*** Update ***
After a few more hours of playing this game, here are some other lame elements I found: Dungeons are so lackluster and unbelievably small that I can clear one in about three minutes (LAME!). RPGs usually pride themselves on huge dungeons and underground areas that go down levels. I’ve been in three dungeons already and I am TOTALLY disappointed with the game’s underground offerings (aside from the booty, argh).

1. The guy’s “witty banter” is really annoying. The only funny stuff occurs when he spots an enemy and says “reminds me of the in-laws.” Occasionally, when you cast a spell or hit an enemy he will say something somewhat amusing, but for the most part he is an idiot. Some examples of his mindless banter include twenty minutes after raining he states “lovely weather” or after breaking several lockpicks in a row he utters “it’s locked” (good gawd).

2. I have more complaints concerning the outdated lockpicking procedures. Oblivion had a sweet lockpicking feature that was based on skill, but Two Worlds does not have this feature. The RPG developers should pay more attention to this stuff and try to move the genre FORWARD, not backward into last millennium.

3. You can’t fast travel with your horse. This is totally stupid considering the horse holds your inventory. The only way that I have solved this issue is to keep a horse in every major area that I travel to.

4. The map orientation and functionality is completely annoying. The map shows at whatever zoom you were at on last view and has a crappy little anchor looking object that shows your location on the map. You have to FIND the anchor; it does not center the map where you are (super lame). Also, the mini map in upper right should have at least a secondary zoom (if it does I haven’t found it yet and the game is no help in trying to figure out if that feature is even available. So, I’m assuming not). The big map only has three zoom levels. It should have a progressive zoom like many other games.

So after the incredibly long wait and anticipation for two worlds, what’s the consensus? mixed…. which is a bit strange. Here’s why I think two worlds is a playable game, but leaves much to be desired in a current-gen rpg. If you check the boards for reviews, you’ll find that most people are in two camps: either mostly for or mostly against the game. I am in the middle (gave it a 5/10 review on gamefly), and here’s why.

First off, the graphics look like you could be running them on a previous gen console, or a mid grade machine probably a good 5 years old. I spent about 30 minutes w/the game and had already put it back into the rental envelope when a friend of mine convinced me to give it another try. I am glad I did, but i’m also really glad I did not drop the 60+ clams to buy it. I might buy it in a few months so I can play the game further through, but at this point I plan on just logging in another 10-15 hrs and calling it good.

Aside from the graphics, the game has a few glitches that any seasoned rpg’er should be aware of. One of the biggest glitches is in the inventory. Now I’m going to do something that all the fans of this game hate, I’m going to compare it to Oblivion (as well one should! it was the first and best rpg by far on the new consoles).

In Oblivion, the inventory functions as follows, which is quite simple: you have strength. you can carry items that have weight up to your strength. there are items that dont have weight. you can basically carry as many of these items as you like. Now I could be wrong about this for Oblivion, I mean, I never tried to carry 99,000 ninroot herbs or anything, but in two worlds, your traipsing about merrily through the lush greenery and you find some herbs.. you grab one. well suddenly today I tried to pick something up in the grass and got an ‘Inventory full!’ alert on the screen… I checked my Inventory and had 20 pts left in it.
I’m like ‘wtf mate?!!!’.

But wait, it gets worse. I came upon a tribe of bandits and wiped em out… Easy to do when your level 21 w/a 400 damage club that is tainted with 150 fire damage As any good mercenary would do, I began my pillaging. I could add gold and potions to my inventory, but not any weapons or apparel. again, wtf? so i start playing around w/the inventory and dropping like items from it (even though i still had enough weight to carry the new items), and found I had to drop any item of like kind to get the new one, even though my weight allowed me too. I’m sure I’ll figure this out (maybe) by the time i send this game back, but it’s a totally lame glitch that shows a completely lazy attitude on the part of the developers.

The reason I go into such great lengths about such a glitch is there are far too many elements of this game that are disappointing, mostly because they are all so mysterious, i.e., you encounter things that make utterly no sense! There are also too many signs of laziness and ineptitude on the part of the development/qa teams as well. For example: poor, poor speech (lame attempts to emulate a horrible combination of old english and modern drunkspeak), where many times the printed text doesn’t even match what the characters are saying.

In Oblivion, it is fairly clear how to advance in certain areas, manage inventory, etc… In two worlds you are really left to fend for yourself in trying to figure things out. I have much pity for the unseasoned rpg player who tries to enter the world with this game. They will be forever scarred from playing rpg’s.. or anything like it. That’s really how bad of a job they did when they made this game. Which begs the question: It makes sense that some great games (like oblivion) cost so much and take so long to make. Buy WHY on gods grey earth would a company take so LONG to put out such a shoddy and underdone game as this? I dont see any reason why such crap couldn’t have been released when the 360 first game out… it really looks like a second draft of a concept, and nothing more.

Now all that drither said… it is a good time waster… for those of use who enjoy a bit of trapesing about, death-dealing and pillaging and what have-you. i have played many rpg’s, and at least this game knows those fundamentals. But much unlike oblivion, it does not have the breadth and depth to allow for the upwards of 100+ hours of gameplay to offer that it’s counterpart can easily do. One of the biggest indicators of that is when you start the game you can’t even choose a class! you are basically a warrior and that’s it. I know i complemented the developers for getting the rpg sense of the game down (in some sense), but they really missed the mark in too many places to give this game anything other than a totally neutral review. Makes me wanna raise myself a few mil and make an RPG of me own.