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Played it for 5 minutes on the demo

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: August 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Now i've heard alot of crap about this game... Well those people who don't think this game is good should go play Oblivion and have fun with themselves for awhile.. anyway, right when i started this game i knew i liked it, mostly because im into mmorpgs although this is not an mmorpg this still has the class of one. ive played guild wars for a long time and soon got bored of it and wished that it was on a console. This game is guild wars on a console. clearly put out so anyone who likes guild wars should definetly buy this game. who cares if the graphics arent top notch? well many people do, no matter
the people who will buy and play this game will be the people who are not only interested in the graphics but also interested in the storyline and how the game just feels!
i seriously just downloaded the demo and played it for a max of about 5 minutes killed a couple of goblins and was hooked although i did stop playing after that (computer crashed) i didnt want to play it anymore.. only because i dont want to spoil what the rest of the game has to offer me when i buy it for the xbox 360!
i seriously recommend this game to anyone that is hooked on guild wars or WoW

Have Fun!

Two Worlds is a keeper!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

When my husband gave me Two Worlds for Christmas, I wasn't really thrilled. I had read a little about it, and I had never played a 3rd person view game that I liked (much preferring 1st person shooters and Oblivion). But I felt obliged to play it, so I did... and initially, I have to admit I really didn't like it much. The controls are VERY complicated and frustrating (until you finally figure out that there's a button to push that puts instructions up on the screen for you). Anyway, I was plodding unhappily along when I decided to try multiplayer on XBox Live. WELL!! I met up with some very nice folks who took the time to help me learn the game and some of its nuances, and now I am totally addicted to the game! I thought I would never find another game I liked as much as Oblivion, but Two Worlds is WAY bigger, and there's so much more to do. It does have a few graphics glitches here and there, but what game doesn't? My main complaint about Two Worlds is that you can't create a female character if you're playing the single player quest/campaign. But if you like Oblivion, you will LOVE Two Worlds if you'll give yourself time to get used to the different view and controls.

Amazing game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome, beautiful landscapes and adventures, it puts you right in the fantasy world. Very addictive.

A little unpolished, a lot of fun. Just don't call it Oblivion.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 108 / 117
Date: August 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There are three things I must make clear before I even begin: 1) Yes, we can all admit it: It's flawed. But not as much as you'd think 2) Just because it is an open-world sandbox RPG game, it is not Oblivion.3) It is still pretty damn fun if you are a fan of RPGs, and relatively fun if you're not.

Also, in trying to rate this I tried to see the game's flaws from other peoples' points of view and found that some things that other people really hated I just didn't mind. I am a fan of RPG games among other genres, but if you're not really all that into RPGs, or you're a real stickler for polish or perfection, you can probably subtract a star from my total rating right off the bat, though I did rate the game as fairly as possible based on what I perceived, how much fun it was, and what I thought was important to have in a game, while at the same time trying to just explain the game in general for those interested in trying it.

So now for the review:

Gameplay:

It's open. Very open. Maybe too open because I found myself accidentally wandering in the wrong direction from the very beginning. The game doesn't really guide you, which is good and bad. In that way I'd say this game is way more like Morrowind than Oblivion. Morrowind gave you true true freedom. RPG fans should enjoy this; I do to an extent. However people whose only RPG experience has been Oblivion may find themselves confused. Also, the learning curve is a little steep- another reason casual gamers might say this game sucks. People should get used to playing this game in third person, although a first person view is available, but only when not wielding a weapon; it's more of a "get a closer look" view. However, this really isn't bad.

Overall though, things are more realistic, again deviating from Oblivion's action-RPG style where you can do anything you want in terms of jumping and sidestepping and you still moved the same speed (a little unrealistic). If you jump from a height higher than a few feet you have to take a second to regain your balance, and when you start to move after standing still, it also takes a second to gain some speed. I like this.. it makes you feel like a person rather than a floating camera or figure. A common complaint is the horses. So horses can't turn on a dime like in Oblivion. Well how often does a horse rotate on its center axis in order to turn in real life? In Oblivion I really didn't like how the horses could have a forward walking animation while rotating in place. Oh and they also rear up and neigh before they hit things (horses have feelings too!) and take some time to gain momentum, so I guess people think it's a bad thing that your horse is no longer a personal hovercraft.

