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Two Worlds II Has Sold 2.5m – Expansion Pack Dated and Rated

Dave Oshry — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:34:26 +0000

Regardless of how sleazy the PR department over at TopWare Interactive may be, one thing is certain – Two Worlds II is a great RPG. Luckily for us loyal fans, it’s getting a pirate-themed expansion later this year!! YARRRRR!!

“Pirates of the Flying Fortress” will feature new areas, weapons, bosses, cut-scene animations and even horse armor!! Better yet, we only have to wait until… September. :-|

This expansion pack has been rated ARRRRRRRRRRRRR by the ESRB. Good god I’m unfunny…

Check out my unnecessarily in-depth review of Two Worlds II and then…

Behold this press release!!

Las Vegas, April 15th 2011 – The RPG-spectacle continues! With “Pirates of The Flying Fortress”, the creators of “Two Worlds II” clear the way for the highly anticipated upgrade for the role playing hit. More than 2.5 million games sold worldwide, numerous awards and a huge fan community are powerful arguments for yet another exciting trip to Antaloor, abducting you this time into the gloomy pirate world! The story plunges the player headlong into an adventure that is more than astonishing! The good old “Two Worlds” atmosphere waits, which is yet quite different this time around. Exotic flair, new enemies, new settings and new weapons – all fans are in for a shocking surprise!

The developers have also once again taken player feedback to heart, massively adding more in terms of game play: In addition to thunder and rain storms, gamers can look forward to dozens of new weapons, impact-oriented horse armor, totally new breeds, fresh boss opponents as well as brand spanking new animations in the cut-scene and in-game dialogs!

“Pirates of the Flying Fortress” will launch in Antaloor as a multi-platform title in September 2011! The extensive single player history as well as several brand new multiplayer maps will then be launched.

Two Worlds 3 Confirmed Amidst TopWare PR SNAFU – Coming in 2012

Dave Oshry — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:31:01 +0000

Today has been an interesting day for TopWare interactive. Amidst claims that they’ve criticized and blacklisted media outlets about Two Worlds II reviews, it seems they’ve also confirmed Two Worlds 3. Not only that, but they say the game is coming in 2012!

The story was first reported on Beefjack.com – which had received reports that TopWare had come down on certain media outlets for “misrepresenting” Two Worlds II and giving the game poor reviews. When they reached out to TopWare – part of the response they got was as follows:

You Don't Say . . .

So, it seems there is a next installment of Two Worlds already in the works!! But it didn’t end there. Destructoid’s Jim Sterling soon picked up the story and TopWare Managing Director James Seaman quickly took to the comments section to defend his company. That’s right – the managing director of TopWare defended his company via the comments section of a gaming blog . . .

Anyhow – here is some of what was said:

ORLY!?

So not only is this James Seaman running around telling gaming blogs what’s what- but he’s also inadvertently letting the world know that the next installment of Two Worlds is coming in 2012!!

We loved Two Worlds II, so here’s to hoping Two Worlds III is even better . . . and TopWare gets their PR under control.

Stay tuned to RipTen as this drama continues. I assure you – this story is not even close to over.

RipTen Review: Two Worlds II (PC)

Dave Oshry — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:49:58 +0000

What can you say about a game that died? A game so hilariously bad and widely ridiculed that it was clearly destined to be banished to the shores of the seventh circle of gaming hell. A game so frought with bugs and issues it could not possibly get a sequel . . . yet somehow it did. That game was Two Worlds. Why did Two Worlds get a sequel? Because it had great potential. However, if sheer potential was enough these days I’d be playing Alpha Protocol 2 as we speak. Such is the curious case of Two Worlds II. Or as I like to call it - the little sequel that could.

I’m not going to regale you with tales of the absurdity and horrible ridiculousness that was Two Worlds because frankly, the past is gone and we must move on. The year is now 2011 and Reality Pump, Topware and SouthPeak have let the naysayers know they’ve been damned and finally released Two Worlds II upon the North American public. Yet, I was skeptical. The first game sucked – we all know that. Why on earth would they tempt fate and dare challenge the gaming gods by attempting the improbable. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? Why on earth would anyone make a sequel to Two Worlds!? Well, in the words of the developers themselves – “Why the fuck not!?”

