Two Worlds II Review
Once you get past a few quirks and a slow start, Two Worlds II will prove to be a deep and enjoyable experience that will keep you entertained for some time
Once the games lengthy, and highly necessary, tutorial is behind you, your time will be spent talking to people, exploring and engaging in combat with both men and beasts. Two Worlds II is a fairly hardcore experience in that there is no level scaling in the world around you; every single person and beast is at a set level, and if you try and kill something or someone that is much higher level than you death will come quickly. Early on this rigid levelling structure can prove to be problematic, as you will need to kill a group of wolf-like creatures called Varns in order to proceed. Many will find this fight impossible, but it forces you to get used to the games combat system which is great for both magic, ranged and melee combat. You will often have to fight higher level enemies when in a new area, and in these situations the combat can be extremely deliberate and tactical. At other times, you will learn that the only means of surviving is running away, something you will be doing a lot of in your travels. Unfortunately the enemy AI is not very good at all, and sometimes foes will flip out and start attacking a wall or some non-existent enemy on the other side of the room.
Sneaking around in daylight is possible, but not recommended
While the basic combat is fairly straightforward for each type, you will also gradually unlock special abilities that can be used in conjunction with your standard attacks. Think Dragon Age Origins, but you have complete control over your character and no ability to pause the game. You will find that certain combinations of attacks will be useful in different scenarios. Different enemy types will also be resistant to different kinds of damage; for example, the undead are resistant to blunt weapons but susceptible to the sharp edge of a blade. If you are using melee combat as your primary means of dealing with enemies, you will be able to choose between any number of weapon combinations, again just like Dragon Age Origins. Weapon and Shield, two handed weapons or duel-wielded weapons are all viable options in this game. Different weapons will have different advantages and disadvantages, so you can’t blast your way through the game with a single super-sword. Ranged combat with a bow-and-arrow is a bit more straightforward, although there are still some special abilities you can use like multi-arrow and poison arrow. Magic, on the other hand, is more complex. You can craft your own spells of which there are seemingly endless combinations. You will then switch between ranged attacks and close-range area effect attacks.
Leisurely swim? Or brilliant flanking maneuver...
Another feature of Two Worlds II is the comprehensive crafting system. Almost everything you pick up can be broken down into raw materials, which can then be used to upgrade current weapons. How much you can upgrade these weapons depends on your crafting skill, which can be increased when you level up. Early on you will gain levels extremely rapidly, but once you get to level 25 or so the process begins to slow down. You can choose to put points into strength, which governs damage with melee weapons, endurance, which governs health, accuracy, which governs damage with ranged weapons, and mana, which governs your magical powers. From here, further skill points can be put into several different categories which vary depending on what kind of combat you are specializing in. A melee specialist might put points into his special attacks, while someone who specializes in stealth might put points into sneaking and lock-picking.
Share:
Comments
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Feb 21, 2011 16:41:52 (Feb 21, 2011 16:41)
