as sword damage or vitality regeneration, while the traps, bombs, and projectiles can be used to inflict damage and status effects on enemies.  Each of these tools must be crafted either through alchemy or using a craftsman.

The final weapon in Geralt's arsenal is a group of five magic symbols that can be used to stun enemies, trap them in place, or protect Geralt from attacks.  Throughout the game the player will run across several occasions that will require the use of magic to continue in the story.  It is impossible to make it through the entire game with only using one style of combat.  This is interesting because other games will present the player with different ways to fight enemies, but the player can easily play through by using whichever combat style he/she chooses.

 

Inventory:

The inventory system for The Witcher 2 works in a similar way as the inventory in Skyrim.  Each item that the player can pick up has a set weight, such as 0.5; the player has a preset weight limit, about 250.  For every item that is picked up by the player, the weight of the object is added to the weight of the player's inventory.  For example if the player picks up an item that has a weight of 2 the weight of the player's inventory changes from 123/250 to 125/250.  If the weight of the player's inventory ever exceeds 250, then the player's movements will be unable to run and must drop items from his/her inventory if he/she wishes to run again.  Overall, this system helps to keep the player from keeping every item that is picked up over the course of the game and there are plenty of spaces for the player to either store excess items for a later period, or the player can sell whatever items he/she does not want.

The Inventory Screen

Leveling Up:

As the player progresses through the story, his/her character will receive experience points that will allow the player's level to increase.  When the player levels up, he/she will receive a skill point that can be spent in the Character Menu of the game.  In the Character Menu, there are three paths that the player can choose to evolve his/her character.  They could make Geralt a better swordsman, alchemist, or mage, however, for the first eight levels the player can only spend points on skills under the Witcher category, which is equivalent to basic training for Geralt.

The Character Menu

Once the player unlocks the other three paths, it would be wise to select one path to follow and spend all of your points on that skill tree.  This is primarily because of the level cap placed on the player.  After the player reaches level 35, the player character will stop receiving experience points from defeating enemies and completing quests.  As an example, whenever I play The Witcher 2 I tend to spend most of my points in the Swordsman skill tree.  As a result, my character becomes so powerful with a sword that no enemy, or group of enemies, can take more than a couple of swings from my swords before all enemies are defeated.

The Graphics:

The graphics for The Witcher 2 can easily be described with a few simple words: Amazing, Beautiful, Unreal, and Gorgeous.  Each and every character has incredible detail from head to toe, and the clothing on the characters actually seem like the kind of clothes that people would have worn in medieval times.  Each environment is well detailed as well, from cities and forests to war torn battle grounds.  Overall, the graphics of The Witcher 2 are better than most games that have been developed in the Unreal Game Engine.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, The Witcher 2 is a shining example of what makes an amazing game that will be remembered far into the future.  The use of an in house game engine has allowed the developers to do anything that they wanted when developing the game.  The branching storylines are well written and executed, all the systems such as combat, inventory, and character development flow perfectly together, and the graphics are unlike anything that I have ever seen in a videogame.  The first game was great and The Witcher 2: Assassins of  Kings was infinitely better.  That being said, you cannot call yourself a gamer unless you play this game. 

Saints Row The Third

 

On August 20, 2013 Volition plans to release the next game in their Saints Row series, Saints Row 4.  Therefore, in anticipation of the upcoming release, this review shall cover their latest game in the series Saints Row The Third, which was released on November 15, 2011 by the, now defunct, company THQ.

The Plot:

The starting point for Saints Row The Third is rather simplistic when compared to the rest of the game.  The player takes the role as the leader of the gang known as the Third Street Saints and the story opens up with the your character robbing a bank in the city of Stillwater.  Joining the player's character are two characters from the previous game, Shaundi and Johnny Gat, in addition to a new character for the game Josh Birk, who runs off midway through the robbery.  After the bank robbery fails, the remaining three characters discover that they tried to rob a bank belonging to a group of gangs called The Syndicate. 

  

The failed bank robbery

 

There are three gangs that make up The Syndicate: The Morningstar, The Deckers, and The Luchadores, and each gang has its own specialized role in the operations of The Syndicate.  After the group escapes from a Syndicate plane, they find themselves in the city of Steelport and must now take down the Syndicate and take control of the city.  Along the way, the main character will come to the aid of others in the city that also have a grudge against The Syndicate and gladly offer their assistance to the Saints.

Members of The Syndicate

In addition to the Saints fight against The Syndicate, a third party is introduced which is known as STAG, a military group that was formed with the sole purpose of wiping out all gang activity within Steelport.  As a result of STAG's activity in Steelport, the story causes the player to fight back against this specially trained military unit by stealing their weapons and blowing up their bases.  Eventually, this war between The Saints and STAG leads to a meeting with the mayor of Steelport, Bert Reynolds, to deal with a zombie outbreak that was caused by some form of chemicals that STAG was experimenting on.

