Recent reviews by Gringat the Repugnant

Absolutely recommend. If you were a fan of the original Dragon Age, Witcher plays much like it outside of combat, with a similar but much more mature feel. The story is amazingly twisty and your choices (while the game can be quite ham fisted about this aspect) dramatically affect how the game progresses. Every line is voiced and voiced well, the characters well written.
I found alchemy incredibly fun, with the ability to alter the effects of certain useful potions. Combat took a bit of getting used to, but once you understand the rhythm of Geralt's sword swings and which fighting stance is best against which enemies, it flows well. The spells (signs) are good as well, though I didn't find myself using Quen or Yrden very much at all. The shield is all well and good but if Geralt can somersault over people he doesn't have much need for one!
Overall a wonderful CRPG that I'd recommend to anyone familiar with the genre.

Having just completed the first Witcher and wanting to continue the story up to 3 now I have a machine capable of running them. I thoroughly enjoyed the first game, but unfortunately this sequel cannot hold a candle to it.
Geralt handles like a brick on a string, making basic tasks like walking around town or going through doors very annoying, nevermind moving around in combat and getting stuck on invisible barriers or the godawful forced stealth sections.
Dialogue has options that have Geralt say things totally different to what's written, much unlike the first game.
The game has a tendency of throwing you into immediate combat after long cutscenes. Granted, this is a sin the first game also commits. Not only does this leave you annoyedly skipping through if you die, but it means you're forced to flee or take on several enemies that are spawned surrounding you. Given how much less forgiving the combat is in 2, this can lead to pretty much one initial guaranteed death with each such encounter.
Arm wrestling controls are incredibly floaty, and unfortunately this is required in the main quest if you don't want to give up a whole bunch of gold.
For some reason, they totally changed the controls from 1 to 2 and transitioning from one to the next is incredibly difficult. You can no longer drink potions without meditating, and the game is stuffed with extra features which it honestly could do without. What's more, many of these aren't explained. The aforementioned arm wrestling is never explained, and many random symbols and aspects of the HUD are also totally unexplained.

Combat, minigames, navigation, HUD, journal, inventory and crafting are all a huge step down from TW1. The only improved aspect are the graphics (which do look phenomenal), and the story and voice acting (from what I've seen - and that's saying a lot). Story and cinematics alone can't carry it though.

A depressing step down from the first game and what I've heard of the third. Don't bother. Just watch a plot summary or the cinematics on YouTube and you'll get a better experience than this.

EDIT: I've heard it's a lot better on console. The game definitely feels like it's geared that way.

Cannot recommend where the matchmaking is so broad for the UK that you can end up with serious latency issues after being connected to faraway servers. There's no easy way to select servers in your own country.