Two Worlds review by a Newb
Now before I begin I must be honest and say my history in mmo's/rpgs isn’t as extensive as the more "elderly" gamers that have been playing since I’ve been born (1988). Since that date however I have been strangely addicted to countless hours of creating and leveling my characters.
Now before I comment any further please realize that I'm not here to bash this game or any fans and even though I am a relatively new member of these forums I can guarantee you I have been here for a while and have played the game quite a bit.
With that said lets get to the meat. I rented the game for my xbox360 which I believe has many more issues then the current pc version, such as the frame rate which can be solved by lowering the graphics, much like a pc user would. The reason I bought an Xbox 360 was because I did not want deal with computer gaming anymore and the constant need for greater performance to be able to run games at max graphics (PC has been the major source of my gaming). I bought an Xbox 360 because all the games made for it could run as is at max setting without any issues, however this game from the get go has choppy moments. There are some owners who disagree but from my standpoint and three other friends this game can have some really choppy moments. I made it much further then most of my friends who decided to return the game before an hour into it (which I've seen many flamers on these forums do).
The graphics in this game range from beautiful to complete crap. The scenery is very well done with a lush enviroment along with dynamic shadows and lighting that allows you to immerse yourself into it. However the lack of character detail, choppy animations, and combat game play can quickly pull you out. Even enchanted weapons at first look horrendous with just a colored outline of your weapon making it appear highlighted. If you’re a gamer that wants "New gen graphics" then this isn’t the game for you.
Character creation to me is a huge deciding factor and in this game I am afraid to say it left me quite disappointed. The game is designed so that every gamer pretty much looks the same with only slight changes to proportion (many of who are unproportioned). You can choose from 4 or 5 hair styles which all appear the same along with the color of your hair. What the game does let you do that some games do not is "size" your character, deciding if it’s going to be a hulking barbarian or a fragile mage (or vice versa, it’s up to you!). I forgot to mention the ability to choose between a human and elf, which some would think looks the same but I find it easy to tell, if their not wearing a helmet that is, since every human pretty much looks the same. The only difference is stat points which between the two races which have no effect on your character so it’s just up to looks.
Character development is quite good as the abundance of abilities allows the gamer to customize his or her character to their liking. However in my opinion melee class characters suffer from a lack of abilities and are pretty much forced into getting some sort of magic. Many choose to mix it up and that’s perfectly up to them but the option to be a pure melee class with a multitude of abilities that allow a Warrior/Knight/Sword dancer/Barbarian to be unique is lacking. Many end up being the same class with few differences in points allocated in different magic schools. This is seen greatly in multiplayer which eliminates any unique individual character. Don’t get me wrong there are those who have created their own character setup but the end point is in multiplayer you truly see character balancing issues and with the ability to relearn and retrain abilities every character has no real uniqueness. For example two people play the game and one spends 10 hours leveling a warrior to level 15 and the other only 6 hours leveling a Fire mage to that same level. The fire mage then wants to try a life as a plate wearing ninja and relearns his points and becomes one. How does that make the warrior feel? How much time did he waste? With multiplayer your choice of class means little as the only real benefit is starting skills/abilities and the weapon you have.
Another huge factor in Multiplayer is that it’s VERY unbalanced. Many characters have the ability to destroy their enemy within seconds, if their not stacked up on wolf hearts which needs a massive nerf, over 40k hp at level 12 is just not right. Multiplayer is the only way to really test individual gamer’s combat ability and unique individual characters, however with fire mages and archers able to take most opponents down in 1 or 2 hits is there really any reason to play a different class online? That’s of course if you’re a pvp fanatic however multiplayer pve does not leave much to be desired. Many classes attack friendly opponents such as a fire mage hurling fireballs into a pack of skeletons and blade dancer (or is he a duel wielding warrior who used to be a mage? just can’t tell anymore) who happens to be in the midst of it gets it to the back of the head! The poor quality targeting system and horrendous friendly fire issues leaves pve more like pvp. Also for Xbox 360 gamers you should know that many pve quests can mainly be completed by one character and another "session" (new map) must be started for the other characters to complete theirs. Also the ability to enter a map, leave it and rejoin with nothing but exp and inventory saved leaves you thinking, "Why do I want to do the exact same thing over again, quests and all?” There are no instances or multitude of quests. Many maps share the same quests the previous ones do and resetting the map just changes which quest giver gives which quest.
To balance the aforementioned issues revamps would need to be done to balance classes and pve/pvp aspects of the game. Many gamers have hoped that the more common issues I have not mentioned will be patched up some time soon like the massive lag spikes on xbox360 live. I can tell you now that if your an Xbox gamer and have purchased or are thinking of purchasing this game for its online ability think otherwise as you will be disappointed more likely then not.
Single player in its own is pretty good with some interesting quests and in depth storyline (if you’re willing to actually listen to it). It does allow for more interaction and character development because you are not actually participating with other characters and can freely alter your character without worrying about that fireball. Your decisions do carry consequences in this game and those consequences do affect the storyline you'll be following. Many gamers have found this out the hard way as they have been banned from cities for their criminal activity and now must kill them all and resurrect them in order to be able to communicate again (bug).
Overall the game had a lot of hype going for it which was greatly inflated. The single player aspect is worth its time but in the end it’s just another beat game. Multiplayer (for me at least) is what would give it replay value but with its current issues and bugs the game is just not worth it. For those that say, "Ooh be patient a patch will come out to resolve those issues" have a very high hope. An expansion is needed to solve the amount of issues not just simple patching. Yes the game is still playable and yes you can still enjoy it, but for it to be worth while the game needs more to it for me.
I hope this review helped!
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Two Worlds 1
Two Worlds 1