The Gameplay:

Movement:

There are multiple ways to move around the city of Steelport while playing the game which include: Foot travel, in a car, in a helicopter, in a boat, or in a plane.  When flying a plane, the only direction the player can move is forward and the player can use the W,A,S,D keys to change the direction of the plane.  When on a boat, in a car, or in a helicopter, or on foot The W,S,A,D keys all have the same functionality.  The W key is used to move forward, the S key is used to back up, and the A and D keys are used to turn left or right.  There are several other controls with varying functionality for each form of transportation, such as activating a nitro boost or power sliding when the player is in a car.  Despite the fact that there are several different ways for the player to move around the city, the controls are developed in such a way that makes it easy for the player to switch from one vehicle to another with little to no difficulty.

Flying in a VTOL

Combat:

At the beginning of the game, the only ways for the character to fight back is with hand to hand combat or a pistol.  However, as the game continues, the player will gain access to other weapons such as shotguns, assault rifles, rocket launchers, and satellite guided missles.  This results in the player being able to choose from eight different weapon types at any time in the game world, and each game type offers two or three different variations of the weapon, such as two different pistols and three different shotguns.  Over the course of the game's story, there are missions that will require the player to use a specific weapon, such as a rocket launcher.  Therefore, these particular missions will grant the player the use of unlimited ammo for the weapon during the course of the mission.

Customize Your Character:

One of the best gameplay mechanic for Saints Row The Third is the ability to customize the player's character, at any point in the game.  After the bank robbery, the player will be able to customize his/her character for the game.  In doing so, the player will be able to select the player's gender, build, the character's voice, how the character will compliment and taunt people, and various other aspects that allows the player to turn himself/herself into the main character.  The ability to customize the player character is a mechanic that is featured in several other games, however, what separates the implementation of this mechanic is that the player can re-design the physical appearance of the character at anytime.  Throughout the city of Steelport, there are plastic surgery shops called Image As Designed, and all the player has to do is pay roughly $500 of game world cash and he/she can completely redesign every element of his/her character.

Upgrades and Backup:

As the game progresses, the player will obtain cash from the parts of Steelport that The Saints controls.  That cash can be used to purchase upgrades from the player's phone.  Each upgrade falls under a certain category, some of which include: Health, Combat, Gang Upgrades, and Damage.  The more upgrades that are purchased, the better prepared that the player will be when progressing through the story and/or attempting to take over the city. 

The Upgrade Screen

In addition to buying upgrades from the player's phone, he/she can also call in backup to assist him/her in various situations.  People that the player can call in to help are referred to as homies and the majority of homies that can be called are specifically named characters from the game.  As the game's story progresses, the amount of homies in the player's phone increases.  In addition to calling in homies, the player can also call for a vehicle to be delivered to his/her location in the world.

Taking Over Steelport:

In order for The Saints to eliminate The Syndicate, the player has to take control of the four districts of Steelport away from the other gangs, the game map itself will tell the player which gang controls which district and how much of the district is controlled by The Saints.  To gain control of the city, the player must perform certain actions that allows The Saints to gain more control of a district.  The biggest ways in which the player can take control of districts is to buy property in the city, complete activities that can  be found around each district, and by disrupting operations of the other rival gangs in the city.

Steelport Map with Activities, Buildings, and Gang Ops

Buying Property:

There are a large number of buildings spread throughout Steelport that are owned by the various gangs of The Syndicate.  In order to take control of the city, the player will have to purchase all of these properties, the cheapest of which will cost $1000.  Types of property that the player can purchase includes shops, home bases which are referred to as cribs, and buildings that the player cannot enter.  For each building that is purchased by the player, The Saints gain a predetermined amount of control in the district that the building is located, and the player will earn more money every in-game hour.

 

Buying a piece of property

 Activities and Gang Ops:

In addition to buying property in the city, there are a number of activities that the player can complete to gain control of Steelport.  Each district has four different types of activities, each type has three instances of the activity with varying difficulty.  These activities can include flying around in a helicopter to protect one of your gang members, driving a tank and blowing stuff up, or driving around the city with a live tiger in the passenger seat.  Upon completion of an activity, the player is rewarded with a predetermined amount of money, respect which is used to level up the player, and more control over the district that the player is in.  However, unlike buying property, the player can replay any activity at any point in time to gain more money and respect.

One of the Activities the Player can perform

The final way to gain control of the city is by disrupting gang operations, or gang ops as the game calls them, within Steelport.  There are locations in the city where these gang ops are located, which is merely a collection of rival gang members.  To clear a gang op the player simply has to kill all the targeted members in the area without leaving the area or being killed.  Unlike completing activities, gang ops can only be accomplished once per instance and are relatively easy if the player should choose to attack gang ops from the safety of a helicopter.

Disrupting a Gang Op

Design:

Character Design:

Saints Row The Third contains a full cast of characters, each one with a unique and colorful personality.  The physical appearance and personality of most of the characters in the game tend to follow some form of stereotype, most characters are overdressed since they are in a gang, the women are well endowed, the FBI agent is a tech geek who isolates herself from people, etc.  Normally these stereotypes would be a minor annoyance, but they actually fit well with the rest of the game.

The Saints gearing up at a Safehouse

Final Thoughts:

Overall, the systems for the game are well designed and implemented and help to make the game incredibly fun.  The characters are entertaining and help move the story.  The story is hilariously over the top and memorable.  The only problem is that sometimes the AI acts up during missions, but other than that Saints Row The Third is an amazing game.