Armor, Not too Shabby

I hate to start off a review like that but you must understand that when it comes to a game, controls are a very important part of a game.  There is getting used to a different style of controls and then there are just bad controls that actually prevent you from having the experience the publisher wanted you to have.  If you can get past that Two World II is a great RPG.  The controls can also depend on what type of player you choose to be, whether it is a warrior, archer or a magician or a mix of both.  The single-player story is pretty basic nothing that will blow you away but enough to keep you interested especially with a never ending aspect of the game where you can pick up tons of quests.  You can try and complete the game just doing your main quests which can be hard at times whether you get distracted with side quests or just want to complete some to level up your character.  Quests may include you simply going someplace just to return to having to do an exploration quest, that will take you to large ancient tombs that you can spend a long time in finding plenty of hidden treasure along the way. Quests also might include you killing someone for the thieves guild or pickpocketing people.

Now choosing what kind of player you are is very important.  The game begins rather hard and you almost have to do some side quest to level your character to level the playing field.  In the beginning, it is much easier to be a warrior concentrating in melee and strength.  Choosing to go the magic path will prove to be quite hard until you level up in the game collect special cards letting you make spells and powerful ones at that.  For instance I originally wound up starting over the game not to far in changing from a mage to a warrior just because until you are leveled up, your magic just is not strong enough to handle the basic beginning missions.  Of course leveling a mage would make to a high level could make you unstoppable but their is only one way to level and that is completing missions.  Archery is another direction you can go but you must remember that a lot of the time you are forced to battle up close and with the strange control scheme it can make it hard to pull out your bow, then an arrow, then draw your arrow back while picking a type of archery attack to use.  In many cases this can cause a problem especial being a low level mage or archer.  You can also put points into crafting as you can upgrade and breakdown any item you find into raw materials used for upgrading.

Mmm, sexy or scary?

When it comes to the graphics of the game, they are actually very pleasant to see.  From the landscapes to the armor, villages, they are done very well and quite frankly impressive.  Level up some of your magic abilities and you will see some outstanding graphics, but I found it hard to get the ball rolling as magician while starting the game, but it will pay off in the end.  The only place where the graphics don’t quite meet my expectations are the animations, generally with people as the NPC’s at times feel kind of lifeless compared to what other games have done.  Sure that have quests for you but they take away the realism of the game that might only be explained upon experiencing it.

The single-player is I’m afraid not the best part of Two Worlds II but rather the seven different missions you can play online with up to 7 other people giving you an 8 player co-op experience.  This is a lot of fun and where the game shines the most.  You can host or search for each of the specific seven levels which require you to do different tasks but mostly killing things.  In the online mode you are forced to create another character which you choose his/her attributes and level separately from your single-player character.  You will use this character in any multiplayer mode.  There are other multiplayer modes in the game like ‘Duel’ which you are put into and arena which one other player for a battle to the death.  This sounds fun at first, but being that I am not sure of the online level cap, I noticed a level 68 and it comes down you having to be that same level as that person making this mode something that many people might not play a lot, until reaching the level cap.  Another online mode faces you against a person while you must collect 150 crystals strewn about the map. The problems is that there are demon looking things that destroy all the crystals as well as orange snowflake looking things that change demons to crystals and crystals to demons.  These are all strewn about the map and while battling someone on the midst of this is just turns into chaos.

Garadel Boss Fight

Bottom line is that this game is kind of like Oblivion with better graphics here and there.  Much like Oblivion the controls have similarities which I personally have a problem with but got past them and enjoyed the game, more so online than anywhere else.  This game literally looks to rival Oblivion IV: Elder Scrolls and does a good job of it in some aspects while it does not in other aspects such as the storyline.  But if you have played Oblivion that you will enjoy this but if you haven’t and enjoy open world RPG’s odds are this is a game you will still enjoy.  Two Worlds II offers so many places, people, quests to endeavor into as well as many choices in which to take your character as far as attributes, skills, appearance and powers, applying to online and offline making  Two Worlds II a good RPG.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Nail’d has a whole bunch of modes including customizable ones where you can create races/events online and offline where you can have infinite boost, no collision with other players, among others that are suitably named “Mutators”.  Without mutators you must gradually build up your boost meter, while doing special feats or driving/flying though hoops of fire will give you a boat load of boost.  You can ram other drivers into trees and other objects getting them “nail’d” which cause a quick re-spawn.  Don’t worry though you will get you fair share of getting “nail’d” even without another vehicle ram you.  You can choose between an ATV or a Dirtbike and as you play the campaign which is essentially a Tournament, you unlock vehicle parts that alter the way your ride will drive as well as unlocking custom paint jobs.  You upgraded bike can be taken online to show off or just kick some ones ass in a race.