I also like how villages feel like villages and cities feel like cities (by the way there are more settlements overall here than you'll find in TES4). In Oblivion even the Imperial City honestly seemed kind of... dead. For such a supposedly bustling city, there really didn't seem like there was a lot going on, even with the Radiant AI (RAI is something I really do wish this game had though!). The people in Two Worlds don't have the cool schedules they did in Oblivion, but there's busier markets, more talking options, more merchants, more people that give quests, way way way more factions, and just plain more people! However the fact that humans are the only race was a little disappointing.

Also, the world feels a little more alive. Unmodded Oblivion's only non-hostile wildlife consisted of deer, and in a few static locations domestic sheep. Now on top of the usual collection of monsters (of which there's a good variety, from ghouls to wyverns to giant spiders to dragons to whatever you can imagine), bandits, and groms (kind of like a cross between an orc and a goblin), you get rabbits, geese, and chickens roaming around as non-hostiles, and many types of wolves and bears as non-mythical animals, and that's just in the forest-like north. Many more creatures await as you venture further south. There's also a lot more to see in the wilderness, as you stumble upon creatures way more often than in Oblivion, though I don't like that they don't respawn. I did like that monsters are always the same toughness, so when I found myself wandering too far south at the beginning of the game I instantly knew I wasn't supposed to be there, and it felt way more realistic. It was also nice because I knew that I wouldn't be fighting the same monsters all the time, and when I did face lower level monsters it would be more realistic.

The skill system is more basic than in Oblivion, but the addition of lots of skills and about as many types of spells as you'd get in Oblivion makes things interesting (the spell effects are actually NICER; no longer is every single magic attack some sort of colored ball or streak of lightning that gets shot at an enemy). Also fire burns stuff, actually affecting the environment. Nice touch. I still don't like some things, like the combat system to an extent, though the addition of various skills does make it more complex than Oblivion's in some ways.

No load times going into and out of cities and houses are nice, but the more frequent outdoor load times aren't. Also, you can't go into every single house (though you can go into most), and can't raid the random barrels and crates you see (though I never even saw the point when half the things you found in Oblivion in these places had prices of 0 or 1. Yarn? Spoon? Blank Paper? Whats the point of being a thief?).

The main story's not that great, but honestly I haven't really been doing quests for it yet, even after well over ten hours of gameplay. I haven't played the multiplayer yet, so I can't comment on that.

Graphics:

Not as good as I expected but certainly not BAD! They are definitely next-gen. The draw distances are easily comparable to Oblivion's, and the plant-life (grass, bushes, leaves) is abundant and nicely done. However it's not as bright and shiny as Oblivion is, giving kind of an uglier appearance, save for the water and sandy areas. The towns and villages are beautifully designed but a little plain (not very imaginative). I liked the weather effects better though. The fog looks very very nice, and the rain is cool. One thing I really didn't like are the characters. The models themselves aren't bad per se, but they move unnaturally compared to Oblivion. However, they still look a little more realistic than in Oblivion, though Oblivion's characters look nicer in general. Maybe it's just me but the people in oblivion just had something weird about them.. Also I think the textures in some instances are actually better, as are most of the magic effects. Fires actually burn, and spells are more than just a colored ball or an aura of light around you and your arm. Shadow effects are also quite nice. The first cutscene threw me off guard and to me it seemed like the graphics really sucked, but maybe I was just expecting too much. Still, overall the graphics are very nice, and I don't really get what people are complaining about (other than the mediocre frame rate, which isn't quite THAT bad).

Sound:

The music is nice and very appropriate. The sound effects are equally impressive. The voice acting is not. Actually, I think it's the worst in the beginning, maybe because you're not used to it, maybe because it just is. When you're not in cutscenes and just talking to regular townsfolk, it seems to flow better. However, I gotta be honest, it still kinda sucks. The comments various characters make when not engaged in formal conversation, though, seems normal and is actually okay. This makes me wonder where they went wrong with the conversations.. However, given that this game was written in German first, they did a good job converting that into quasi-medieval English. However, like I said, the music and all the other sound effects are what you'd expect, so it's not really all bad.

