Two Worlds Collector's Edition

I waited and waited AND waited some more for this game to arrive. After logging 220 plus hours with Oblivion, games after that just didn't hold much appeal for me. So, I had some very high hopes (as did many of us) for Two Worlds.
For all the release delays this game offered us, it's engine was a buggy mess. The graphics were very poor, mostly they seemed to have a very jagged appearance reminiscent of older,low polygon count games. Many of the light effects were VERY obnoxious. Flames looked very unrealistic, light gradients were very mis-colored. Example; you would be walking through a otherwise dark cave, when suddenly the passage is a light blue color. No blue flames indicating the presence of supernatural activity, nothing. Just blue.
Shadows were very jagged looking as well. At times the shadows of a tree would make me wonder if I was interacting with some "Thing" instead of a shadow. Water was like a wobbly mirror.
One of the most annoying and near laughable features in the game was the "Inability" to control a horse. I soon discovered that wasting earned skill points points on my horse riding skills was...well a waist. If you had to stray from the beaten path, what so ever, your mighty stead was bound to get completely immobilized by a shrub or tree. Slight embankments and hill sides were also a major "No-No" for our stead. I can't imagine what the team involved in the actual design of the horse in Two Worlds, was thinking.
I'm thinking malt liquor and bong-hits were the sole inspiration for this one. Next was the (Now Legendary) horrific voice acting. The voice actors themselves sounded as if they had to perform nude in front of a stadium of giggling onlookers. VERY UNCOMFORTABLE SOUNDING. Not only did the characters sound scared, but there was simply not enough variety in the actual voices. You could speak to a close group of three people who all shared the exact same voice and greeting.
The A. I. was very funny. Very bad, but at least it made you laugh. For instance, I could interact with a character who absolutely hated my character and made it known by cursing and threating me. However, as soon as the interaction was over they would say in a totally different voice; Grand Day! Or Greetings Tall One! Or A Fine Day Indeed!
The menu looked a lot like the old Diablo menue system, right down to the barely readable fonts. It wasn't until my wife and I bought a HD t.v. that I could even read what some the menu items or instructions said.
The travel log was the worst I have EVER seen. It's crammed way over to the right side of the menu screen and written in tiny, black letters with some words being separated by an entire line width. It was absolute torture to try and follow.
The title music was also the cheesiest music I have heard in a long, long time. Anyone here remember that old song called "A total eclipse of the heart" by Bonnie Tyler? It sounded like that but with some generic, wannabe operatic woman singing. The in-game music was very unbalanced as well. It was either very quiet or VERY LOUD, so adjusting it in the controls menu was pointless. Not to mention, most of the time the music itself (When you could hear it) didn't fit the situation.
Now there were (Believe it or not) some redeeming qualities to the game. combining similar weapons to make a more powerful version was great. I had some massive sword called the Dragons Jawbone, that had a slashing power of over 3000. Basically I had a one hit wonder. One hit and most everything went flying across the screen and laid on the ground twitching . That was pretty satisfying.
Creating you own spells and so forth could have been cooler if you had some sort of guide to help you. Since you didn't, it was more or less a way to make room in your inventory or power up magical attributes for a weapon. Mostly it was just cumbersome. I beat the game without ever really using any magic.
I threw a few fire balls but why bother when you can smash the tar out of anything with a giant jaw bone? lol The Bow was great to. Once you got your skill level with the bow up to ten and it's damage abilities really high, you could wipe out an entire Orc Camp with it, no problem.
Sadly though, the game just ends up being a decent way to relax before bed, cracking Orc skulls and flinging Bandits into the weeds is alway's a joy.
For $60.00 to $70.00 though, it's just not worth it. Rent it, borrow it or wait until it's in the clearance bin. Whatever you do though, don't waste your money on a brand new copy and especially the Collectors Edition.

...then Two Worlds is the game for you! I see and hear many people trying to compare Two Worlds to Oblivion and frankly, I just don't think that's a fair comparison to make. When it comes to western RPGs (by western, I mean those that don't have a real Japanese flavor to them, like Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon and Infinite Undiscovery), I like to view things as being on one of two extremes: tactical RPG (like Oblivion and Morrowind) and experiential RPG (like Diablo and RuneScape). Reality Pump took Two Worlds in a different direction; they attempted to blend the two styles, and for the most part, I'd say it works. You still have the 3rd-person (and occasionally 1st-person) view of the character. You're directly in control of swinging your sword and casting spells. Unlike Oblivion, though, you have more of a Diablo-like inventory system and can stack items to improve them (which, albeit less realistic, makes collecting items a lot more fun).