And why the fuck not indeed! Two Worlds did have potential. An overwhelming shit ton of potential to be precise. If they could somehow manage to completely fix damn near everything that was wrong with the original game – they could produce an RPG the likes of no other. An open, expansive, addicting and downright fun roleplaying experience for gamers young and old. Have they managed to do so with Two Worlds II? I suppose you’ll just have to read on to find out.

You Are Not Prepared.

Two Worlds II will set you on an epic journey the likes of which you have likely seen before. It is a tale wrought with cliche and I will summarize it thusly: You will begin as a lowly prisoner who must rise up and challenge the evil emperor of the land. Such is your destiny… such is your fate. Sound familiar? Good. It’s your basic RPG fare and quite frankly the story only exists to move you along from quest to quest and town to town as you decide the fate of every man, woman, child and Varn in Antaloor. The story itself is a continuation of Two Worlds – but no experience with the original game is needed, trust me. There is no real gravitas, no epic drama, and this certainly ain’t Shakespeare.

Added to this is the fact that the game’s voice acting – while a significant improvement over the first game – is still downright atrocious. Not to mention that your main character storms around the countryside with the bravado of Commander Shepard and the voice of Solid Snake. Not that I mind, but I’m sure not everyone wants their character to be that guy who everyone looks at and goes, “Who’s that asshole?” Well, that asshole is the hero of Two Worlds II!! Please show some respect – he just saved your mother. Anyhow, the game also isn’t afraid to poke fun at it’s predecessor (known for it’s horrific voice work) as well as poke fun at gaming culture at large:

I've Been Waiting For This Dialogue Option My Entire Life . . .

This is a typical tale of fate, destiny and glory and it’s one you’re unfortunately soon to forget. Yet it lies buried within a game that you will be hard pressed to stop playing. That’s not to say the story is uninteresting – in fact at points it is quite interesting and many quests and dialogue choices are downright delightful (see above) However, if you came to Two Worlds II looking for an epic tale filled with breathtaking narrative, you’ve come to the wrong place.

That being said – the presentation of the story has certainly been taken up a notch or two. Take a look at how the developers blend in-game footage and HD cutscenes seamlessly in this next video featuring everyone’s favorite misanthropic second in command, Sordahon. (Spoiler Alert)

Where Two Worlds II excels is where any good RPG truly should – in it’s addictive attention paid to swords, shields, dragons, demons, guts and glory. Unlike many other RPGs, in Two Worlds II you can be a jack of all trades. In fact, the game promotes such endeavors. The skill trees for Mages, Warriors and Rangers are quite deep and by the end of the game you can be quite skilled as all three. Not only that, but you can swap between armor and weapon sets at any time with the push of a single button. Want to start out sniping your enemies from afar only to get up close and personal with your mace in their face shortly thereafter? That’s not a problem in Two Worlds II and the combat itself is fun and rewarding. (Even at times when the hit detection can seem sub-par) There’s an endless variety of baddies to kill and you will soon learn which of your skills and classes is right for each of them.

It is worth noting however that special attention was clearly paid to mages and the game’s magic system which currently holds the Guinness world record for most possible spells in a video game. That’s not to say being a warrior or ranger isn’t fun – but you’d be doing yourself a disservice not to explore and utilize Two Worlds II incredibly deep and oft times hilariously good magic system. What do I mean by hilariously good? Well, what do you get when you combine a Conjure Random Junk spell with an Air Shield when you’re surrounded by enemies? The answer is by far one of my favorite possible spells in Two Worlds II that I henceforth shall refer to as the, “Corpse Tornado!!”

SouthPeak actually refers to this spell combination as the “Shitstorm”

New Two Worlds II Trailer Lets Us Know How Much The Europeans Love It

Dave Oshry — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 01:41:53 +0000

It seems that David Hasselhoff isn’t the only thing that’s a hit in eastern Europe. Two Worlds II has been getting rave reviews, and South Peak is happy to rub our yankee faces in it with their new trailer.

Two Worlds II is set to release here in the states in January, 2011 – One can only hope it’s as good as those smelly Europeans say it is.

Two Worlds II Release Pushed to January 2011

Dave Oshry — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:31:21 +0000

South Peak’s highly anticipated sequel to their critically un-acclaimed game (Two Worlds) has been delayed. This does not come as a surprise, but it does come as sad news for those of us who have been eagerly awaiting the game.