Overall Pros and Cons:

Pros:
Fun gameplay, open world, non-linear, extensive living world, non-leveled creatures, tons of quests, tons of places, tons of people, tons of guilds, very nice magic system, very nice magic effects, somewhat destructible environment, appropriate music, more realism in terms of physics, pretty good next-gen graphics, interesting skills aren't just gimmicks.

Cons:
Unpolished in more than a few ways, bad voice acting, no real guide to get you going, menu system takes a while to get used to, the game in general takes a while to get used to, I still miss Oblivion's Radiant AI, simplified level-up attributes, map can be a little annoying, added physical realism can be annoying to some, story is a little hard to get into, not horrible but still doesn't live up to the hype.

Conclusion:

The appeal with Oblivion was that it was fun for anyone. Anybody, even those who never played RPGs before could easily find fun in the game, while hardcore RPGers were still happy with it because of it's depth. However, those hardcore RPGers no doubt found many flaws with Oblivion, including the creature leveling system, the simplification of a lot of things since its predecessor, Morrowind, and many minor annoyances which aren't worth discussing right here. In fact, Two Worlds shares a lot more with Morrowind than Oblivion, except the improved graphics. Why are people even calling this an Oblivion clone? That would be like calling Oblivion a Morrowind clone; I mean they both have 3d graphics, open free-roaming environments, non-linear story progression and gameplay, hundreds of quests... Sound familiar? This gameplay style's been around for a while guys, so stop the unfair pointing of fingers.

When I first picked Two Worlds up, I was disappointed. Very disappointed, mostly because of all of the hype surrounding it. But I didn't give up; I gave the game more time and I realized that even though it's not as polished and not quite as fluid as Oblivion, I still can't put it down. It's a decent game, and it really is fun. Do I just really really like RPGs to the point that I don't see what other people see as wrong? I don't know. It's up to you whether you like the game or not, and if you try it and end up not liking it, then that's perfectly okay.

As you can see, I think there are a lot of cons to stack up against all those pros. I happen to not really care that much about some of them, while others are easy to overcome. It just depends on what bothers you and what you life. So it's not as polished.. does that honestly make it not fun? If you really don't like it, I can't blame you, but you're missing out on a good game.

Also if this helps, my girlfriend REALLY didn't like this game when she first started playing. Now she takes it back and compliments things like automatically being able to compare any weapon or piece of armor you're thinking of picking up or buying to what you currently have equipped, the magic system which she likes way better than Oblivion's, being able to use a health or mana potion instantly and independently, and the fact that it's actually pretty fun once you get used to it. She used to be a naysayer, but the game grew on her, though she certainly still has her complaints about the game. Maybe it will grow on you too.

UPDATE:
After playing for a little longer, I've come up with a few more things to say. For people worried about the whole enemies don't respawn thing, after you kill enemies, when you pass their old location there's a chance a "ghost" enemy will appear in their place. The ghost is a little harder and is immune to normal weapons, as you'd expect. Not bad, although its body disappears and doesn't drop anything. Also, I've seen people compare the graphics to PS2 and original Xbox. Just to compare I ran the game with Oblivion right after another on a 1080p 52" Sony TV. With these settings, Oblivion is still prettier overall, but NOT BY MUCH! The draw distances actually are better in Two Worlds, though there's less pop-up in Oblivion. Other than that, the differences are minimal. Have the people comparing this to PS2 graphics even played this game? Oh yes, the frame rate still SUCKS but if that's your only reason for saying graphics overall suck, then maybe you're too jaded; it really is just a minor annoyance, and unless you look for it, you barely notice it. On top of that, after having conversations and more interactions with NPCs, they do go to sleep and kind of have daily life cycles like Oblivion NPCs did, but definitely not to the same extent. They sleep, they chop wood, they sit down, etc, but they do seem to go into random houses that are definitely not their own. The crime and punishment system is a little more realistic, if you keep running from the guards before they even talk to you they'll get fed up and just attack you. You also have the option of being run out of town, as crimes committed in one town do not have bearing in any other town, which I did and didn't like. Also, although the main story isn't that great, the NPC's have quite a bit to say about what's going on in their land in general, with each city offering many different lines of gossip, and even more questions to ask regarding the gossip. You can ask merchants how their sales are going, and ask questions relating to specific cities, rather than just a single "Rumors" conversation topic. Some of the stuff they say is actually interesting, and some of it is actually humorous, but not all. The voice acting also seems to get better the more people you talk to. However, the dungeons and caves in the game seem small and definitely do not compare to the various "dungeons" (caves, mines, forts, ruins, etc) in Oblivion. That's something they should have improved on. I am still having fun with this game, and would still recommend it to RPG fans, as long as they can see past the few annoyances and lack of polish.

