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The Witcher (PC)
by Danscomp
The Witcher is a Polish computer role playing game based on the character created in a series of short stories written by the Polish author Andrzej Sapowski. The protagonist of both story and CPRG is Geralt of Rivia. A mutant that looks suspiciously like either Elric of Melnibone or Drizzt Do'Urden. The idea is he looks this way due to ... his body being altered by chemical concoctions designed to make him better at his day job. Killing monsters.
Such people are known as Witchers. Geralt is widely known as the best of them. Shunned by human society, they are nonetheless highly sought after for their specialised skills in a medieval European style setting. Views can be top-down or over the shoulder. You have three fighting styles that you switch to, depending on the situation. Fast, heavy and group.
Fast or heavy depends on what you're fighting. More agile enemies are best fought with the former, heaver, hulking beasties with the latter. Group is, I hope, self-explanatory. You have two swords, one of steel and one of silver. Some supernatural enemies cannot be harmed with steel.
Potion, oil and poison making is a large part of the game. Often you will prepare specific concoctions in advance of setting out on a set quest. The storyline itself is nothing special. I found it clichéd and repetitive. The graphics are ok, but nothing special and the very limited combat quickly pales. I didn't like Diablo, and this often feels just like that game, though the loot system is based less around arms and armour, and more ingredients and money.
There is a morality system in play, with consequences that are never immediately apparent, and this is the best element of the game for me. It is not enough to offset against the weaknesses in character and plot, of which Geralt in particular is blander than a meal consisting of white bread and tepid water. There is an attempt to spice things up with seduction opportunities on some female NPCs. These typically have degrees of nudity. I'm not twelve, though.
It's not often that I lose interest in a CPRG and stop playing it. The Witcher is one that falls into this category. In summary, if plot is unimportant to you, and you enjoy point, click and slash combat, you may well enjoy it. Available for about a tenner, the sequel is considered far better. I've not played it as I was so disappointed with this one.
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC)
by Danscomp
Introduction
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The Elder scrolls is an open world first person CPRG that's been going for quite some time. A Tolkien like world of Angels and Demons, Elves and Orcs. Where you are free to create a character that can hack and slash one moment, and cast fireballs the next. I have played most of the series, ... and from the ones that I have, can safely say that this is undoubtedly the best of any of them.
I remember playing Daggerfall, the second in the series. It was good, but script was lacking. Morrowind had a great setting in the volcanic lands of the Dunmer, the dark Elves. The plot remained rambling, but it was still great fun.
Oblivion, the fourth Elder Scrolls game had some great voice acting by stalwarts such as Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean. It was also graphically disappointing, with a lacklustre setting with cookie-cutter dungeons. a trite main plot, pointless side quests and a general feeling of boredom as you jumped jour away across Tamriel, waving your sword around like it was a feather. Quite why it was highly rated, I never did figure out.
The fifth game finally got it right. We have great voice acting, a superb main plot, side quests that feel as tightly scripted and interesting as the main game, fantastic graphics with spot effects, marvellous sound and bone-crunching combat. Oh, and Dragons.
Setting
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Skyrim is a province of the Empire in the world of Tamriel. The Empire is at a stalemate with the Aldmeri dominion. The Empire consists primarily of Humans. The Imperials themselves, the Bretons (half-elves), the Redguards and the Nords. Exceptions include the cat like Khajit, the lizard like Argonians and the Orsimer (Orcs).
The Aldmeri consists of the Altmer (High Elves), Dumner (Dark Elves) and Bosmer (Wood Elves). The Empire only avoided total defeat at the expense of having the native Nord religion forbidden. There now exists an uneasy peace. To make matters worse, Skyrim is now in civil war between the existing order, which regards being part of the Empire as good for Skyrim and the separatists who view the Empire as an occupying foreign power that forbade worship of Talos.
Skyrim is a mountainous place, with hilltop villages, crumbling castles, pounding waterfalls, high cliffs, forbidding caves, barrows full of the walking dead, wild moorland and stinking swamp. It can be a place of great, forbidding beauty as you climb higher and higher, above the snowline, wind driving drifts off the mountainside as the aurora borealis lights your way.
There's great attention to detail. Nord equates to Scandinavian Viking. The locals have accents to match, their dwellings all bear the sort of style and carving that you would expect. From the rudest hut to the largest building. People wander around, doing day to day tasks and commenting on you and their world in particular.
