Howmaster

This is the best open world RPG ever created and it is one of the best RPG’s ever. I simply loved almost everything about this game. Time Invested: 150 hours (and just started Blood and Wine Exp.) Story/Characters: In comparison to Witcher 2, the main story here is actually pretty unsophisticated and straightforward. However, it is so well written that it is extremely enjoyable. Additionally, the side missions and witcher contracts have great detail and fun. What really makes this game great is the writing and characters. All of your favorite characters return with the introduction of Ciri who you immediately like. It’s the depth and details given to these characters that create these remarkable interactions with Geralt and the player. The writing is stellar and creates the suspension of disbelief that you need to get into this world. Gameplay: I felt that the gameplay here, besides the UI, was largely unchanged from Witcher 2. The biggest change is the UI and it’s a huge improvement as menus and screens are easy to navigate. I thought that loading in this game was almost non-existent, it was great! I could start the game and bam within a minute I was playing. I rarely encountered any bugs as well. My only complaint is that combat is still a little clunky. Sometimes you can find yourself just swinging your sword wildly all over at the air or there is a delay in dodging or rolling. Combat is still fun, but it may be the weakest part of this game especially since it does nothing new. Graphics/Sound: Crazy beautiful; the environment is absolutely stunning! You can easily get lost traveling/exploring which is the best part of an open world RPG. I loved all of the music, but as with some other games that have amazing music, can we please hear it more often!? Sometimes I am out roaming the hills and a tune would be nice. Conclusion: Overall this is was/is one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had playing an RPG. The characters, graphics, lore, music, and story are all fantastic. This is definitely a new benchmark for all RPG’s. If you enjoy adventure, RPG, or just video games in general, this is a must own.

Despite what a lot of people are saying, this is actually a great open world RPG, post-patch of course. I am a huge fan of the series, but this one isn’t as good as its predecessors. Time Invested: 80 hours Story/Characters: This is really the heart of the Mass Effect series. We all want a great story and memorable characters and there are definitely elements of that here, but it’s not on the same level as the series’ previous entries. I did think that the main quest was interesting, but it was actually the planet exploration and loyalty quests that I enjoyed the most. You do encounter some great characters and others that you could care less about so it can be a tossup. I do feel that it gets better the more you play. My biggest complaint about the story is the main villain who is generic and reminds me too much of the main villain from DAI. Additionally, there are a ton of unanswered questions that we may never get answers to. Gameplay: I thought the gameplay here was overall quite good. The UI is easy to navigate and doesn’t seem like a console port at all. The controls for the nomad are smooth and it is a blast to drive. Combat is downright FUN! The jetpack is super sweet, but I wish there were more options for weapons and armor. I really enjoyed the sniper rifle, but got the best one maybe 20 hours into the game so it left me wanting more. One of my biggest complaints is that the space exploring mini game is reduced to nothing more than a waste of time. You basically fly to a planet, launch a probate and click the mouse. It has been so dumbed down that it is no fun at all. Graphics/Sounds: Graphics are downright awesome. Planets are beautifully designed and a blast to explore. I played this post-patch (since I learned my lesson quite early to NEVER preorder a game) and there were no major animation issues. However, I will say that the eyes of the characters looked like everyone was sleepy all the time lol. This is another RPG with a great soundtrack that I wish was played more often. Conclusion: Overall this is a stellar open world RPG. I think it starts out a bit slow, but it grew on me the more I played and I thoroughly enjoyed planet exploring and the loyalty quests. There is a ton of content here to keep you busy. I spent 80 hours on just one playthrough which is awesome! It may not be as good as the other Mass Effect games, but it is certainly worth a buy from any fan of the series or a fan of the genre. It’s not nearly as bad as some make it out to be.

Don’t bother. I really enjoyed the Hitman series on the PS2 and I was excited when I got this game. However, the terrible gameplay and AI assassinated any enjoyment I could have. The story is pretty lame, but that’s fine with me. I can live with that as that is not the reason I would play a Hitman game. Sure the graphics are great, but what does it matter when the gameplay stinks. The controls for the PC version of this are downright just bad. It is just another bad console port. Probably the most irritating part was actually the lack of freedom of what you wanted to do. In previous Hitman games you could find unique ways to complete your objective. Here, there are MULTIPLE times where the game will not let you dress in a disguise to get pass some guards or blend in. It’s like certain characters that would make things easier or logical are off limits because the developers want you to complete the mission some other way. To me that is not what the Hitman games were about. Additionally, there are huge AI problems here. You have like 50 police officers searching a building for a guy and somehow everybody knows everybody. If you get too close or walk too fast even in disguise, uh oh! That must be him because everybody knows everyone! Just so many things that make no sense. I made it to about 10 hours in and thought to myself why I am playing this terrible game. Time to uninstall. Save your money and avoid.