Best RPG I've Ever Played other than Morrowind and Oblivion

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: August 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Let me just start off by saying that it was a mistake for the developers to market this game as "Oblivion on steroids" or to compare it to Oblivion in any way. That sets people up to expect something much like Oblivion, and Two Worlds really isn't anything like that

What Two Worlds is, is a game that's wide open, with a bigger area to work in than Oblivion, no time limits or order that you have to do quests in, an interesting magic system, a really cool way to combine weapons and armor to make them better, an alchemy system similar to Morrowind's and Oblivion's, and a choice to play in 3rd or 1rst person view

The major pro's to playing this are the alchemy, magic and combining items end of the game, the open nature of the game, where you can explore and do what you want, and (to me) the fact that you can finally fight from horseback, which you couldn't do at all in Oblivion

the con's are that the game takes some getting used to. Everything is not as intuitive as you'd like, you'll try to do something with the X button and it turns out you need to hit the Back button to do whatever it is, stuff like that. Things aren't as well-explained in the rule book as I would like. When you start off the game you quickly get points to increase your attributes and skills and if you don't do that as soon as you get them its hard to beat even the wild animals roaming around. That should have been stressed a little more in the introduction, I think

The graphics are good, not as good as Gears of War or Oblivion, but they're good. The dialogue and voice acting has been criticized, but its no where near as bad as that in Resident Evil or many other games. Going back to my first statement: if you're expecting Oblivion you're going to be disappointed. If you're not, I really think you'll like this game alot

My biggest problem is that the load times can be long (1-2 seconds) when you're moving from one area to another and that can be annoying if you're chasing someone or something and it suddenly pauses. Other than that, since I don't live or die based on "next gen" graphics or whether or not the characters say "mayhap" alot, I have no issue with this game. I think its alot of fun and I enjoy the freedom to do what I want and the variety of enemies that can be found even in the beginning stages of the game

So, to sum up: Give this game an honest try, don't just rent it and play it for 20 minutes and then come put a negative review on Amazon the way 3 or 4 of these other guys have done. Play it for an hour or so, learn what you have to do to make your character work the way you want to use him, build some weapons, modify some spells.

Play around a little and I think you'll agree that this is in the top 5 RPGs on consoles right now. Its not Oblivion. Its close to, but not quite as solid as Morrowind. It may not be as good as Diablo 2 for some of you (I think its better). But being the 3rd or 4th best RPG out right now isn't a crime or anything. So give it a try and enjoy it til Elder Scrolls 5 comes out

oh yeah, someone mentioned that they can't read the font on any of the words when they play Two Worlds. I just wanted to throw in that I've only played it on an HDTV and I haven't had any trouble at all reading anything. The words are plenty big and I can read them from 20 feet away, sitting on my bed. I suspect that, like Dead Rising, you can't read anything so well on a regular tv because the game's set up for HD. Just wanted to clear that up for anyone who read the other review

*EDIT* As of about 10 hours into the game now I'll go ahead and say that this game is BETTER than Morrowind. Other than Oblivion there is no RPG out there right now that comes close to how good this is. I feel sorry for everyone who played it for 20-30 minutes and then gave up on it