Here is the official statement from South Peak:

There have been numerous posts recently regarding the release date of Two Worlds II. First of all, it’s gratifying to see that so many people care so much about the game and we thank you for your enthusiasm and passion. It’s definitely a game that we’re proud to publish; Reality Pump is on the verge of delivering a benchmark RPG experience.

Here’s the vital news: Two Worlds II is set for a January release in North America. We understand that this is not great news for those of you eager for an October release and we can understand that you might feel that our European cousins’ potentially getting the game before you is frustrating to say the least. However, there’s a reason for everything and although we feel that the game is truly at ‘AAA’ level, that reason is that we want Two Worlds II to be absolutely flawless when it launches in the North American market. Although we could bring the game to market earlier in order to take advantage of the holiday buying season, we felt that we would do a better service to you by making sure that the game you want is absolutely as it should be. It’s vital to us that we always give you the best possible information and this is the reason that we haven’t commented on the date before now; we did not want to say something to you, only to have that information change once again. Now, we are in a position to confirm the January release date.

For those that have said that they will torrent or import the game because they simply cannot wait, there’s nothing that we can do to stop you. However, please remember that by pirating the game, you are hurting those who worked hard to make the game for you, reducing the chance of another game in the future. By importing the game, you’re paying more money for something that if you can wait, you’ll be able to buy in January at a cheaper price and that will have benefitted from heavyweight Quality Assurance (QA) for the North American market.

We’ll have a further update for our friends in the UK, Australia and New Zealand in the near future.

We are continually grateful for your understanding, patience and continued support.

Sincerely,

The SouthPeak Team

Upon further investigation it seems that the game just isn’t quite ready for release and an October RPG release competing with the likes of Fable III and Fallout: New Vegas was going to be tough anyway, to say the least. Check out RipTen’s Five Reasons Why Two Worlds II Won’t Suck and look for our full video review next year!!

Five Reasons Why Two Worlds II Won’t Suck

Dave Oshry — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 23:07:45 +0000

Let’s face it. Two Worlds sucked. So it’s safe to say that we were skeptical when checking out Two Worlds II at PAX this year. The concept was always solid, but TopWare, Reality Pump and SouthPeak had yet to deliver the single player and multiplayer RPG experience that once looked so promising.

Nobody was more aware of the fact that the original Two Worlds sucked more than SouthPeak themselves. In fact, you may have seen this series of videos in which they make fun of how bad the game was. Behold, Sordahon’s Journey.

I’m willing to give any developer that is able to make fun of themselves for their own shortcomings a second chance, so it was with reckless abandon that I demanded answers about Two Worlds II, and why it shalt not sucketh!!

The first thing I asked when speaking with them at PAX? “Give me five reasons why Two Worlds II won’t suck!” Well, low and behold . . . they did.

Reason #1 – A brand new game engine specifically designed for multi-platform gameplay.

There are no ports. There was simultaneous development for all three major gaming platforms. A big problem with the first game was that it was developed for PC and then ported to consoles. They had never done a console port before!! This time around, they’ve got the bases covered. That being said, the game now looks and plays better than the original, watch the E3 Trailer as proof.

Reason #2 – DEEP Customization.

There are no classes in TW II, you build your own. You can also build up and break down nearly any materials in the game to create better armor and weapons. The crafting system is enormous and the spell system is currently being considered by the Guiness Book of World Records for the most player activated spells or abilities in a videogame . . .ever.

Now, I know what you’re saying, “Oh great, a really complicated spell building system? No thanks.” But alas! Not only is this system easy and intuitive, but it’s also easy and intuitive!! You simply stack and arrange cards to upgrade and change spells!! Want a lightning spell? Done. Want an AOE lightning spell? Done. Want an AOE lightning spell that shoots 5 bolts instead of 3? Done. Want an AOE Lightning spell that shoots 5 bolts instead of 3 and ricochets off the environment? DONE. See what I’m getting at here?

The possibilities are endless, and for roleplayers, this is very very cool. You can also name your own spells. I call this one Uber Fire Face Pwnage IV!!

You can also do things like bind different sets of armor to your keys and change them on the fly!! (Not realistic, but very cool) Go from tank, to rogue, to battlemage with the push of a button!! Watch this short off-screen video I recorded at PAX.

Reason #3 – The huge and diverse game world.

There is not much to say here, except for the fact that it is. From lush jungles to barren plains, Two Worlds II covers the entire spectrum of RPG environments. Don’t believe me? Check out this map of Antaloor and the following video in which it is detailed:

This Map From Two Worlds Shows Just How Big Antaloor Is!!