Character creation
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You begin proceedings as a prisoner, one of a number of rebels to be executed. The fact that you are not a rebel or a loyalist means little to the Imperial commander who views you as part of a job lot. Wrong time, wrong place. It is hardly a spoiler to say that the axe doesn't quite fall. There is an attack, and you are given the choice of a side to band with just for now.
You are also given a choice of ten races to play as. This includes all the ones mentioned above. The differences are mainly in appearance, though it will change how people regard you. If it seems strange being an Elf in Skyrim, bear in mind that not all Elves are part of the Aldmeri dominion. You will be discriminated against, however. Different races have different abilities. Nords are more at home with two handed weapons and resistant to frost. Khajit have claws which make their unarmed attacks deadlier. Dunmer are part-resistant to fire and can summon (If I remember correctly) the ghost of their ancestor to aid them. And so on, and so forth.
There is a great deal of customisation that can be done. Here, the graphics engine really shines. You can, and I have, spent almost half an hour exploring possibilities in order to get to one I'm happy with. Not just skin colour, body type, sex and facial features. But war paint or earrings, hairstyles, facial hair, tattoos. Even how dirty your face is!
You want a grizzled one-eyed Orsimer? No problem. How about a Khajit who is patterned like a lynx with a Mohican? Sure thing. Just go for it. I've played as a Dunmer with cheekbones you could shave with, deeply grey skin offset by fiery red eyes and a mongol-style drooping moustache. I've been a Nord with war paint emblazoned across my face, plaited hair and a scowl challenging anyone to comment on it.
Gameplay
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Being a first person perspective, you will see the world in front of you and the weapons you use, whether blade, blunt or magical. There are exceptions. Critical hits you make (or are made on you!) will pan out. It all feels very similar to Fallout 3, if you've played that. Alternatively, standing still for any length of time will cause the camera to slowly circle you. It gives an opportunity for you to enjoy the extremely fine detail of what you are wearing, or wish you could afford better.
The graphics are truly superb. Wood looks like wood, metal looks like metal, leather looks like leather. The different materials available to craft from is varied. Everything from iron to Dragon bone. All presented in a smooth, judder free finish. it wasn't always thus. The game was initially plagued by glitches that varied from the amusing to the serious. One example of the former would be a mammoth that would suddenly pop into being a hundred feet off the ground, and immediately plummet to its death. An example of the latter (now fixed) would be the game getting increasingly slower as you played until it was unplayable. It is fine now.
You do have the facility to have a companion. Their interaction is limited to being told what to do and how to act and what to carry. Your companions cannot be normally killed. They just collapse into a defeated pose. The exception is if you accidentally strike them while in this pose, which can result in their immediate and irrevocable death. No resurrection here.
Levelling up allows you to put points into health, stamina or magic. It also allows you to invest in one of many skill trees. They all branch up into more and more powerful abilities. The initial and stackable two weapon skill increases base damage with two handed weapons. Higher branches permit additional types of damage such as bleeding or penetration. Investing in destruction makes your fire, frost or electrical magic attacks more damaging. In a nice touch, you can combine both hands into a single, more powerful version of the spell.
You can learn smithing and can soon create weapons and armour. There are many types, and soon you will elect to champion either light or heavy. You can also craft jewellery. All these items can be enchanted with the appropriate skill and use of soul gems. These are filled by killing non intelligent beings, though a type of gem exists that will also swallow any soul. The more powerful a soul and the more powerful the enchanter, the more powerful the item.
With combat, you can choose to specialise in two handed, single handed and shield, single handed and spell, dual weapons or dual spell. A two handed weapon can be melee or missile. Weapons look and sound meaty. Gone is the waggling feather feel of Oblivion. Enemies shout and scream, threaten and implore, gasp and moan. It is an 18, though there's no nudity. Surprisingly prudish, given that heads get severed, blades slide through chests and out the other side. Hammers crush.
The main plot concerns the return of Alduin, the world eater. A powerful dragon, a race that once enslaved all people, but have been long extinct. Alduin is bringing other dragons back with him, save for he that never went away. How can you defeat a foe so terrible that he feeds on the souls already in Sovengard (Nord Heaven), one that was never, ever truly defeated? The answer to Skyrim's future lies far in its past.
Skyrim is huge, but you don't have to walk everywhere. You can buy (or "earn") a horse, steal one or hop on a wagon. The scenery is truly amazing. Pennants flap in the wind, rain spatters, fog obscures. Torches crackle and rivers run free. There are a number of cities that you can visit through Skyrim and a host of side quests, the majority of which are well worth doing. The best of these side quests are guild quests. For the thieves guild, fighters guild, mage school or the assassins. You can also turn the tide of the civil war, ultimately winning it for either side.
