 |
| |
Preview of: The Witcher | By: Justin Fenico |
19 May-2004 |
|
Set in a world created by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher is a game about a man who has trained to be a warrior his entire life. This man, known as a witcher, is a member of a brotherhood that protects the people from the evils of the land. Killing the undead, werewolves, and other beasts, a witcher earns his living offering protection. |
 |
Using the Bioware’s Aurora Engine, Polish developing team CD Projekt has a visually stunning game in the works. Why use an outdated engine? Simple, the easy use of the engine, the ability to write scripts, and the experience people have with it in respects to RPGs all make for a great combination. There is also the fact that both developing teams are well known friends so I’m guessing that might have had some hefty influence. Giving the graphics engine a new look, it now has a new rendering effect as well as full Direct X 9.0 support. I went into the meeting expecting to see Never Winter Nights with a few added effects; I couldn’t have been more mistaken. Instead of using tile sets like NWN, The Witcher uses full 3d rendered graphics produced from 3d Studio Max. I witnessed some awesome particle effects such as dust inside a cave, lens flares, beautiful skies, water effects, and even some pretty nifty smoke animations. As I said, the lands are pretty well detailed in full 3d grandeur. Just look at some of the pictures and you can see that this is not a NWN clone. CD Projekt also went a step further and hired a master of medieval sword combat to properly record motion capture animations for real time combat. I’m not exactly sure how you become a master in sword combat, unless of course you’re over 200 years old. In any case, the animations look stellar. Using motion capture, the developers are able to implement realistic rag doll physic and a real time combat system. The game has been optimized for a fully immersive single player experience.
The world of Andrzej Sapkowski is a fantasy world filled with your common elements. However, there are certain distinctions that should be noted. Trying to create a compelling story, the world of The Witcher is populated by believable characters. The distinction between good and evil is less clear, and the choices you make affect the storyline. With a reputation system in place there are three possible endings. There are no good or bad choices, just different alternatives. There was one example of a necromancer who is looking for help. In return, the necromancer, (who, by the way isn’t some sort of lich looking stereotype that we’ve all grown accustomed to) will give you a quest item you need to advance. You can either choose to help the poor guy or slay him in his tracks. Much like NWN had choices based on good and evil, so does The Witcher.
Being labeled as an action/RPG, CD Projekt wanted to make the combat system more than just click and watch. They’ve created something that seems to have giving combat a livelier feel than what I’ve seen in other RPG games. In order to get the most out of your attacks, you must click the left mouse button in synch with the animation of the attack. If you’re too quick or too slow the game will let you know. The same can be said for defending. Each block must be in synch with a click of the right mouse button. There is even the feature of different finishing moves which are done with a slow-mo camera effect. The neat thing about the finishing moves is that you don’t always need to hack and slash your enemies until they fall. There are certain moves that’ll knock your enemy down and leave them vulnerable to an early finishing move. Hopefully, if all is done correctly, I’ll actually be able to enjoy combat in an RPG once again.
With only eight months under their belt, CD Projekt still has some work ahead of them. Even though the game ran a bit choppy I expect them to get most of those kinks out in time for next year’s E3. Having a 2005 release date, CD Projekt has plenty of time to make this game a stellar action/RPG title. |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
