Two Worlds II Review

First off, if you are a fan of a game like Oblivion: Elder Scrolls you will most likely really enjoy this game or you may not, but there is a good chance you will.  If you are used to this style of gameplay then you will feel right at home playing Two Worlds II.  From my point of view, I feel the fighting system is kind of clunky, there is no targeting system no matter whether you are in battle or not.  The controls on consoles are not good.  Left trigger is run, while also holding the left trigger and pressing face buttons uses special moves.  Not pressing the left trigger also gives you an option of moves once leveled to a certain point.  Left Trigger is inconveniently a problem in the game, because you don’t know whether you are going to use a certain attack or run.  The controls and clunky combat system are the only real problem with the game I had, otherwise it is actually a really fun RPG, especially playing online with friends.

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.

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.

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.