Two Worlds Review (Xbox 360)

Graphics - 8/10

Gameplay - 7/10

Sound - 8/10

Multiplayer - 6/10

Story - 7/10

Overall - 7/10

Just to start out this review on the right track, please remember throughout reading this that this review is for the Xbox 360 version of the game. It is a considerable factor when making decisions about this game, so read on for a detailed explanation.

First, I would like to say great job to South Peak and Reality Pump because this is the first RPG they have attempted. This is a sort of downgrade to Oblivion, and considering that Oblivion is the fourth in a series (Elder Scrolls,) I think that Two Worlds is a decent start. There are a few things I personally haven't seen in an RPG before, such as combining identical weapons and armour to increase their stats. In comparing this game to Oblivion, it is better in the sense that it has: a larger world, dual-wielding weapons, combinable weapons and armour, and considerably less glitches in the main storyline.

The graphics for the game are detailed. Not overly-stunning, but very good nonetheless, especially when you think about how massive the game world is. The towns, villages, characters, and monsters, are all gorgeous. A real problem, though, is that it is extremely obvious that the entire game was designed for a computer monitor. Much of the text is hard or impossible to read, even on a large TV. This can slightly affect the storyline and quests in the game, as sometimes you can't read over your next objective. Even menus are optimized for mouse use, such as your inventory having to be scrolled through each and every time you open it. Just another reason that I say to only refer to this review for the Xbox 360 version of the game.

The game's storyline is nothing new. Your sister is missing, you are a mercenary who couldn't care less about the ongoing war between Orcs and Humans. If you're looking for advice on completing the game, do not attempt to beat it without doing a lot of side quests. The standard difficulty level is quite high enough, and even if you play it on easy you will still need a bit of help in the exp. department to get through the story. With that said, for those of you who are hardcore RPGers, you may find one of the endings overly easy to beat, while the other is a tad bit harder, regardless of difficulty level. The story is delivered well, and if you manage to read the text, you shouldn't have a problem following along. One of the sad things about this game though, is that you can ignore the story completely and still beat it in the same amount of time. Everything is staightforward. No going back and checking over things to look for solutions. This is another aspect different from Oblivion, where you must figure out many of the problems yourself.

Sound in the game is nice. The voice actors may have tried a bit too hard, but the overall effect works. You can play most any song along with this game from your Xbox and it will usually work. I've gone from country to techno to rap and everything in between. Now this of course, depends on your personal music choice and doesn't affect the sound score really, but I thought it was worthy to add in. Anyway, the sound effects are pretty cool, with a nice variety in clips. In game music goes along pretty well depending on which place you are in at the time. Not much else to say, unfortunately.

Two Worlds gameplay is also nothing spectacular. It works, but just know that if you are a fighter, every sword swing is the same. Every pike thrust is the same as the last, and each spear slice is nothing new. I know you are thinking "How many ways can you possibly swing a sword?" Well you can definitely add in different combos, style, or something of the sort. Combat amounts to about the same as washing your hair - Swing, backstep, repeat. There is no dodging, evading, rolling out of the way in a glorious lifesaving manuever. Nope. Not one. Just basic button mashing glory. The customization system is different, at least. Weapons and armours of the same type can be combined to increase their stats, or to combine abilities. Uniqueness is nice, as just about every piece of equipment in the game is different. For example, the copper armour you find in the beginning of the game will be different from the set you find later on. Both are the same, but the stats are slightly different. I guess you would say that there are different qualities of armour, although there's no actual declaration of it.

The big disappointment of this game, though, is the almost non-existent multiplayer. Things now may be slightly better, but at least for the first two months after the game was released, playing online would more likely convince you to go out and buy a book than play online ever again. There were also high amounts of hacking and glitching in the online game, as the PC version and Xbox versions were played on linked servers. This made it really hard to join in as well because anyone who hacked in could generate large amounts of health potions, or anything else for that matter, and would be rendered near invincible.

The overall concept of the game is cool. The graphics are pretty nice, and the gameplay will be loved by some, hated by others. The customization could have been more in-depth, and the lack of real classes is a downside. Sometimes it's hard to determine what skills you should train to be a certain type of fighter. Two Worlds is a solid 7/10 for the Xbox, but again, this rating would definitely be higher on a PC.