So now that we’ve got the technical bits of the game dissected, how does the game play? Well, like most action RPGs, honestly. Combat takes place in realtime, unless you are managing your inventory or of course you pause the game. There is also an option to have combat continue while in your inventory, which will provide a bit more of a challenge to veterans. Even with the pausing combat, though, the game is tougher than it appears at first. Outside of the tutorial level, common enemies around you are giant ants, ostriches, warthogs, baboons, cheetahs, and rhinoceroses.
None of these enemies are easy fodder during the first couple of your character’s levels, but quickly you figure out a huge weakness present in seemingly all of them – they are rigidly territorial. If you lure any enemy to the border of their territory, the will simply stop, turn around and head back to where you found them, unless you hit them. At that point, they’ll turn back around your way, until they hit that border of their territory yet again. Rinse and repeat, and you have some of the easiest enemies to kill in any RPG no matter the level.
The real fun in this game can be had in customizing/crafting everything thanks to alchemy, metallurgy and wizardry. First up is alchemy. Using various body parts and organs from slain enemies, as well as herbs found around the massive world, you can concoct all sorts of potions. Stacking ingredients makes the end result more potent, and you can save and name the recipes you come up with for later use. Fans will no doubt put countless hours using their cauldron to come up with the ultimate mix.
Metallurgy is also fairly in-depth. Once your level gets high enough, you can break apart weapons and items to their core components, such as steel, wood, iron, etc.. Using those core elements you can upgrade other weapons and items to increase their statistics and effectiveness. Once a weapon or item is upgraded enough, slots for crystals appear, which can be added to further augment the weapon’s stats or to enhance your character while wielding the item. Creating a battle hammer that has a high chance of a critical hit that also increases your own strength is rewarding, and you can tell a lot of time went into the creation of this aspect of Two Worlds II.
Finally, wizardry is just as customizable as metallurgy and alchemy. Using various magical cards that you acquire throughout the world, you can create nearly limitless spells. There are various modifiers that will take your base attack, say a fireball, and add area damage or a chance to stun. Once your card collection becomes large enough, mixing and matching to create devastating attacks from afar has an incredible payoff, as you see the power of your own imagination in the form of decimated enemies.
So, Two Worlds II has its fair share of problems. The plot is rather generic, the voice acting is inconsistent, the framerate struggles at times and graphically the game is average at best. But none of that should be enough to dissuade any RPG fan from buying this game. When crafting your own custom armor, weapons, potions and spells is this much fun, nothing else really matters. It really is the game’s saving grace. While non-fans of the genre will likely not find much to their liking, everyone else has something to look forward to in this title.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
+ Massive world, plenty of sidequesting to be had. Hundreds of hours of gameplay. – Tons of graphical issues, inconsistent voice acting, average story. |
 |
–
+ Crafting is the name of the game here, and it is done just about perfectly. + Massive world, plenty of sidequesting to be had. Hundreds of hours of gameplay.
– Tons of graphical issues, inconsistent voice acting, average story.