Not the Oblivion killer, but a good RPG anyway

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: August 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The first two hours of so are probably the most nail-biting moments a gamer can experience. Not because of the atmosphere of the game, but because it makes the game start to regret shelling $60 for the title. The graphics are not even close to that of Oblivion (the new standard for fantasy open-RPGs), the voice acting is a little over-the-top, the story is only so-so, the instruction manual is virtually useless (in fact, incorrect at points), and the menu navigation is simply horrid. Most gamers will likely abandon their hopes of having a fantastic RPG experience. However, those that trudge beyond the aimless wandering and frustration are rewarded heavily.

The story is rather generic, but the persistent world aspect puts a unique twist on the way it is presented. While the sheer number of quests is impressive enough, actions the player performs within the game affect the way certain quests will play out. For example, one townsperson asks for an item from a woman. If you have learned of a particular plot line, you can use those details to trick the woman into relinquishing the item. If not, she'll ask a favor of you instead. And since each action, each quest you complete, fail, or decline changes the dynamic of character interaction, playing the same game twice will be tricky.

Combat is, regrettably, similar to the hack-and-slash style of PC dungeon crawlers (Dungeon Siege comes to mind). You have an attack button, a dodge button, and a hotkey button (as well as buttons to quick-use a mana or health potion). Attacks are split into three flavors (pierce, slash, bludgeon) with different enemies being more or less affected by each. Magic and skills can only be done by assigning a spell to a hotkey. The variety in combat comes from decisions to fight one-handed (shield in the other; blocking is not controlled by the player), two-handed (using a spear or stave; you can hit multiple enemies with a single blow), or dual-wielding (the second weapon is less accurate, but can do extra damage). There are a few skills that can be useful in combat such as kicking dust in the eyes of your foes or shooting multiple arrows at once, but the hotkey system makes using them a bit tricky. It will certainly take some getting used to.

Screenshots for Two Worlds looked on par with Oblivion, so when looking at the bland character models, it's a disappointment. But they are not without merit. The draw distance is very impressive, being able to make out individual trees far off in the distance, as well as virtually every unobstructed tower, castle, and city. The variety of region gives each area identity as opposed to walking through what looks like the same forest for the entire game. The water looks about on par with Oblivion, with wake in the water from the movement of the arms and body. Shadows are complete, but look blocky from certain angles.

The sound is a mixed bag. Combat noises are too generic to be noteworthy. However, background noises, such as birds chirping in the trees, are a nice touch. Voice acting, as I mentioned before, is a bit over the top. Sometimes, the voices lapse out of character or don't follow the subtitles. A major advantage over Oblivion is the variety of voices used, so it won't sound like the same three people over and over again. Overall, the audio is not a selling point, but it's above average anyway.

In the end, the quirks draw all of the attention form the early going, but go away with time. The many positives (those mentioned above as well as fluid alchemy system and item combination) will surely please the dedicated [few - if you believe the reviews of the less patient]. It is certainly not Oblivion, but why would I want to pay $60 for a game I already have? Two Worlds does enough well that it can stand on its own amongst the [albeit, few] RPGs on the platform. By all means, give the game a chance; and please, be a little patient.

Criminally Underrated

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 19 / 21
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you go into this game expecting it to be better than Oblivion, you will most likely be disappointed. when i first started playing Two Worlds i was disappointed myself. im about 10 hours in now and its a completely different story. ill apologize ahead of time for all the Oblivion comparisons, but they're inevitable.

the draw distance in this game might be even better than that of Oblivion, enabling some truly beautiful views. The environments are much more varied than Oblivion's. deserts, standard deciduous forests, open fields, black/dead forest, volcanic areas, bamboo forest, ect . which brings me to my next point: this game is HUGE. The map is %25 larger than Cyrodiil.

when you first start playing the game you'll notice the frame rate stuttering relatively often, but honestly, if you've played Oblivion for any time at all, it shouldnt bother you that much. the game could be much more polished though, which is my only real complaint.

