Atari The Witcher review

Deep, story-led role-playing games are rare these days.

Perhaps that's why The Witcher has been hailed as game of the year in some quarters. Sadly, it isn't. Poor translation from its original Polish, an experimental but irritating combat system and a strong vein of sexism hold it back from greatness.

There isn't much like this around at the moment, though, and it's great to see someone having a thoughtful stab at it. While other games of a similar type resort to mindless hack and slash, The Witcher focuses on telling a tale, subverting Tolkien stereotypes and offering up moral choices. Based on a renowned series of Polish novels, the game casts you as mutated monster hunter Geralt. He's recovering from a bout of amnesia, and has lost most of the incredible skills he demonstrated in the 20-minute cutscene at the start of the game. To save the world, he must fight a lot of monsters and complete various quests, both mandatory and optional, until he's strong enough to tackle the really bad guys.

The tale has a few neat twists, but it's told unconvincingly. None of the voice actors seems to have had any direction, and they speak as if they're having entirely separate conversations, giving the acting a B-movie feel.

You have a fairly impressive degree of choice along the journey. There are plenty of non-compulsory fights, quests and women to bed in a nasty, but mercifully optional, minigame that rewards you with a smutty collector's card for every successful seduction.

The combat is a love-it or hate-it affair that involves clicking the mouse in time to onscreen prompts, rather than real-time action or turn-based strategy. It's certainly novel, but it can feel vague and clumsy. This rings true for The Witcher all over. Its attempts at ingenuity and complexity are admirable, but they are never quite refined enough to make this game the triumph it might have been.