Review: Two Worlds 2

When the original Two Worlds was released upon us it quickly earned itself quite the infamous reputation.  It was known as a primarily buggy and awful affair, the butt of jokes and hilarious Youtube videos the world over.  You would think that after a showing of that magnitude developer Reality Pump would encase the name “Two Worlds” in a deep and dark tomb never to be spoken of again; a growing darkness beneath the earth only to be unleashed if some unwary traveler were to desecrate its remains.

You would think that’s what they would do. Reality Pump, however doesn’t seem like that type of studio. Like the underdog in a David and Goliath story, and to the surprise of everyone, the developer decided to give it one more go.

So have they succeeded? Is Two Worlds 2 the proper game they promised us they would make? Does it succeed at forgiving past transgressions? Is it better than Two Worlds 1? In one word, yes. But in a game as big as Two Worlds the answer needs to be qualified with a little more complication than that. Read on for our full review of Two Worlds 2.

Two Worlds 2 (Xbox 360, PS3. PC)
Developer: Reality Pump
Publisher: Topware Interactive
Released: January 25, 2011 (North America)

Let’s get one thing out of the way. On its surface Two Worlds 2 does not seem like a very good game, especially when you try to put it in the same family as games like Dragon Age Origins and the Elder Scrolls series. The fact is, trying to but it in that family is completely erroneous and leads to expectations that Two World 2 simply cannot fulfill.  However, where it lacks in the areas of comparison with those Triple A titles it more than makes up for in areas those titles don't even try to go.  Can you break down weapons in Dragon Age to their elemental parts and then use those parts to upgrade your own weapons and armor? How much Alchemy and Metallurgy is there in Elder Scrolls? Does either one have a Lute-playing mini-game that plays like a Medieval Guitar Hero?  I thought not. Why is that seemingly out of place mini-game even in Two Worlds 2? I have no idea, but I love the fact that it is, and it’s one of the small things that adds to the very charm that emanates throughout the entire game.

To be clear there are some fairly major problems with the game, many of them technical in nature. The HUD being set, by default, to stretch beyond the edges of your TV is just the first indications that some things may be going awry. This is easily fixed by turning on an option in the graphics menu but that’s just the beginning. For some inexplicable reason the item stats in the inventory are also set to be represented by obtuse symbols that are not explained anywhere in the game or in the manual. Again, these are switched from icons to actual words in the interface options menu, but them being set to symbols by default is a decision that defies logic.

For the most part the graphics look great but can be a bit uneven. Dungeons look fantastic, and some areas of the outer world look extremely nice, but other areas are prone to graphical slowdown and a washed out look which can make things look a tad bland. Lighting effects, however, look very good and the atmosphere of going down a dungeon with a torch in one hand is not to be missed.  The dungeon design is very well done and I found it to be reminiscent of some of the darker foreboding areas of Demon’s Souls.

The combat can also be a bit shoddy on its surface, but there are truly worse systems out there.  Strikes tend to lack a sense of weight and the hit detection can sometimes seem to be a little off at times, but the combat system really does works best when you’re fighting a single armed enemy. Here the nuances of the battle system do shine. Enemies will block your strikes unless you use a block breaker move or only strike when they give you an opening which leads to a nice back and forth parry style battle. Some of my most fun moments in the game have been facing off with a much stronger enemy in a dirty dungeon hallway.

If swords aren’t your thing there’s a robust magic system at work which the developer cheekily calls DEMONS.   It works like a spell crafting system where your materials are cards which can be put into any combination. Want to make a fire spell that shoots a fireball that will then ricochet around the room?  You can do it. Want to shoot that into a 3 ball spread? Make it happen. As you find cards throughout the world in chests at with merchants you can upgrade your spell arsenal quite a bit. It ads another layer to magic using that I haven’t seen in any recent games. People who play primarily as mages will surely latch onto this system big time.

The crafting doesn’t stop there. In Two Worlds 2 there is Alchemy which uses hundreds of plants around the world to make any type of potion you like (it will even save the recipe for you once you create it), a metallurgy system which allows you to fuse together power gems you find, and a weapon crafting system which allows you to break apart weapons and armor into their base elements and then use those elements to upgrade other equipment. You can even add in slots into which you can insert power gems which raise other stats.

I would be lying if I were going to tell you that the UI for all of this was fantastically streamlined, or if all of this was explained well in the game itself.  It isn’t. In fact the UI will have the nasty habit of overlapping item stat windows with the item windows themselves making it impossible to actually see the item you are pointing to at times.  But if you can get passed those inconveniences you’ll find a robust crafting system that stretches throughout the entire game and across all fighting types. It’s also insanely addictive once you get into it and allows you some new ways of getting around obstacles as well. Have you found a dungeon which is holding some powerful enemies that your level won’t allow you to tackle? In most other games that would mean grinding around the world until you were strong enough. In Two Worlds 2 it means concocting a potion that raises your strength by 50% for 5 minutes, drinking it and going in there to kick some ass.

The main story suits the needs of the game fine enough but I think it can be a little grandiose for its own good. Where the main story suffocates in pretentiousness, however, the side quests make up for in their ability to be quirky and fun.  Truth be told, the writing works best when the game isn’t trying so hard to be so serious. In this vein you’ll find some truly fun, multi-threaded, side quests that will make you forget that the main story is even there. You’ll chase down body snatchers, protect villages, help start up businesses and even get embroiled in a local sex scandal.  They even take some self deprecating shots at the original Two Worlds which are quite fun to see.  And if you want quirky, we do have that Lute playing music mini-game. You can buy an instrument and different sheet music and play in the center of town Guitar Hero Style (with your controller). Play well enough and townspeople will give you tips.

Did I mention that there is a mind bogglingly robust multiplayer feature that allows you to play an online campaign with a persistent character in a party of up to 8 people?  And deathmatch? And a variant of capture the flag?  Really.

But even with that I keep coming back to this Lute playing game in my mind. It seems like any other developer would have scrapped that portion of the game early on in order to refine some other details that might be lacking. It surely wasn’t left in as a great use of developer time and resources; it was obviously left in because they thought it would be fun and a nice reprieve from the main game for the player. This embodies almost everything I like about Two Worlds 2. Every inch of this game was made with love and, honestly, I’ll say that it has more heart than a lot of the other bigger RPG’s we have grown accustomed to.  There is a true dedication and reverence toward the old style RPG at play here.  This is a game for people who just want to dungeon crawl, find loot, break it down and make their hat give them +5 wisdom, and the antiquation of many of the systems aren’t necessarily a lack of innovation but possibly a design philosophy that does not adhere to the tenant that everything needs to be streamlined to an inch of its life.

Two Worlds 2 does it the way they used to do it. It does it the way that made us fall in love the RPG’s in the first place. It’s hard to knock a game for that, but it would also be disingenuous for me to say that those things don’t really matter. The fact is that many people may not give Two Worlds 2 enough of a chance to look beyond its surface failings and get to the addictive meat of the game beneath.  Oversights or not, those design decisions probably put an unnecessary barrier to entry on a game that does have a big chance of being a sleeper hit.

Like I said at the beginning, I envision Reality Pump as an underdog Rocky character. Having being beaten and battered they have trained hard for their comeback fight; sweating under harsh conditions, forging through the snow with a log on their back, running the 72 steps at the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art to a throng of cheering children.

Now that the fight is over, allow me to hoist you up and put the flag around your neck.

“Yo, Adrian, we did it... We did it.”

Score: 80%
(80-89%: These games are great with only some issues getting in the way of being phenomenal)