In 2007, Two Worlds was released to less than glowing reviews a few months after another open-world fantasy RPG, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, was received with almost universal acclaim. While Two Worlds was dismissed for its lack of polish, titles like Oblivion and Dragon Age: Origins have raised the bar for what’s expected from the genre. Though the second installment in the Two Worlds saga shows promise, it falls short of the admittedly high standard. Two Worlds II has its moments, but this game has been done before and better.

Two Worlds II begins with you stepping into the shoes of a hero who has been locked away in a dungeon for five years by Antaloor's tyrant emperor, Gandohar, for the attempted rescue of your scantily clad twin sister, Kyra. Unexpectedly, you’re rescued by the only hot female Orc I’ve ever seen along with her band of merry men. Upon relocating, you learn that Gandohar, in the interest of reinforcing fantasy clichés, plans to use your sister as a catalyst to awaken a dark, brooding force of evil. The Orcs’ leader, the legendary prophet Cassara, then sends you off to discover a weakness in Gandohar’s defenses and put a stop to his madness.       

The main narrative is cookie-cutter. With its uninspired writing and goofy voice acting, it seems that much of the game’s dialogue is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. However, there’s a fine line between tongue-in-cheek and bad, and with lines like “How does it look? Success?” it’s often difficult to distinguish between the two. There are moments in which it’s so bad that it’s good, but the dialogue isn’t amusing enough to make up for the lack of a compelling story. The single player campaign has three chapters, which fail to resolve themselves in a manner that is either climactic or satisfying, and transitions between these chapters are rough. The main quest probably won’t take you more than fifteen hours or so, but there’s plenty more to do if you’re so inclined.   

The game is true to the open-world genre in that there’s a staggering amount of territory to explore and you’re given a wealth of customization options. Within the character creation tool, there are upwards of thirty different appearance categories with each category boasting ten presets. Theoretically, the game’s skill system is classless because it is possible increase any individual skill, provided you’ve already unlocked it. With that said, you’ll probably play and level up as a specific class. Skills fall into warrior, mage, thief, or ranger categories, and there are about ten different skills to each category.  When you level up, you’re allotted skill points and attribute points, which can be funneled into strength, endurance, accuracy, or magic. You can mix and match skills, but there really isn’t any reason to unless you’re playing as a ranger and need some close combat options.

One of the Two Worlds II’s strongest aspects is its crafting system. In addition to class-based skills, you can train your character in metallurgy, weapon forging, armor upgrades, and fusion. With these abilities you can strengthen weapons and armor with basic components like wood, steel, and iron. You can also attach crystals that deal more damage or improve skills and attributes. Resources are acquired by breaking down weapons to their basic components. The system is deep, engaging, and rewarding, and makes for a satisfying way to clean out an over-stocked inventory.    

Another of the game’s selling points is that you can theoretically change your class at any time. NPCs known as Soulpatchers sell regressions, which allow you to backtrack in your character build. Theoretically, this sounds awesome, but the system could have been executed better. The main problem is that you can’t just pay a flat fee for a blank slate. One regression gives you back some of your skill and attribute points but not all of them. This means that if your character is at a moderately high level, then you have to purchase regressions over and over again before you can truly start from scratch. The process is unnecessarily tedious. I like the option to re-tweak my character, but there should have been a way to purchase all skill and attribute points at once.

Combat is satisfying but clunky at times. It’s great that you can map up to three different equipment sets to the D-pad and switch between them quickly and conveniently. The system works well for ranged character builds, which almost require the ability to quickly change combat styles. Unfortunately, the controls aren’t quite as convenient. Often, my character became confused as to whether he was supposed to be blocking, running, or sneaking because all of these actions are mapped to the same button. They’re just activated differently. Suffice it to say, this control scheme led to many situations in which I found myself sneaking when I should have been running or running when I should have been blocking.   

The graphics aren’t fantastic, but they aren’t terrible either. The world looks fairly polished at a glance, but the game has many of the graphical bugs that have become typical of the genre. Objects pop in and out, faces disappear into walls, and the camera can be unsettling. There are a ton of dialogue issues. The lip-synching is off, and sometimes characters get cut off in mid-sentence.  The quest log is a hassle, as it places completed quests right next to active quests with little to distinguish between the two. Most of the time, the atmosphere fails to immerse. The musical score is quite good, and the game does have its moments.  About midway through the first chapter, a beautiful Arabian Nights-esque tune compliments the dry bustle of a desert town. Unfortunately, these moments of immersion are few and far between.

Two Worlds II had the potential to be good, but it suffers from a lack of polish and an uninspired narrative. If you’re really into fantasy RPGs, and you’re itching for a new title, this one might warrant a playthrough. Just don’t expect to be too impressed.  

A sparse, unbalanced loot grind.

Along with the single player campaign, players have the option to try several different multiplayer modes. The multiplayer can be fun on its own, but that enjoyment is far too fleeting. The available modes are fairly self-explanatory and include Adventure, which is a co-op romp through a sparse narrative of seven maps; Deathmatch, where two teams are pitted against one other to see who reaches the kill limit first; Duel, which is simply a one-on-one Deathmatch; and Crystal Capture, by far the most unique of the multiplayer options, which places two teams on a map with blue crystals, green crystals, and skulls scattered about. Gathering blue crystals earns points for your team, while touching skulls loses points and destroys surrounding crystals. Green crystals change skulls into blue crystals and vice-versa. The first team to accumulate a certain number of points wins. Finally, there's the intriguing Village mode that contributes significantly to the longevity of the multiplayer experience. This mode can be unlocked as soon as you accumulate 10,000 Auras, the in-game currency, and allows you to build up your own village by constructing farms, shops, gardens, and mines. Your village has its own economy, which is maintained by upgrading buildings and completing minor quests. You can earn money and wares by pumping funds into infrastructure and keeping your villagers happy. Other players can visit your village to trade or help you complete quests.      

There are up to eight slots in Deathmatch, Crystal Capture and Adventure,  so ideally you’re working with either four-on-four battles or an eight-person co-op. Each mode has about three maps. There are a few more customization options available in the multiplayer, as you can play as a human, Orc, elf or dwarf. In addition, you choose a starting class, beginning as a warrior, ranger or mage.  Depending on your choice, you’ll get most of the abilities in a specific class, but skills in other classes will be locked until you can afford to purchase the appropriate skill books.

While Deathmatch has the potential to be fun, it’s difficult to balance, since slight differences in level and loot can lead to significant advantages for either side. In addition, melee characters have an advantage because they can move quickly and take out most mages in a few hits. The Adventure mode is fun with friends, but there’s almost no story. The unrealized potential here is disappointing. An engaging narrative could have made this multiplayer mode something special instead of the typical grinding and loot-grabbing affair. The regression mechanic makes its way into the multiplayer, as well, and though it seems like it would be a good way to change your class on the fly, it’s not, for the same reasons mentioned in the single player review. Consequently, it’s almost easier to just start from scratch and level up a different character than try to alter a high-level character’s preferred skill set.
If you didn’t think much of the single player campaign in Two Worlds II, then you probably won’t get much out of the multiplayer. It’s nice to level-grind with friends, and gathering loot is fun for a while but, just like the single player, multiplayer fails to bring much lasting appeal to the table