Reason #4 – The Storyline.

The story was localized in multiple languages and written by a multinational team. German, English, Spanish and Polish writers working together to make a story with flavors from all these different cultures. The game will also feature voicework with over 200 unique voices. Remember how many different voices Oblivion had? Of course you do, and you’re probably laughing just thinking about it. The entire game is voice acted (for those of you with a fear of reading) and the voicework is clearly superior to that of the first game. The in-game cutscenes have much better direction this time around, yet unfortunately I’ve no footage of them. You’ll have to just take my word for it and know that they are definitely better than this:

Reason #5 – The Multiplayer.

Stepped up across the board. Not just PvP, Not Just PvE. There is now a unique co-op campaign with nearly 10 hours of gameplay that is completely different from single player campaign. SouthPeak promises some great multiplayer footage soon!!

Also, All modes are 2-8 players and are completely drop in / drop out.

So there you have it. 5 solid reasons why Two Worlds II won’t suck. This is the sort of game real RPGamers want to play. Hell, so was the first one, but as we know, it was riddled with issues that made it hard to enjoy. SouthPeak, Topware and Reality Pump seemed to have addressed all of those issues and are proud to bring us the epic roleplaying experience we have all been waiting for.

Look for our full HD Video review of Two Worlds II when it launches on October 5th.

SouthPeak Games Buys Gamecock Media Group

Rangebar Merani — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:22:24 +0000

Today, publisher SouthPeak Games announced that it has acquired Austin-based Gamecock Media Group. SouthPeak, the company behind Two Worlds and Dream Pinball 3D, certainly seems to be adding some good games to its repertoire with the addition of Gamecock’s Velvet Assassin and Legendary.

From the press release:

Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak, stated, “Gamecock brings us a solid slate of upcoming titles, including Legendary, Mushroom Men and Velvet Assassin and supports our strategy of working with independent developers. We are excited to give the Gamecock titles a bigger platform to succeed.”

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with SouthPeak to continue to bring great original titles from independent developers to market with a stronger sales and distribution reach,” said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gamecock. “We have followed each other’s progress closely over the last two years, and combining our team with theirs results in a very strong and well-rounded force in the market.”

SouthPeak Games, already one of the fastest growing videogame publishers, should be on the rise even more after the Gamecock acquisition, and the publisher said it expects to ship both Legendary and Mushroom Men in the current quarter.

Two Worlds Epic Edition: Now With Less Suck

Andrew Podolsky — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:40:06 +0000

We have a dilemma here. On the one hand, we love beating down ogres and dragons and would happily do it year after year. On the other hand, we hate buggy gameplay and crippling slowdown. Fortunately it seems SouthPeak might have has found a way to minimize the glitches and maximize the ogres in their standalone expansion pack for Two Worlds, Epic Edition, due out in August.

The first game received wildly mixed reviews, ranging from a respectable score of 7.0 (ok, that was me) to a not-so-respectable “fecal doughnut” comparison. It was a fair game, marred by terrible glitches that were somewhat addressed in a patch several months after launch.

Still, even with the patch, multiplayer in Two Worlds was not the “MMO lite” that was promised ahead of time. Trying to play the game over XBL was nearly impossible, as slowdown and crashes made even the simplest fetch quests seem like an epic mess.

In the Epic Edition expansion, expect to find more multiplayer quests, a new town where players can fight online in an arena, and magical PvP competitions. And for a budget $20, it’s likely to snag a few budget-conscious adventurers who don’t mind if their horse gets stuck in an occasional rock.

My personal favorite moment from the original Two Worlds? Snagging a town’s sacred stone, which destroys the town’s defenses and lets the ogres take over, so you have to fight your way out. See, Two Worlds wasn’t all bad– there were some good ideas in there, you just had to look past the game’s technical flaws. If all these issues have been addressed, there’s no reason why Two Worlds can’t work the second time around.

