The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

…has, with the most recent batch of screenshots from the game, confirmed what CD Projekt RED senior producer Tomasz Gop boldly stated in a March 2010 developer preview, that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings would be “the best-looking RPG you’ve ever seen.” 1)http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcph86_the-witcher-2-dev-diary-0-the-begin_videogames, 4:39

Above, the detailed greens of the grasses contrast against the charred, smouldering red hues of a battlefield partially shrouded by smoke, together with the dynamic silhouettes and tense poses struck by soldiers and burned-down tree trunks standing in the horizon, creates one of the most beautiful low fantasy vistas that I have yet to behold. Despite all the aforementioned detail, a great degree of visual clarity and readability remains, seemingly in large thanks to a lighting scheme that accentuates the characters scattered on the battlefield.

If graphics alone do not make The Witcher 2 seem like a must-buy, what really seals the deal is how Gop revealed earlier this month that CD Projekt RED have, in their implementation of the game’s combat system, “been inspired [by Batman: Arkham Asylum]. I’m not hiding this. We have.” 2)http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-25-the-witcher-2-were-not-afraid-of-dragon-age-interview?page=2

Like Red Dead Redemption before it, The Witcher 2 seems to be really pushing forward the art of functional and cohesive visual design in video games. The only question that truly remains now is how to best acquire the forthcoming Collector’s Edition – and if you’re a collector spirit like us, find that suitable spot for the cheesy Geralt bust that comes with the whole dang shebang.

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ScummVM/GOG.com Freebies

We’ve done lots of adventure-related coverage for the past few months, including reviews on Downfall and the Blackwell series. This time around, I would like to bring to your attention some older commercial adventure games that you can access for no price tag at all!200px-ScummVM_logo

Firstly. Yahtzee’s Chzo Mythos special edition versions are still free. Also available, for no dineros, on the ScummVM website, are Beneath a Steel Sky, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Lure of the Temptress and Drascula: The Vampire Strikes Back. There is some variation from game to game, but most do have downloads available for different language distributions and talkie/floppy versions accordingly.

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GOG.com Fallout Editorials

GOG.com have recently published two interesting Fallout editorials, full with commentary from original Black Isle Studios game designers: Tim Cain, Chris Taylor and Chris Avellone.

The first editorial discusses Fallout 1, and touches – among other diverse topics – on how the team ultimately settled on devising SPECIAL instead of utilizing GURPS or D&D, and how the team came to settle on the more transparent register:

“We picked up on the ‘less is more’ storytelling style, and didn’t fully explain everything,” confirms Taylor. “I was a little shocked to read some of the message boards when the game came out and players were filling in the bits that we purposely–or accidentally–left vague.”

Against this backdrop I find it very intriguing that Chris Avellone should have put out the incredibly interesting Fallout Bible series that detailed the game intricately and specifically. Elsewhere, Cain hits the nail on the head in describing the game, ultimately, as a binary construct: “…funny but dark, nostalgic but futuristic, optimistic but depressing”.

The second article, then, deals with the sequel.

Unsurprisingly, none of the interviewees find the second game better than the first – Taylor cites a lack of consistency, Cain believes both its humour and pacing were ‘off’. Lead designer Avellone nonchalantly states the obvious, that Interplay was already hurting badly for funding and that the staff at hand was simply too limited to produce a bug-free game of such immense scope in a ridiculously modest timeframe of 10 months, and endearingly reminisces how the team worked on

“…the boxing ring rules in New Reno literally in the last hour before the game was scheduled for its final submission.”

In an interesting turn of events, the latter piece also notes that Chris Taylor is still working on Interplay’s “V13” Fallout MMO – despite co-creator Jason Anderson recently leaving the project for inXile – and Bethesda delivering a claim to Interplay over an assumed breach of contract. Taylor has commented on the topic as late as April 15th, in a thread on the Interplay forums, stating, “We are still developing Project V13.”

For those interested, there are other editorials available on the site.

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