A game that is HORRIBLE in the beginning, but gets better with time......
Let me get one thing straight, I played and LOVED Oblivion. Logged over 200 hours with it by the time I got bored. I did not expect Two Worlds to live up to that standard. Oblivion, in my mind, is one of the greatest games ever made, and it just isn't fair to expect a game to live up to that,, regardless of the hype. I did not, however, expect to find that Two Worlds is a worthless, barely playable piece of garbage that is a sad, sad attempt for the publisher to cash in on the hype surrounding the game. The graphics are TERRIBLE and the frame rate is RIDICULOUS. How the hell did they allow a game with a frame rate this bad to hit the market? It is near impossible to look around without the camera jumping and moving around looks you have a strobe light above your head. Normally frame rate issues can be overlooked, but these are literally so bad that they will make your head hurt and ruin the entire experience. Between that and the horrendous pop-up (whole fields of flowers will just appear at your feet) and the laughable enemy character models that look like they were taken straight from a PS1 game, you have a game that is nearly unplayable. The animations are laughable and the much lauded weather effects looks like they are running on a PC from the 90s. So much for that department. But hey, I thought, who cares if the graphics suck if the gameplay is great. But Two Worlds fails miserably here, too. Your character is so weak in the beginning that you cant even defend yourself from basic enemies like wolves (which, by the way, kill you with two hits). This is a major problem since the game offers you no alternative to walking through the forest to complete you first quests. Basically I ended up having to run two miles back to the closet village every time I was attacked (which was every thirty seconds or so) so that the guards would kill the enemies for me and I could avoid being killed. However, finding the nearest village proved to be highly difficult thanks to the completely unintuitive and clunky User Interface and useless, good-for-nothing map. When I did find my way back, I bought a couple of new weapons......still got killed. Leveled up......still got killed. It was at this point, running through the forest being jarred by the horrendous frame rate with a pack of 12 wolves chasing me that I realized that I had been had by South Peak. The sound is no gem, either. The voice acting is AWFUL, truly right up there with some of the worst I have ever heard. Do you remember in grade school when you had to read aloud and you did it in a monotone, unenthusiastic voice? That is what the main character sounds like ALL THE TIME. In fact, I think the main character is the worst actor in the game, and that is saying something because in the several hours I spent wandering around I didn't find one person who didn't sound like they were reading a script for the first time in their lives. Combine that with the ludicrous implementation of poorly used old english (done with entirely American accents mind you), and you have a very sad situation indeed. Imagine someone from the midwest saying "Mayhaps it twas a friend". Now imagine hearing that or someting like it every time you talk to someone. Now imagine that it is said with absolutely no inflection whatsoever. That's what the acting in this game is like. I eventually just turned off the voices and read the text. It was that bad. Really. It was. I know this is a long review, but I just feel so cheated by this game. It had so much potential and it failed so, so miserably. I will never, ever buy another product developed by this studio, nor one published by South Peak. This is a shameless, pathetic excuse for a game that should be ripped from th shelves and burned. It is by far the worst 360 game on the market, and possibly one of the worst I have ever played. To call this a next-gen game is a joke unless you happen to be living in the time period where Sega reigned supreme. So please, for the love of God, SAVE YOURSELF!!! Don't let these two greedy companies get your money in exchange for a pile of garbage they only pretend is a game. I just hope EB will still take mine back. I guess I better get back to Bioshock now.........
*****I do feel compelled now, several days after writing this review to modify my score by 3.5 points, bringing the overall score to a 6.5 The reason for this is that I gave this game another chance because I really, really wanted to like it, and it actually has improved quite a bit. I changed the difficulty to easy, which eased y frustrations quite a bit. The framerate is still not fantastic, but it does improve as the game caches the areas where you have been and the voice acting actually gets gradually better to the point of being almost decent. The weapon and armor system is quite entertaining as well, and once you level up enough to defend yourself there are actually some reasonably fun quests to undertake. The world is also HUGE, which is a nice plus. Basically I am saying I was a little unfair here. All the technical issues with graphics and sound and everything still stand, but the gameplay does get fun enough for you to overlook those things if you just give it a chance. However, if you do not like RPGs this one won't be the one to change your mind. Hardcors RPG fans willing to deal with the issues here are the only ones who should pick this one up. Hope this helps you decide whether this game is for you or not. Message me with any other questions.**********