Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	8
Sound:	7
FunFactor:	8
PlasmaFactor:	7
Overall:	7.4

Two Worlds Review
February 10, 2008 by Jeffery Collins

When people first see Two Worlds, they might think that it is just another RPG like Oblivion. Yes, it has the same engine as Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but it also has unique qualities. It is these unique qualities that truly make Two Worlds worth the price.

Pleasing to the World of RPGs

At the start you create your character and customize everything from the hair style and color, to the shape of every part of your body. Unlike other RPGs, however, you do not pick a class. This is because all abilities are open to you, depending on where you go in the game and how you choose to act. Of course, everything has a downside: you can only be male and human. There are no other races or female characters. I discovered when I actually went into the game that this is due to the massive back story.

You play as a mercenary who, in the opening cut scene, lost his sister to a kidnapper. The main story of the game follows this trail as you search for your sister and soon find out who kidnapped her. Of course how fast you accomplish this depends entirely on whether or not you want to do side quests. There are enough side-quests to distract you to not even follow the main quest until you're level 30 or even higher. It's completely up to you. Each town has distinguishable NPCs. The NPC's give you quests, sell items, teach you new techniques and talk about the same thing most RPG NPC's do. If you do decide to talk to the NPC's you will discover the rich back story for the world.

Pleasing to the Eyes

The graphics are probably the best and worst part of the game. The scenery is rendered in real time and the game world characters are well designed.  The graphics definitely show that they are being drawn by the same engine as oblivion. However this may leaves gamers who don't have a high end PC in the dark.

Pleasing to the Ears

The music in Two Worlds is epic and fitting. The only problem is that it is rare. It only occurs at major cut-scenes and in a few other areas.  However, the amazing quality of the in-game sound effects and the well implemented surround sound help you to forget this.  When it is peaceful, birds chirp in the distance, wind blows, and when near towns, you hear people chatting in the distance. When you are near death, your heart starts pounding and you hear chiming bells of some sort. The conversations between characters are voiced well with the exception of a few glitches that can be easily fixed with a patch.

Perhaps the greatest feature in this game is the reputation system. Throughout the game, as you complete side-quests for certain people, your reputation goes up for various clans and groups. If you help a necromancer gather materials, your necro-clan rep goes up. This means that any necromancer that has a shop will sell you things for less and buy things for more. If you help out a clan that is against another clan, your rep goes down for that other clan. The system is very well implemented.

Another great feature of the game is, that the artificial intelligence is extremely interactive and not just a prop in the world. Speaking on the different clans and such, if you happen to agro a few necromancers to come attack you and you run back near a group of thieves, the thieves will attack the necromancers. This leads to a three way battle between the two groups and the player. The same goes for the animals in Two Worlds. For example, the wolves will help you and hurt you all the same as you help and hurt them.

After many many hours logged in Two Worlds, there are only 2 major problems in the game, alongside the minor problems listed before. The first major problem is spellcasting. The magic system is well thought out and set up nicely, but there are a few glitches with it that could change whether or not you survive. Healing is the best example of this. Sometimes when you use the heal spell, it works perfectly and you're healed. Other times, you go through the healing animation only to realize you didn't heal or lose any mana. This can happen 4 or 5 times in a row until you get pissed off and just waste a potion instead.

Actually getting anywhere takes some time as well. Walking is slow and will take you forever to get anywhere on foot. The horses are rather hard to control while you're riding and the feature where you can fight on horseback is pointless because you have to stop, take the time to turn around, and then attack again. This process becomes extremely tedious. Although Teleportation is convenient because you can get places you've been very fast, you can't take your horse with you. Therefore when you teleport there, you then have to walk ever so slowly.

Plasma Factor

And now: the Plasma Factor. The Equipment Stacking in Two Worlds is a very awesome feature. In other RPGs, you have common items and rare items and unique items etc. However, at a certain point you get tired of all the common items because you won't ever use them.  In Two Worlds you have the ability to fuse two of the same items to make the item stronger. This makes you go looking for common items at certain points because 10 of the same item put together is sometimes stronger than a similar rare item. This system is different from almost all other RPGs I've played, with the exception of very few, and it is definitely what makes this game awesome.

Long game

This game is most definitely worth playing, with so much to do with up to 100 hours of gameplay and so much customization and freedom. There are very few problems and the ones that exist don't take too much away from the game. I would recommend this game to anyone with enough free time to play this game to its full potential.