Not quite the 'mature dark fantasy' masterpiece I was expecting. A good game, but not all it's cracked up to be.
I should stress that I felt like Witcher 2 was a really lovely game. Graphically, it's beautiful, and at the top of its technical field. The environments are engaging and immersive, and in general you feel like you're getting a narrowed look at a much larger world. However, I feel like the game hasn't lived up to the hype I've heard about it.
The bright colors of the character models, particularly their clothing, makes me think of Harry Potter less than a medieval-inspired Feudal society. The language used (particularly the consistent use of the word 'plow' in place of another expletive that shall remain nameless) seems juvenile, unnecessary and annoyingly repetitive after being used about fifty times over the course of the prologue. The combat system seems rigid, since you start the game being able to perform nearly every move or spell you are able to unlock, and was definitely not as fluid as the systems we've seen in games like Assassins Creed or Batman: Arkham City. The RPG elements seem rigid and constrained, since the bonuses gained from skill trees are predominantly buffs and have little bearing on how the game is played aside from making your character tougher and stronger. The plot seems derivative and unoriginal (how many times can we seen elves, dwarves, dragons and other staple fantasy archetypes recycled?), and I felt like I was dropped into the middle of the story with very little explanation from the very start. What's more, without having played the first game, I felt very little attachment to the characters, nearly all of whom the Witcher seems to know already, making the character introductions vague and haphazard.
The auto-save points on the console version are few and far between (in spite of the fact that the auto-save symbol kept appearing!), and more than once I found myself having to replay a half-an-hour of gaming because I forgot to save before venturing into the wilderness. I felt like I was playing an old Sierra adventure game at times, I was having to stop and save so often (a problem that would have been made non-existent with the simple addition of a quick-save button). Not to mention that I would have to consistently rewatch scripted-scenes when I died because of poor checkpointing.
And finally, I don't feel like there was anything original or new in the entirety of the game; the combat plays like a grown-ups version of Fable, the plot feels like another Tolkien-esque rehash (with a 'mutant' added as the main character), and the RPG elements are basic spells, simple skill trees, and simple alchemy and crafting systems added in.
Look, I'm happy to concede that I might be missing something in this game. Maybe if I'd played the first game, I'd feel better about continuing Geralt's epic quest to regain his memory (though the amnesiac hero is such a cloying cliche that I sincerely doubt it). But as I haven't played the first Witcher, and anyone who only has access to an X-Box is unable to play the first Witcher, I am left with no choice but to review the game as a stand-alone title.
As a stand-alone title on the 360, Witcher 2 plays nice, but it is not a 9/10 game. It's lucky to get the 8/10 that I am giving it, and it gets that because it has a nice sense of cohesion in all its individual elements. Everything fits together well and has been well planned out. But if you're looking for something beyond a slightly-more-grown-up version of Fable (and believe me, you'll do you're fair share of dive-rolling in this game, as in the Fable series), then you'll have to look elsewhere.