Great for Newbies | Two Worlds

An underrated tour de force | Two Worlds

pc & video games:


	• Two Worlds Windows \| Southpeak, 2007 view larger image
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Glad I waited for price to come down.

After playing the demo I was eagerly anticipating this game due to the innovative stacking weapon system, the large range of skills, weapons, and items, and the free open-ended character development. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the potential I expected. Perhaps I'm getting too old to be playing video games (37) as there seems to be a distinct decline in games' story quality over the last several years. The focus of the gaming industry now appears to be on great graphics at the expense of everything else. Two Worlds is no exception. The map is fairly large and the graphics immersive, but the main quest storyline in particular is really weak. I finished the game in under a week at the most difficult setting despite making a concerted effort to not progress the main quest too fast. To get any significant play time out of this game ALL of the side quests must be pursued. Overall the game was very stable (one crash) and yet a tad rough around the edges; my mount tended to get stuck and the audio volume varied. All things considered I enjoyed it, but I'm left wanting.

10/11/08 Update: Southpeak technical support is non-existent. Despite buying the game here on Amazon as "new" and receiving a sealed gamebox, when I attempted to setup a multiplayer account I received an error indicating my serial number was already attached to another account. Repeated attempts to contact Southpeak and Topware technical support have gone unanswered.

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Great for Newbies

I bought the Royal Edition (European collectors) when it first came out and I had a great time playing this game. It was my first successful venture into the RPG area of gaming. Yes, compared to Oblivion the character choice is limited, but the battles are great and unlike Oblivion when you die you are ressurected (unless you play on Hard).
I didn't like trying to direct the horses so gave up on that and simply ran around. Unlike Oblivion the world is not so large that this is a hardship. I never managed to get the portal teleport to work though which is a nuisance and in both this game and Oblivion they really need to work underground as in Titan Quest. Otherwise you spend a lot of time having get out of caves and travelling to the nearest teleport so you can sell your loot which is boring.
I liked the magic system in it, although it has been changed from the original 1.0 version so that more effects are temporary rather than permanent, a mistake in my opinion. Also I love being able to stack my favourite amour/equipment to make it stronger - this is a great idea.
This game got me interested in RPG playing and I think others who haven't tried this genre will enjoy giving this a trial.
There is one warning for the future however. In the Game of the Year Edition(European) the Tainted Blood add-on is only available for MULTIPLAYERS and my understanding, from reviews in the European press, is that The Temptation will be the same. What annoyed me when I bought the Game of the Year pack was that there is no warning whatsoever on the packaging to say this so I wasted about $50 buying it and I was really disappointed that I couldn't continue my adventures. So if, like me, you don't play online don't bother to buy either Tainted Blood or Temptation unless they change them so single players can play them, too.

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An underrated tour de force

As one of the reviewers recommended, I tried out the demo version. Based on the demo, I purchased the game and have not regretted it. Incidentally, the game is better than the demo. Although reviews for Two Worlds tend to reflect two extremes, it seems that most of those people who don't like the game have either played the game on a console or not read the game manual. If the reader can avoid falling into either of those categories, this game is definitely worth considering. This review is based on the PC version, release 1.6. I've played it about 10 hours at this point.

Environment: The game environment is very realistic. Clothing, weapons, buildings, roads, and plant life all show that someone put a lot of time into the design. This is one of those games that you enjoy just walking around and looking at the scenery.

Unfortunately, you will not do much looking at scenery in the beginning, since you are almost constantly being attacked by something or someone. Although the towns appear to be populated at realistic levels, the wilderness is filled with wolves, boars, bears, bandits, and a variety of other hostiles. There always seems to be something nipping at your heels. As you travel further from the game's starting point, this seems to become less of a problem.

The game provides regular day/night cycles along with frequent weather changes. Some of the weather, such as thunderstorms, is very realistic. The only minor issue here is that the weather tends to change too fast. In Two Worlds you may have several different types of weather each day.

The game world is large--not Morrowind large, but it will take you a long time to travel from one end to the other on foot. Fortunately, there are portals that allow you to teleport between places you have already been.

There are a lot of items in this game world. The plethora of minerals, plants, objects, weapons, and other items will have you making constant decisions regarding what to do with them. This adds a lot of depth to the game, so if you like experimenting with alchemy, magic, or weapon power-ups Two Worlds is a great sandbox to play in.

Control: Character control is excellent. If you do not have a weapon readied, you can play in a first or third person perspective. When you ready a weapon, the game will switch you to third person perspective. You can zoom the camera in third person mode to select a view you prefer. In this respect the game is nearly perfect. I cannot recall an instance where I could not see and control the character exactly as I wanted to.

I rode several horses and fought from them as well. I have read that the horse control is bad, but it does not seem to be the case with the 1.6 version. I would be more critical if this was a horse racing game or something, but as an interesting diversion in a fantasy-based RPG, the horses are OK.

The game controls character stats, inventory, magic, maps and quest logs, etc. in its own way. As I mentioned before, this is one game where you really should take the time to read the manual. Although the manual is large (130 pages), it is easy reading and the information it contains will clear up a lot of potential confusion.

Game mechanics: Unlike some RPGs, this one is not a click fest. Your character needs to move and deliver combinations of blows and magic spells to survive. In this sense, Two Worlds is a "fighting game." There are a lot of possible combination moves and fighting techniques, but the player does not have many of them at the beginning. You have to meet "trainers" to unlock these skills. Those who find themselves getting killed a lot in the beginning are probably trying to "mouse click" their way to victory and only use ¼ of their character's fighting capabilities. I had some practice by playing the demo, so by the time I started playing the full game, I had little difficulty keeping my character alive. I would guess it will take most people anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours of game play to get proficient with the combat system.

The magic system is excellent and flexible. The player starts out having basic training in two of the five schools of magic. The player can then level up in a school of magic rather than leveling up a particular spell so whole groups of spells can be enhanced. Incidentally, there is a lot of "overlap" in the spells used by the different schools, so in practical terms the 5 schools are more like 2 schools. Using a card system, the spells in the same school can be combined in various ways to form different spells. Further, "booster" spells, which can apply to spells of all schools, can be added to gain enhanced effects.

Storyline: I have spent very little time playing the main quest as yet, but most of the side quests seem to tie into events that spin off of the main quest.

There are many factions in the game. As a generalization, everyone claims that their group is the good guys. The game employs a "political intrigue" sub-plot, so it is difficult to know who you should trust.

Sound: The music is great, although there is not enough of it to keep from repeating quite a bit. If you get tired of it, the solution is easy: turn down the music volume.

Some critics have complained about the dialog, but it is no worse than many dubbed movies. If anything is lacking, it is the character animation during the dialog, and it was good enough to advance the plot.

So how good is the game overall? I rate it 5 out of 5 even though the game has a mildly steep learning curve and some unconventional ways of doing things. If you have a reasonably strong PC and read the game manual, you should enjoy the experience.

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In Two Worlds you'll enter a world where a dark crusade is brewing and darker plans are being made, out of sight. Thousands of years ago, hordes of orcs invaded the more civilized lands. Aziraal, the Orcish god of war, was killed in battle, forcing the orcs to withdraw to the southern wastelands. When a dwarven mining expedition uncovers an ancient tomb, the Orcs believe it to be their fallen god. A holy war ignites, but the real danger lies elsewhere. A powerful force churns silently - weaving a secret plot of fear and destruction. In the end one of the Two Worlds will remain. Use traps and snares to make gameplay more flexible & strategic Combat system combines intuitive steering, tactical challenges and movie-like visual experiences

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