Two Worlds is a very fitting title. On one side, you have the game with a lot of exploring opportunities, freedom, and customization; on the other, you have the game with the horrible bugs, awful framerates, uninspired scenery, and insanely boring combat.
On paper, Two Worlds looks like a great game. An Oblivion-like title made by a relatively unknown development team? Score! Unfortunately, things go downhill once you actually place the disc in your 360.
Somewhere along the line, someone must have forgotten to test this game on a 360 before printing the discs. It’s no lie when I say that this is by far the glitchiest and most bug-ridden Xbox 360 game I’ve seen in the console’s lifespan. The framerate drops at random intervals, the game will freeze for no reason, and playing online… Well, let’s just say you’d get a much faster multiplayer experience playing chess via postcards.
Two Worlds’ problems aren’t all coding-related, though. For starters, the game has an incredibly bad story which makes Super Mario Bros. look like Hamlet. Not only is the plot incredibly cliched, but I honestly would believe the writing was done by an 8th grade student attempting to sound like Shakespeare for a homework assignment if someone told me that. That’s okay, though, because the voice acting seems like something straight from a middle school play. Toss the poor narrative on top of the even worse combat, and you have some big flaws for any RPG.
Fighting a monster (or animal) is basically you hitting RT, dodging/retreating, hitting RT again, and hoping you outlast your opponent. If you die? No big deal. Resurrect, then come back and try to finish it off. You can use special skills like magic with the LT, but doing that is usually a bad idea as most spells cause more slowdown, or target enemies you weren’t even concerned about. While playing, I admit that there’s something strangely addicting about completing sidequests and just exploring the wilderness. At the same time, whatever hold that might have is completely ruined by everything else that goes wrong.
Visually, the game is just as disappointing. The graphics are nothing spectacular — they aren’t even decent. If you play it on an HD they’re far better, but at the same time, it’s obvious that they basically took the PC version and ported it over; most of the stuff is far too small to read from a comfortable distance.
When you get right down to it, Two Worlds is a game that should not have been released at this point. Period. There are far too many mistakes and glitches, and gamers shouldn’t be expected to purchase a title then wait for it to be playable. Does it have its moments? Certainly. I had some enjoyable times playing Two Worlds, and if you can brave the various technical issues there’s a decent chance you’ll be sucked in momentarily as well. Unfortunately, the horrid soul-crushing moments greatly outweigh the good. The developers are working on updates to fix the multiplayer problems, so at least it’s a start. The only question is, will people still be trying to play online by the time it comes out?
But what about the good? While most of the game will frustrate and annoy you, Two Worlds does do a few things right. For starters, it’s surprisingly addicting to play once you’ve put any time into it. Even if you recognize the game is awful, you just can’t put the controller down. I’m not exactly sure why that is; it just is. (Think of it as the video game equivalent to a horrible B-movie.) There’s also a lot to do in this game, so you certainly get your money’s worth if you put time into it.
Eventually, Two Worlds may be a solid game worthy of at least a rental from most RPG gamers. As it stands, the expectations they created and comparisons they invoked may be the biggest detriment to enjoying it. The game was marketed as "Oblivion on steroids," which is completely laughable and inaccurate. Then again, maybe Two Worlds is the Jose Canseco of the steroid-using video game world.
