I’ve started playing the enhanced edition of The Witcher.  Honestly, I’m not sure it’s going to be my thing.

There are WAY too many cut-scenes; the start of the game was like half an hour!  They are too frequent and too long.  If I want to watch a movie, I’d watch a movie.  I’m playing a game, because I want to actually play.

I don’t find the story that compelling.  There isn’t enough combat, because there is far too much running around.

The battle controls are awkward.  Am I supposed to hover over the monster and wait for the flaming sword?  I don’t know if I’ve ever hit the flaming sword thing properly, because there doesn’t appear to be an animation change or anything.  If the monster moves, the hovering stops.  If it wiggles it cuts in and out.

The camera controls are more wishful thinking than actual controls.  You must chose between two fixed camera distances, and you can’t alter the angle.  The the fixed distance, plus the forced vertical angle change when you get near walls makes small spaces awkward. The camera drift is weird and somewhat disorienting if you don’t manually control it all the time.

Adjusting the gamma works on the settings page, but changes nothing in the game, even with a restart.  Waiting for map to load every time I go in or out of a building or change floors is just plain annoying.

And it feels like I’ve been in tutorial limbo FOR-EV-ER.

I’m not going to rate this game yet, because I want to see if it gets better.

Part of a series in which I make lazy, half-assed reviews of games. Other Reviewishes:

Bastion
Citalis
Bunny Programming
Diablo III
Fallout 4 (old)
PlanetZoo
Sigils of Elohim
Torchlight
This War of Mine
The Witcher