the menu navigation could be better, your inventory management in particular. your equipment is all together, not seperated by type at all. you have potions, weapons, armor, alchemy items, traps, and whatever else all scrambled together. so this aspect of the game feels a little sloppy that could've been very easily solved. the small text bothers me too, but that's in most next gen games these days. we just have to accept it, SDTV owners will always get the short end of the stick. that small text is very easily read on an HD. there should at leased be an option to have the text formatted for SD as well. maybe just an option in the menu somewhere. Dead Rising is still the worst text ive seen in a game. My TV is a 19" SD and Two Sorlds isnt really that hard to read. it is a little annoyance though.

as you level up you get skill points that you can manually apply to whatever skills/attributes you want through your menu. i like The Elder Scrolls system of doing the certain skill to improve it. there was nothing wrong with that, but i get more of a hands on feel being able to manage skills directly from a menu. the system reminds me of the ones in Final Fantasy X and XII. its not on a board or anything, but its a similar concept.

the battle system really isnt much different from oblivion. you take turns exchanging blows with your enemy. the only real difference is in Oblivion you raise your shield and in Two Worlds you dodge attacks.

i never really liked how all your enemies leveled up with you to keep everything balanced in Oblivion. it was an interesting concept but you never really felt like you were becomming more powerful. in Two Worlds you're enemies have set levels, so if you encounter an enemy and you're outmatched, you can go somewhere else and work on the countless side quests or just explore the countryside slaughtering everything in your path, and in no time you'll be strong enough to go back and take whatever is was on with no trouble.

i enjoy the noticeable difference in the look of spells as they become stronger. the difference between a 20 damage fireball and a 70 damage fireball is a very nice thing to see. i cant imagine how cool all the spells and summons will look once you hit lv 100.

people have complained about the storyline and voice acting, but the voice acting was decent. ive heard better and worse. i hear a lot of complains about the story lacking originality and just not being interesting. i dont find the characters or there underlying stories vert captivating like in some games, but i found everything in this area th be at leased decent. all the different factions/countries at war can be kind of confusing. there's a lot of different groups. the main storyline isnt bad though. your sister is kidnapped by an evil group of people who keep their faces covered and its up and its up to you to save her. this has something to do with an old family legend and their knowledge of it. your recovery and delivery of an ancient relic that only your family can hold is the only way to save her but could result in the deaths of everyone else in their world.

all in all, even with its little annoyances, this is a great action RPG, as long as you dont go into it expecting something beyond the bar Bblivion set. if Oblivion had never came out, this game would have been the one to set the next gen RPG bar. period.

Great Game, Though Not the Greatest

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: August 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought my copy of Two Worlds the day it came out, but didn't get a chance to play it before reading the slew of negative user reviews that followed its release. I was on the verge of Ebaying it, but decided to to try it for a couple hours first. I can now say it is one of my favorite 360 games to date, up there with Oblivion and Bioshock, but in a very different way.

I believe this game has been negatively reviewed because over-hyped gamers were expecting the greatest RPG of all time, which Two Worlds is not. It is, however, a deep and engaging RPG that is well worth playing, despite its drawbacks.

The graphics aren't the greatest, the story is a bit generic, and the voice-actors aren't exactly A-list. All these flaws are apparent from the first five minutes of the game, and many people just quit there. But if you play for a little longer, you realize that the controls are solid, the item selection is fantastic, and the menus and gameplay are reminiscent of Dungeon Siege and Diablo II. Sure the graphics aren't on-par with Oblivion, but if you're a graphics freak you should have purchased a PS3 and preordered Lair. The visuals aren't groundbreaking, and there are a few framerate issues, but they don't damage gameplay at all. The world is rich and detailed, and the oft-disparaged voice acting isn't nearly as bad as people say.

I'd recommend you give this game a try, or pick up a used copy that some impatient Oblivion fan decided to sell off.

Terrific game, don't fall for the unhype

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Two Worlds is a terrific game. It is not perfect, but besides Baldur's Gate II, there is no such thing as a perfect game. I can guarantee you will hate it in the first 30 minutes, dislike it after an hour and love it after 3 or 4 once you are used to it's style.