Graphically, Two Worlds is up to par for what you should expect from the 360 at this point. It's not earth-shaking (even though it does look beautiful in HD), but you can still tell you're playing a 360 game. I'd say it at least matches the graphics of Oblivion, for the most part.

The audible aspect is a bit of a touchy issue for some people. Yes, the dialogue can be laughably bad at some points, but I personally view it as a welcome comic relief. It's humor seems unintentionally tongue-in-cheek. (Think of it like Mystery Science Theater 3000 or The Bard's Tale for original XBox.) Allow me to illustrate:

True Story: I'm playing Two Worlds and my character is running through the woods when he comes upon a guy standing outside a cottage. I run up to him and enter into a dialogue that goes something like this.

Man: "I have the finest horses in all of (such-and-such a place). Would you like to buy one?"

I didn't, at the time, so I exited dialogue... but accidentally pressed the button to draw my weapon (which is X, by the way. I'll never forget that now.) My character says something to the effect of "IT IS TIME TO DO BATTLE!" ...and that it was.

I tell you that to make one point - the dialogue is unintentionally funny, and if you can accept that, you'll enjoy the game - and segway to my next point. Your enemies are TOUGH in the begining of the game. In this instance, because it is similar to Oblivion, I will draw a comparison. Two Worlds doesn't level enemies up with you, like Oblivion does, meaning that when you're level 1 in Two Worlds, a villager will WHOOP YOU. (I got mine handed to me by the horse guy.) On the same token, once you've level up sufficiently, you can return and exact your revenge like the barbarian you are! I deffinately found this to be an improvement over Oblivion's system of leveling up enemies as you leveled up. (It felt like you were never getting anything accomplished.)

I will admit, I haven't tried the online mode yet. I'm waiting for a friend to make some money and buy the game as well. I hear it's a little buggy online, but hopefully it's only minor issues that can be worked out with updates via XBL.

Overall, my experience with the game has been positive. I think Diablo fans who would like a little more control over their character, or Oblivion fans who really wanted to just hack and slash, will really enjoy this game. It's not brimming with excitement for the first half hour or so, but if you give it a little time, it really becomes quite fun. :)

I hope my review has helped. Sorry for the less-than-formal style.

This is truely one of the best RPGs I have played in a while. This game should go up on the wall with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the Dungeon Siege Series. The game puts you as a mercenary looking for his sister whom he hasn't seen in 3 years whilst the world's major factions are in an uproar looking for the fallen god of war. Like Oblivion or Mass Effect you can go off of the main quest and do whatever you want to do, if living up to the mercenary part of you is your thing you can go slaughter Orc Tribes, blast Bandits into zapor with your magic arsenal or travel the vast terrain the game can offer. The game is pretty balance, you have four major attributes governing what your skills do and a variety of skills like magic, thievery, melee combat or ranged combat. Your only restriction is level which is not really a problem until you get to the higher levels.

This game is not without errors though, if you have a 20" or smaller TV or wear glasses/contacts you will have trouble reading the text, it is probably in what would be Times New Roman size 10 (or maybe Arial) and the names have different colors which can get a little annoying. One thing that will show are the leaves, they are very blocky and look like 2D blobs of feces instead of a leaf. The blood is cartoon-like it is 3D and all but it is rendered really strange but is quite funny. There is not a great amount of voice actors but the punch-lines and phases your character mutters such as "prepare to meet death" or "drip, drip, drip...its raining" or a grunt when he jumps in water. This game runs smoothly and there is no problem with it, for that real cinametic feel you can hookup your Xbox 360 Elite to a 1080i HDTV with Verizon FiOs which is not really necessary but makes a great picture!

The combat is actually quite intricate, your enemy seems to learn as you attack. If you like jumping back a lot (hitting the B button) they will press attacks, they will chase you if you retreat and will try to unhorse you if you charge at them on a war steed. You will find you self mashing the health potion button at bigger fights and running. The medium and hard difficulties should be remaned Psychotic and Apocalyptic, it is that hard especially when you get up to higher levels. If you like button mashing something to pieces this is not your game

The levels are not hard to get unless you want to press the 100s (yes its possible) if you can get a couple million XP you can get their. You get skill points for combat achievements like killing intervals of enemies (10, 25, 100...) or picking pockets, opening locks, riding horses or casting spells.

All-in-all this is a great game, from the leveling/skill system to the great terrain that ranges from dark dungeons, to sprawling plains, dry deserts and icy mountains and in addition with the funny lines NPCs and your character make this game is very enjoyable