Not only are there a large number of races, there is a large amount of wildlife, including creaking frost spiders, ground-shaking mammoths and their owners, snarling wolves, sabre toothed cats and great cave bears. Snow trolls, the undead and witch-creatures with bird bodies and the faces of old women. Sooner or later, you will also face Dragons. Some breathe fire, some breathe frost or electricity. All are hugely enjoyable to fight, though frequently terrifying. Don't wade into its face swinging, as some of the more powerful ones will simply eat you!
Killing a dragon results in not just booty, but power. You can drink in their souls and use them to activate "shouts" - effectively spells in the dragon's own language. There are many different types of shouts, and soon you will be able to breathe fire of your own.
In summary
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Skyrim is great. There is at least thirty hours of gameplay here. If you do all guild quests and all side quests, you can easily double this. Once the main plot is done, the rewards all seem a little less sweet, so it is advisable to leave that until last. There are a number of expansion packs available, but I've not bought any.
Is it all sweetness and light? No. The main limitation with the Elder Scroll play as you want philosophy results in anachronisms. A heavily armoured killing machine capable of tip-toeing past all but the most observant guards. Strong enough to wield the most outrageously festooned Daedric two handed weaponry. A weapon that I forged myself, capable of killing even Dragons in a few hits. But I'm also the Arch mage of Winter hold, capable of enchanting the most powerful magical relics the world has ever seen, capable of reducing most vistas to smouldering ruin with but a waggle of my fingers. But I'm also the head of the thieves guild. And the head Assassin.
This utterly shatters any suspension of disbelief. And this is where the design needs to change. I don't want to have a super powered space ninja master chef. I want to have a character that has limitations that mean I can't wait to replay my way through the game as a rogue instead of a warrior, or a cleric instead of a wizard.
Some may argue that I can simply choose not to develop these areas, or not visit those locations, but that misses the point. There should be constraints that chafe. There should be weapons that I can't use. There should be choices I can't make. And ultimately, taking these constraints away makes the world a duller place.
If this were a score out of ten, Skyrim would get a nine from me. Out of five, it would be churlish to award this any less than five stars. Go buy a copy. It is available on PC for a shade over a tenner, or console for a bit more.
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Minecraft Creeper Bracelet (PC)
by thehonesttruth
My boyfriend is something of a game nerd - never happier than when he's sat in front of his computer, playing a game with friends, or by himself. One of the games he really likes is Minecraft - so much so that not only does he play, but he watches videos of others playing too!
So, when I was looking for stocking filler gifts ... for him at Christmas, and came across this Creeper bracelet, I knew this was something he'd quite like.
For those that don't know, Minecraft is a sort of mining and building game - you mine and harvest materials, and use those materials to make tools, weapons, and building materials, with which you build on your world. There isn't really a plot or a story line as such (it's sort of like Lego, but computerised), but one thing that does get in your way is the Creeper, who turns up at night time, and explodes, causing damage to players and the environment. Creepers, appearance wise, are mottled green with a black down turned mouth and eyes. (Apologies if this description is a little vague, I'm not a Minecraft player myself).
The bracelet itself, is a vibrant bright green in colour, and features the creeper face, with it's typically blocky pixellated shape, the mouth down turned. It's made of a sturdy rubber, much like those rubber charity wristbands that were all the rage a couple of years ago. It feels really hard wearing - obviously with this having been a Christmas gift, it's been used plenty since getting it - it's been stretched, fiddled with, in and out of hot water, and nibbled on by an excited puppy, and aside from puppy teeth dents, is as good as new. There is no sign of the colour fading, the rubber perishing, or the black parts scratching.
There are a couple of criticisms though. The first is that the rubber takes some stretching to get over my boyfriends hands (he does have quite meaty knuckles) even though we ordered the large size. The other is that I do think at £5 from Amazon it is rather expensive. I appreciate that it is officially licensed, and that naturally that does put the price up a little, and I also know that most game memorabilia comes at a premium, but even so, had this not been a perfect little stocking filler for a boyfriend that is fiendishly difficult to buy for, I probably wouldn't have spent that amount on what, essentially, is not much more than a bit of rubber.
Overall though, he was really chuffed with this little gift, and has worn it pretty consistently ever since he got it, so I suppose it was money well spent.
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