Update: There’s been some confusion about whether this is a sequel or merely a stand-alone expansion. The answer is that a real sequel, called Temptation, is due out in November, but a few months ago it was incorrectly reported that Temptation would be an expansion pack for the original Two Worlds. The Epic Edition contains the original game, plus two new modes, for a budget price. From the press release:

Two Worlds: Epic Edition will contain the original game and the add-ons “Tainted Blood” and “Curse of Souls”, putting the massive world of Antaloor and countless hours of adventuring into one tremendous package. The original Two Worlds gave players a huge world and hundreds of adventures to undertake. The expanded content of Epic Edition adds over 70 online quests, eight new multiplayer maps, an innovative player-versus-player challenge where opponents battle to control magical orbs within a variety of arenas, and introduces the town of Tharnburg where players can train their warriors in various skills and challenge other players to combat in the Gladiator District’s huge arena.

Two Worlds Title Update Coming Soon – Demo Hits Xbox Live Tomorrow

Chad Lakkis — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:45:30 +0000

Gamers spoke, and SouthPeak Games listened to every word they had to say. In addition to a playable demo that will be hitting XBL tomorrow, the crew at SouthPeak has been hard at work on an update to address the feedback they received from players. We have been told that the update will be available soon, and when it comes down to it, you really can’t ask for much more than that.

Below is a list of some of the improvements that players can expect to see in the update.

Both platforms (PC and Xbox 360)
- Horse steering has been improved
- Character development curve not as steep over level 25
- HP regeneration slower for max values above 2000
- Death strike skill – executable by strike button while in sneak mode
- Critical hit skill fixed
- Damage is now allowed over 32000
- There is a cap on damage and armor at 99999
- Necromancer spells have been balanced
- Magical boosters – effect restricted to 5 boosters
- Stacking potions with different statistics – fixed
- Objects stacking – objects can’t be stacked up if result has higher level requirements than current player level
- Equipment Class cap on 50
- When killing in towns – after you leave the town and go back guards will ask you to pay instead of immediately attacking you
- NPC’s in towns don’t resurrect
- Tweaked hi- level monster balance
- Wing Membrane ingredient added to Helllord
- Dragons strike not breakable by player hit
- Bomb traps attached to some chests and wardrobes
- Balanced number of lock picks in chests and wardrobes
- Walking under water and not dying has been fixed
- Inaccessible Cave north of Ashos has been fixed
- Multiplayer Lag issues have been improved
- Multiplayer too many skill points generated due to combat stats has been fixed
- Friendly fire disabled in RPG mode (players cannot damage each other)
- Resurrect spell on players has been disabled
- Experience points for killing players has been removed
- Disarming skill disabled against other players
- Freezing/stopping spells disabled against other players
- Multiplayer RPG quests given to all, reward splitter between players
- Team assault – main monuments 50 times stronger
- Barbarian – berserk skill in PvP reduced to 5
- Chest and wardrobe lock levels improved in multiplayer
PC specific:
- Issue of moving money between servers has been fixed
- Maps D2,E4,F4, Multiplayer Tharbakin – missing triangles or flying objects have been fixed
- Enter opens console in single player
- Horse steering – stopping horse by back key changed
- Cloning character when logging on new WarNet server is fixed
- Boosters disappearing in Arena modes
- Atmosoheric fog for multiplayer towns added
- Chat over open dialogs possible (by F11 chat dialog)
- All PVP arenas unlocked from beginning

Xbox 360 specific:
- Improved single player framerate
- Interface – repeat changes selection left stick hold added
- Game HDD cache cleaning possibility – RB + A + B during game launch
- Achievements for 5 elements is fixed
- Map interface improvements – only one open quest at the time, quests selection box better visibility, hero location on map better visibility, quest name on tooltip
- Hit info fonts larger
- “BACK – Show Instruction” text disappears
- Double saving multiplayer characters to protect character lost from power-off or hard-locks
- Interface – no controls after “server refused connection” is fixed
- Doubling gold in multiplayer is fixed
- Doubling objects in multiplayer is fixed

Xbox 360 Review: Two Worlds

Andrew Podolsky — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:28:04 +0000

“Which of the Two Worlds has a decent framerate?”

Two Worlds, a massive RPG that plays like a cross between Diablo and Oblivion, owes a debt of gratitude to the persistence of hardcore gaming geeks. The potential fun to be had exploring Two Worlds’ massive environments is considerably hampered by a plague of technical issues– framerate drops, glitches, and crashes.

The moments of satisfaction, such as gaining a new level, combining found items to improve your gear, and learning new combat skills, are matched by moments of frustration, absurdity, and befuddlement. When I was first awarded my trusty steed after helping his owner take care of a pesky bandit problem, I knew that horseback travel was absolutely the way to see Two Worlds. However, my horse soon became stuck on every jagged rock or slightly steep incline. The numerous glitches made just moving around the landscape more awkward than it should have been.