The good:

1. The quests are fun. The voiceovers are a little flaky, but they seem to be in line with "roleplaying." The quest text actually seems like real dialog. How many times in a game does someone say "Go do this in that place" and the normal response by your character is "ok" or "no". In Two Worlds you may get the response "No how I am supposed to know what you are talking about, you are insane." The quests themselves are relatively interesting and there are a ton of them.

2. You can't hurt skeletons with a sword. I mean really, since when can you "slash" a skeleton. Two Worlds brings back the fun of carrying multiple weapons.

3. Inventory is a mini-game. There are some many items and so much to do with them you will spend a fair amount of time just exploring inventory. It is actually fun to loot dead mobs.

4. The skill and attribute point system is fun. You can customize your character the way you want. There is a ton of flexibility.

5. Riding horses is a little tricky, but you are controlling your avatar controlling the horse. Makes much more sense than controlling the horse itself.

The bad

1. The graphics are not the best, but at times are really great.
2. Combat is a little too simple.
3. The voiceovers are a little geeky.

That being said, there is no doubt 40 hours of fun in this game (at least), so it is well worth the cost of admission. There really aren't any other RPGs out today anyway so what else are you going to to?

Engaging

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: August 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First, I don't think anyone should hope for a game to be as good as or close to The Elder Scrolls because only The Elder Scrolls can be The Elder Scrolls. However, since they have set the bar for RPGs, I will make a few comparisons, but not many since Bethesda did not make Two Worlds. Now that we got that straightened out, on to the review.

Pros:
Gameplay - do whatever you want. Walk around and kill things, do quests, follow the main questline etc. There are really no boundaries. However all of your actions do have consequences.

Leveling up - you level up by gaining experience points from killing mobs and from doing quests. You get 5 parameter points which you can invest however you choose in vitality, dexterity, strength or intelligence (magic points). When you level, you also get one skill point you can invest in any number of skills such as: balance (keep from getting knocked down too often), overdraw with a bow, magic skills (i.e. earth, fire, water, necromancy), stun skill, sneak, lockpicking, dual wield, strong hand etc. There are so many skills to enhance. Not all skills are unlocked at the start of the game, you have to find trainers to unlock them. Some are necromancy, balance, dual wield, overdraw, multiple arrow.

Combat - there are many ways to engage the enemy in Two Worlds. You can stand and fight with a sword (or two swords with dual wield), bow and arrow, magic, or traps. Yes, a trap. When I had to fight a mob I could not do much damage to, I had to kite it and lay out a series of fire, ice and poison bombs that did the damage for me. Another option would have been to lay a holding trap to hold the enemy there for a certain amount of time. The traps/bombs are certainly one of the best items in the game because you never really get aggro from just one mob. Meaning, there is never just "one" bandit in the bandit camp, or just "one" wolf in the wolf pack.

You can fight on horseback!!

Weapons cause different types of damage i.e. piercing, slashing and bludgeon. Different enemies are damaged by different weapons. I found this out when I was hacking at a Skeleton with my sword and it was doing no damage at all. I ended up using magic to kill it and then taking the club it had to kill the other skeletons. Slight downside of this is that now I have to carry 2 swords (because I use dual wield) and a club which affects inventory space and encumberance.

Ghosts - /panic. When you kill a mob it will respawn at nighttime as a ghost. Ghosts cannot be killed by physical weapons so the options are to run or use magic to kill it. I avoid this problem by hanging out in towns at nighttime. Ghost wyverns, ghost ogers - no thanks.

Another good thing about combat is that there is a fear of actually being killed by an enemy since you can encounter enemies that are in fact much stronger than you are. Like the time I went to the Dwarven Mine and easily wiped out all the Dwarves there and saw a cyclops and figured I was uber enough to take it down and it one shotted me....yeah, you can actually get killed by enemies. This makes the game that much more challenging.