Love this game! A lot of changes from the first Witcher title, but there is much more depth, action, and story here. Story: Get ready to explore a world full of exciting political turmoil and chaos. This new Witcher installment has a lot of in-depth characters and an exciting story which involves political figures, rebels, and mages. You really feel as if your choices and actions shape the game quite a bit as you go along. This leads to a lot of attachment to certain characters and a great amount of replay value. The quests are interesting and engaging. It is nice to see some adult themes being thrown around in a game nowadays too rather than the usual generic boring fetch quests. I really enjoyed the story of this game, much more than the first Witcher. Gameplay: There is a learning curve for combat. Gone are the styles of the first game and, in my opinion, a much better type of combat takes its place. At first, it can be quite difficult which I thought was actually enjoyable. You start with all of your signs and get thrown right into combat with no tutorial which, if you never played the first game, I can see why some complained. For me, I welcomed the difficult combat. It’s a nice change of pace to actually have to use oils and potions to prepare for battle as compared to just running in and button mashing. That being said, there are some targeting issues that can be annoying. You may find yourself having trouble targeting the correct enemies which can become frustrating. All in all combat can be difficult, but it’s not that difficult especially once you get dodging down it then becomes much easier. The skill tree is expended and much more in-depth than many other mainstream RPG’s. However, my only complaint is that the alchemy tree can almost be ignored. I just didn’t find much use for it when compared to the other two. My main complaint with the game is the menus. They look and navigate like a poor console port. It can be a pain to search for certain items as the organization is feeble. Graphics/Sound: Voice acting is top notch here. Geralt, Triss, and all the major players are done with great writing and voice acting. In my opinion the voice acting and writing here blows games like Skyrim and Dragon Age 2 out of the water. The game looks amazing. The graphics here are crazy good, even without playing on max settings. I played on medium and the amount of detail and interaction is outstanding. Conclusion: In my opinion its the 2011 Game of the year, if not RPG of the year. Tons more depth, interaction, and action than most games out there. A really enjoyable experience and a must own for any RPG or adventure gamer.

This game rocks, but it also has a few key issues. Lacks the customization and great story like Morrowind, but combat has been improved and fighting dragons is a lot of fun. There is a ton of content here and the world is amazing! My main gripes about this game are the voice acting, lack of difficulty and bugs. As with all Elder Scroll games, it has a ton of bugs which is a huge pain and eye sore. As for the difficulty, once you get crafting down the game becomes incredibly easy and this also deters from the fun of exploring because you will not get any loot better than what you can make. I think Bethesda only hired about five voice actors for this game. There are waaaaaaay too many characters who sound the same throughout this huge world! Seriously hire more voice actors! After about 100 hours this game becomes boring, but that being said, this is a game you can easily put 100 hours into so its gotta be good! Not as great as Morrowind, but better than Oblivion, Skyrim is definitely a must have for RPG and adventure gamers!

Disappointing. That's what I feel when I think about this game. I absolutely loved DAO and I actually didn't think the second game was terrible. It had a lot of flaws, but it was somewhat entertaining and had some memorable characters. Sadly, I felt DAI was a slightly above average RPG. So here goes: Time Invested: 75 hours. Story/Characters The most important element to me in an RPG is the story and its characters. I did not find many memorable characters in DAI besides the Inquisitor and Morrigan. Morrigan really doesn't even count unless you have played DAO since most of my interest to her stems from unanswered questions from the first game. I didn’t care for any of the companion characters as they all seemed dull and unexciting. As a result, I found myself engaging in less and less conversations with my companions as I progressed through the game because I could care less about them. Additionally, I did not romance a character because, as stated above, I didn’t really like or find any of the companions interesting so why put the effort in. The overall story was just pretty “plain Jane.” Bad guy tries to take over world and good versus evil. Nothing new or really exciting here as well. To be honest I thought it was a bit boring and the villain was lame which added to this factor. There is a lot of content in this game. However, the problem is much of it is mundane. Such as go to spot A to get this and come back to B. The quests just are not very engaging or have much of anything going on. I will say that the world itself has an atmosphere that it adds to the game and I thought it did exceedingly well at looking as a war ravaged land when it needed to. I will say that the world state import was a very clever and unique idea by Bioware. Fans of the previous games will probably enjoy that they are able to customize what happened in the previous two games. Gameplay: The controls and menus for the PC are best described as clunky. The tactical camera is awkward and it will take a little bit to get use to; the whole four times that you do decide to use it. Combat feels like a hack/slash and difficulty is lacking which means it stops being fun after about 15 hours. The only real challenge in combat is fighting the High Dragons, but after your first few, it can be a little tiresome since they have so much HP. Your companions have terrible AI which can be painful at times. They constantly move out of position and fail to follow directions which makes you want slap them. However, the lack of difficulty makes up for their incompetence. The outfits and weaponry look really cool, but as with many RPGs, I wish there was more customization to your character. Speaking of customization, your stats are really dumbed down in this game. Basically you can only pick certain abilities, but your character auto-levels his/her stats. This was quite disappointing. This game came with a lot of bugs. Many of them have been cleaned up, but it still does not run nearly as smooth and clean as it should. The first few days of owning it and dealing with the bugs was terrible. Long load screens….need I say more. Graphics/Sound: I am not the type of gamer where graphics really are a big deal to me. I know many people would disagree, but I thought the game looked fantastic. The environment was wide open with great sights and had a lot of details. One thing that Bioware seems to always get right is voice acting and it is top notch here. I will say that the music is amazing as well, but it is not playing nearly enough. Conclusion: I admit that I had high expectations for this game which is why it was just a letdown. Don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of content here and room for a lot of fun, but I just expected much more from this series which seems to be declining with each new entry. The button mashing combat, clunky mechanics, bugs, hollow characters, and ordinary story is what makes this game average. I would say it is a slightly above average RPG because of its sheer size and loads of content. If you’re a fan of RPGs it is definitely worth a try, but you won’t be missing much if you do decide to skip it.