Reviews

Review: Two Worlds II

March 25, 2011, Author: Trent Pyro

A band of heroes
Multiplayer is not a common inclusion in RPGs like this, but that hasn’t stopped Reality Pump from innovating and trying something fresh. For the most part it works, although there are glaring balance issues that threaten to ruin it completely.

The multiplayer is split into four modes and one kind of  side-project. Deathmatch pits you and some chums against another group of heroes in a fight to the death. Pretty simple stuff. Duel is a similar affair, but one-on-one instead. With the relatively advanced combat system and variation in fighting styles this can make for quite exciting and tense fights, although as with any limited mode it can get dull quickly. Crystal Capture is essentially capture the flag, but the melee nature of the combat makes for an interesting twist on the usual hiding and shooting found in most version of this age-old mode. Adventure is the one that seems to be getting the most play at present.

Comprising of seven self-contained levels that form one big story arc, you and up to five others embark on a reasonably lengthy quest together. This, to me, is the most innovative mode. It allows you to develop your multiplayer character, buying new weapons and armour as well as spending skill points to boost abilities. You can then take this character into any other mode, as well as running through the Adventure quest as many times as you’d like. While there’s no expression system, there is of course, headset support, although in my experience players are pretty quiet on the whole. The mode is obviously geared toward varying your party and working to each others strengths; one player casting a debilitating area-of-effect spell while another fires arrows from afar and another still wades in swinging. The only issue with this reliance on cooperation is that it seems the current modest popularity of the game is preventing most groups of online friends from banding together. This also creates the largest problem in this multiplayer component; level balance.

This was literally the ONLY multiplayer screenshot I could find!

Take my experience. I began to play the multiplayer about a week after the game was supposed to out in the UK. After struggling to find games, I finally hit gold; only to be paired with three players with levels upwards of 70. My level 1 character never stood a chance. I spent the next hour or so essentially tagging along as these guys killed skeletons with single swipes and used single spells to wipe out whole rooms of foes. I had no chance to get a kill in and they were only too happy to rush on ahead and leave me to jog along, a solitary spare part. It was immediately deflating and took every scrap of fun out of the game. So I went back to the lobby and adjusted my search so I would be matched with players of my level or similar. No games found. This means that Two Worlds II is seemingly a victim of so many other, non-blockbuster titles. Only those who are big fans are playing the multiplayer regularly and this creates a vacuum. The hardcore are massively advanced, alienating newcomers and essentially preventing anyone without a resolve of pure adamantium from spending any length of time on this element of the game.

After only one week on the shelves, the Two Worlds geeks have dominated and hold the monopoly on matches and Adventure scenarios. This doesn’t bode well for the future of the component, and I fear that it’ll be relegated to the deadly limbo frequented by games like EndWar and Civilisation Revolution; only geeks and experts need apply. That is if it doesn’t drop out altogether in the coming months through lack of activity, which would be a grand shame.

One extra that takes the edge off is Village mode. Once you’ve struggled through numerous Adventure quests and amassed 10,000 Auras, you can start a little town. It’s your task to protect and develop the place, and as you do so it will become more populated and make you more money. It’s initially a little confusing, but you soon get the hang of it and it becomes quite a diverting little pursuit. Your town is surrounded by wild lands full of creatures and hunting them down is a big part of keeping your citizens safe, so don’t worry about it defending into a Sim City-like experience. It is quite slow to develop though, and I suspect only the most dedicated of players will bother to keep their village growing after the initial excitement.

What all this amounts to is a multiplayer component with bags of innovation, enjoyment and potential, ruined by a lack of activity and the age-old result of a massive newbie/hardcore divide. It’s such a shame because Two Worlds II is really taking great leaps in RPG multiplayer and larger, more well-known titles should take note.

Everyone loves an underdog…
Two Worlds II has surprised me more than any game in the last five years. What I expected to be a flawed, budget piece of entertainment turned out to be one of the biggest, richest and most immersive RPGs I’ve ever played. Reality Pump’s attention to detail and care over its world makes it a fantastic experience that more than rivals its peers. Punching well above its weight, it’s a massive improvement over its predecessor. The frame rate issues, graphical ugliness and over-complicated mechanics that plagued the original Two Worlds have been mostly smoothed, polished and simplified respectively, without sacrificing one pixel of what makes Antaloor such a unique and vibrant place to be.

It has its flaws. The voice acting isn’t 100% there, the graphics could be better and the overall presentation may put some people off, but it’s impossible to deny the quality of content on offer here, and the quantity of it too. Rarely do I see a game of this size with such richness of detail, compulsion of adventure and commitment to uniqueness.

This is almost certainly down to Reality Pump’s freedoms. Bigger devs have huge publishers constantly breathing down their necks. They have release dates, promotional commitments and a huge hype cloud created by the publisher-owned machine to live up to. They have a reputation to uphold. This can, and so often does, restrict otherwise massively talented and creative studios to the point where they have no choice but to release a half-finished, careless title. Not so here. Being small and relatively unknown gives Reality Pump leave to experiment, innovate and most importantly take their time. A studio with obvious talent, creativity and drive that are more concerned with crafting a really good game than hitting deadlines or making shit-tons of profit. This has led to the game I’ve just gushed almost 6000 words about. A game that gradually lifted me off my feet before sending my skyward to get lost in the world of Antaloor, complete with all its quirks and intricacies.

It’s a shame, then, that I doubt many gamers who would relish this world as much as I did will never visit it. The truth is that Reality Pump are not big. Neither is their publisher, TopWare. Two Worlds II was released to no big fanfare, has no famous people attached to it and isn’t the sequel to a critically acclaimed title. In this world of market share and profit margin, that amounts to a lack of interest from consumers. More importantly, it means that only a fraction of people will buy and play this wonderful and lovingly crafted chunk of gaming.

Don’t be one of those people. I implore you to take a chance. Ignore the lack of hype, the reputation of its predecessor, the size of the studio. These things are meaningless when such an experience is on offer. Reality Pump are leading the charge against big-budget cop-outs, producing a rich, varied, vibrant, interesting, unique and immensely satisfying title that needs to be played. So put down your Dragons Ages and Fables and Oblivions. Give Two Worlds II a try and help a top quality studio get the recognition and support it deserves. You will not be disappointed.

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