The menus also take some getting used to. After Oblivion showed that an Xbox controller could easily navigate an overworld map, Two Worlds completely threw the concept out the window and made planning an adventure quite cumbersome. It’s a chore to find out not only where the next mission objective is, but also to figure out where you are and how to get to it. There are only two levels of zoom for the map– too close, and too far.

The artificial intelligence is also pretty dumb in this game, to the point where you will feel like you are cheating by taking advantage of it. Is that orc too tough for you to take on at a low level? Just jump onto a rock and keep shooting him full of arrows while he swings his axe in futile frustration. Too many bandits on your tail? Just lead them to the nearest health-restoring monument, where you will constantly recharge your life bar even in the middle of combat. You need every bit of XP to get through the beginning areas of the game, and taking advantage of lazy AI is one of the most efficient ways to advance.

Finally, the biggest technical complaint about Two Worlds has to do with the framerate. As a port of a PC game that came out a few months ago in Germany, there’s no sign that this game was completely optimized for the Xbox 360. The framerate is consistently low, causing a choppy slideshow every time I rode my horse through the forest. The game also constantly loads in new areas, causing stuttering and freezing, sometimes causing the game to crash. While you can save at any point, it becomes a necessity to avoid losing valuable progress and experience.

Now that the litany of complaints is out of the way, it’s time to focus on the good. Like Oblivion, Two Worlds is a truly open-world experience, where you can customize your character’s prime attributes and choose the next chapter of your quest. If you want to focus all of your skill points on using a bow and arrow, you can do so at the expense of magic or melee attacks. If you want to ignore the main quest to save your telepathic twin sister Kira, you can just hone your fighting skills on bears, wolves, and wyverns instead. Decisions you make in Two Worlds often have far-reaching effects, and your reputation with a half dozen major organizations from necromancers to merchants is dependent on your choice of alliances.

There’s a lot to do in Two Worlds, and potentially dozens of hours of adventure to be had exploring the massive environments. While the quests aren’t all fascinating, there are still several good opportunities to gain XP, and they’ll ease you into new areas while suggesting more side missions. It’s a classic RPG formula, and it still works so well that it almost makes your forget about the technical glitches.

The graphics, while clearly taxing the capabilities of the Xbox 360, are generally quite good. The environments are the real star here, with lush foliage and gorgeous weather effects. Weapons and gear take second place in the Two Worlds beauty contest, with well-rendered leather jerkins and some intimidating swords, spears, bows, and axes that appear on your character when you equip them. The character models don’t look quite as nice, and they are a step down from those characters seen in Oblivion, which many people didn’t care for. Still, there’s a good amount of character variety within the towns and castles you’ll discover.

The sound effects are mostly unimpressive, with lackluster voice acting. The exception, however, is the music that plays throughout the game. It’s appropriately moody, almost-but-not-quite like Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings score. Your main character will also make plenty of comments in response to changes in the weather or the approach of bad guys, but they don’t have much of an impact on the game.

There are versus multiplayer options over Xbox Live, and a co-op mode that can be found on the character select screen by hitting the Y button. Most of the versus modes perform so poorly over Live that they are practically unplayable, but the developers say they’re working on a way to improve their servers. Perhaps with a local area connection you could have some fun, but if you’ve got friends who want to play Two Worlds with you at your house, you’d be better off trying the tabletop RPG that comes with the collector’s edition instead.

It’s easy to see the similarities to Diablo and Oblivion, and like those games, Two Worlds can become addictive if you allow it to. There’s enough interesting stuff to find in the environments, skills, and loot to encourage players to keep exploring and completing quests, even if their horses do get caught on rocks. Stackable items, branching storylines, and special fighting moves like multi-arrow shots make this game unique among action RPGs. Technical glitches aside, it’s a good game for RPG fans to spend many valuable hours playing. Just be prepared to conquer a clunky user interface and a choppy framerate before you’re able to conquer these worlds.

Update: A PR rep has let us know that the server issues that are affecting performance over Xbox Live are being dealt with. Also, to correct our previous error, the co-op mode isn’t scrapped, it just wasn’t mentioned in the instruction manual. To start a co-op game, hit Y at the online character select screen to create an RPG character.