Magic:
There are so many different types of magic spells to learn in the game. After learning the spell, you can find/buy/get boosters for the spells. So far I have only found two - increase damage of spell and conserve mana. The spells have great visuals as well. One spell that I tend to use a lot is "Wall of Fire" that creates a wall of fire between me and my enemies. Well, you literally see a large fire set between you and your enemy. Other spells are to summon creatures like a wyvern, devil, spider or octogrom (looks like a daedra lord from Oblivion), or a spell that has hands come out of the earth and crush your enemies. I am more of a melee combat person so I haven't used magic extensively.

Weapons & Armor:
Weapons and armor can be found in chests, on the bodies of the dead or purchased from vendors. However, the best thing about weapons and armor is that they are stackable. Last night I had two swords that were extremely similar and I had the opportunity to combine them and make a stronger sword. You can also enhance your weapons by adding elemental (fire, lighting etc) damage to it. The elemental damage is also stackable so if you have an item that adds 50% fire damage and another that adds 20% fire damage you can add them both to your weapon. However, you cannot combine different types of elemental damage.

Alchemy:
While venturing out in the world you can find plants and drops from killed mobs to make potions. This might not seem all that exciting except for the fact that you can find items that add PERMANENT stats - yes, permanent. So you can make that potion that gives you an extra 10 strength, 10 dexterity and 100 mana. If your alchemy is high enough you can combine the potions for even greater effect similar to the weapon and armor combination setup.

CONS:
As many have said before, the voice acting is horrible. What is "mayhap"? Sounds like a combination of maybe and perhaps. Additionally, the dialogue is quite limited. Everytime I see bandits they say the same thing "you there, put down that weapon".

Graphics - I have a regular tube TV. In Oblivion everything looked rich and vibrant. It is not the same for Two Worlds. It does not look as rich, but for some reason the graphics are best when in underground locations. That is when I can see everything in amazing detail.

Maps - The map system is not the greatest but my biggest gripe is that the maps could be more detailed when in cities. I'll admit I did get spoiled by Oblivion in that I could pull up a detailed map of Anvil and see exactly where Quill Weave's house was or where to find the Mage's Guild. In Two Worlds you can zoom into the map but cannot get any detail as to what is there. You just have to walk around to see who and what is there. However, to mitigate some of this, quest giving/participating NPCs do have a different symbol on them, as do trainers and vendors.

Quests - The quest system could stand some improvement. Yet another area where I have been spoiled by Oblivion. When you undertake a quest it shows up on the quest log which appears on the right hand side of your map. It is so hard to read because of the font size and where it sits on the screen. Also, the quest markers are not very clear and with all of the NPCs pretty much looking the same, it can be time consuming to find a quest giver to get your reward once done with the quest.

Horseback riding - While I can certainly appreciate the developers have made a good number of horses available (without having to steal them), I cannot ride them to save my life. Perhaps I need to level my horseriding skill but there is a very big delay between what orders I give the horse and when it follows my directives. Now I just walk everywhere because I can't be bothered with the cursed horse that's going east when I told it to go south.

Inventory - I think this has to be my #1 or #2 gripe with this game. There is no inventory sorting system of any kind. Everything is just dropped into on inventory location with only the icon. There are things in there I have no idea what they are until after I scroll over it for the description. This is an even bigger pain when I want to make a potion because I pretty much have to scroll through everything to determine what plant it is, or what gem stone or mineral it is. And on top of it all the font is so small so I can't even see how many of that item I have or anything.....grrrrrrr.

Miscellaneous - I was in the Excavation and saw a little chicken and figured I'd launch a lightning bolt at it. Well, it accidentally hit a guard and everyone in that zone tried to attack me. There was no "yield" option so even though I knew I could take them on, I let them kill me figuring it would reset their temperament. When I respawned and went back to that area, everyone tried to attack me again. I had to reload from a previous save so I could walk through there and get/do my quests. *shrug*

Overall the game is a lot of fun and there is a very large land out there to discover and a large number of enemies just waiting to be hacked or bludgeoned to death. The quests can be a bit time consuming because of the long distances you have to travel but the reward is worth it in experience and gold.

I would never reject this game because it's not Oblivion because if I wanted to play Oblivion I'd put that disc in.

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