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The Witcher has been one of the best role playing games released for the PC over the past few years, but it was marred with technical bugs, long load times and terrible voice overs and acting. With the release of The Witcher Enhanced Edition most of these issues have been fixed or tweaked. Also included are new missions, a making of DVD, audio soundtrack and much more. If you missed out on the original enhanced edition offers a great opportunity to pick up one of the best computer RPGs.

Game Details

• Publisher: Atari, Inc
• Developer: CD Projekt RED
• ESRB Rating: M for Mature
• Genre: Action Role Playing
• Theme: Fantasy
• Game Modes: Single player
• Pros: Technical issues from original game fixed; Two new non-linear missions; Better acting/dialog;
• Cons: Some minor bugs still persist

The overall storyline and game play from The Witcher has not changed in the The Witcher Enhanced Edition so rather than focusing on these areas, I'll just be reviewing what has changed and what is new with the new release. In my review of the original release of The Witcher, two of my biggest gripes were the long load times and the head-shaking voice overs and acting. Character animations didn't match with the dialogue and the translation of the story/dialogue from Polish to English left puzzled looks on my face when trying to decipher what a character was really trying to say. The Witcher Enhanced Edition does a good job addressing both of these issues; Load times have been signaficalty imporved and more than 5,000 lines of dialogue have been re-written and re-recorded.

There are still some timing issues with character animations and while the dialogue is much improved there are still times when certain lines just don't seem to fit in.
From the weight of the box alone you can tell that The Witcher Enhanced Edition is packed with goodies other than just the game. Included on the bonus DVD are two new missions which add about five hours worth of game play, and an adventure toolkit that allows you to create your own missions and quests. While the two new missions offer some fresh non-linear content they are quire short. In the "The Price of Neutrality" mission Geralt returns to the Witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen and must decide whether to defend a young woman or remain neutral. In the second "Side Effects" Geralt travels to the near by town of Vyzim and must collect money from various tasks to help get a friend out of trouble.

The Adventure Toolkit/Editor allows players to create their own quests or epic adventures and share them online. The ability to share user created content has the potential to offer a near limitless supply of new and unique adventures in the fantasy world of The Witcher. In addition to the bonus DVD, the enhanced edition also includes the original The Witcher short, a map of The Witcher's world, a "Making Of" DVD, and two audio CDs with the game's soundtrack and music inspired by the game. While these items don't make or break the game they are worth mention.

Bottom Line

The Witcher Enhanced Edition offers a fun and story rich computer role playing game experience and earns high marks by fixing many of the annoyances from the orignal, adding new content and including an adventure editor. If you own the orinial you're in luck as well, all of the Enhanced Edition content is available for free by downloading The Witcher Enhanced Edition Patch.