One of the most awesome things I though about the game were the tracks themselves.  You can be going straight up, straight down, be riding along side or even on top of moving trains.  There are points where you catch so much air that you feel like your pretty much flying as you pass by a blimp, hot air balloon or be gliding under a helicopter.  There are so many different routes to take on these tracks as you drive on rooftops, through tunnels and hit jump constantly.  You have all the time in the world to try out tricks while your airborne for so long but there really aren’t any real tricks to do.  Instead there is just merely feats which make this more strictly an arcade style racing game. While doing all of the for-mentioned things in the game you still feel like you have full control even when you are airborne, which is not like most other games of this genre.  The unrealistic sense of the game makes it that much more fun.

There are plenty of modes to play online and offline.  Tournament mode is basically the campaign and the highlight of the game as you work your way through different races on different tracks as they progressively get harder.  They are mostly races but some of the event are stunt related where you will have to preform the most feats to win the race.  The Go Off-Road Mode lets you play Time Attack, Custom Tournament and Quick Event where you can also customize the race as you want by choosing the track, mutators, how many players and what type of race.  The game modes are Simple Race, Time Challenge, Stunt Challenge, or Detonator Mode.  All are self explanatory except for Detonator Mode which is a lot of fun.  It is like hot potato with a bomb strapped to your back and you’ll have to preform a stunt/feat to hand the bomb off to someone else before it detonates cause you to re-spawn.  This mode is included upon enter a code when you buy the game new along with 4 other music tracks.  All these modes can be played online as well as Events that consists ofmultiple races with 2-12 players.

Nail’d also has a good grind/metal soundtrack with songs from Slipknot, Rise Against and Queens of the Stone Age among others to keep you pumped as you are flying through the air at a thousand miles per hour knowing your going to land perfectly where you want to.  It was a bit hard to get into an online match after the game was officially released… well maybe that is an exaggeration,  it felt like I was the only person playing this game as I could not find an online race for the life of me.  This could be due to the fact that nail’d is following  the Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Halo Reach releases.  But I think the game is great and I wouldn’t have been able to it make through the main tournament without my white-knuckle cream thanks to Aubrey.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Southpeak Games has prepared us with some Altitude Sickness Pills (spearmints) and the best yet is the “White Knuckle Cream” which actual says on it “Relieves: uncontrollable fear, trepidation, timidity, hesitation, anxiety, abject consternation, uneasiness”.  While that statement gave me a laugh, the cream can actually be used for White Knuckle Syndrome stating “The intensity of Nail’d forces you to grip the controller tighter, causing blood to flow away from the knuckles in fear.  This is commonly know as ‘White Knuckle Syndrome.’  Apply a generous slathering of White Knuckle Cream to your affected knuckle region for higher scores, increased confidence and overall awesomeness.” – “Feel the intensity at www.whiteknucklecream.com”.  As hilarious as this promotional cream is you can actually use it but the Altitude Sickness Pills clearly state DON’T EAT THE CREAM.

A review of Nail’d will be up soon, so stay tuned for that.  I don’t know what’s more entertaining at this point though the game or the funny cream and pills we received.  What will Aubrey think of next.

Southpeak has released the latest trailer for Two Worlds II. The trailer takes place at the coast of Oswaroth where a huge battle of the races being taken place with orcs and humans and such.

Unfortunately, Southpeak has delayed the games release until January 2011 to assure an “absolutely flawless” launch. The game will be available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.