Brutal Gamer

Two Worlds II preview

By Leigh - January 17, 2010 - 17:18 UTC - 1 Comment

Brutal Gamer’s preview of Two Worlds II and a lovely gallery of images!

The exclusive images can be found at the bottom of the article in thumbnail form. Simply click on the image and it’ll open up another page in full, original size.

It’s been well over 2 years since the first Two Worlds was released by TopWare Interactive. The first title was attacked heavily in the reviews, claiming the game to be an unstable and buggy mess, not something which you’d like to hear about one of your first console platforms – meaning the second one has quite a lot to make up for, but has it? You’ll have to read on to find out.

Two Worlds II takes place 5 years after where the first one tragically ended, with the world on the brink of the abyss and the hero is of little use due to his failed, yet valiant attempt beforehand. In the past we saw constant warfare between the Orc and Human races – things have changed in those 5 years and the Orcs have now came to the rescue to free the hero who has been locked away within the dungeons of Gandohar’s Castle.

You’ll be happy to know that you don’t have to of finished the first game in the series to understand what is happening in Two Worlds II, at the beginning of the game you’ll be able to sit through a short cut scene which sums up the events of the past game.

And this is where our preview properly begins, as this is where we were walked through the game and able to play it. We start off in the incredibly eerie dungeons of Gandohar’s Castle which works as a tutorial-like area for the player, showing the basic mechanics of the game such as running, sprinting and jumping, as well as the new addition of physic-based puzzles, like moving objects to climb to higher places – simple yet effective. As we continued through the dark dungeons, more and more we started to notice how bloody fantastic the game is looking already, and still has months more extra time of polishing ahead of it. As far as multiplatform titles go: this is definitely up there with the best of them. And as we all know that the graphics of any game will add to the atmosphere of any game dramatically, and that is another thing which seemed to be near-perfect.

After the short section of dungeon crawling following a member of the orc race, you learn another new skill which has yet to be seen in the series: sneaking. As with any game, it’s used to sneak around areas where you don’t want to be seen as well as for spying on enemies to listen in on their conversations, the exact scenario in which it is first shown off – watching the evil bastard’s Gandahar and his right hand man plot there next terrible move.  After watching the short cinematic, we’re given the chance to have a quick wonder around the very impressive mainly-marble throne room – seeing all the different pieces of attention to detail like the heat waves distorting through vials of liquid and reflection of the character in both the marble floor and the mirrors.

Shortly after drooling all over the endless mountains of shiny marble, it’s time to make a quick escape with the games sprint ability – otherwise you’re going to be getting very friendly with plenty of archers and soldiers which are right up your backside trying to turn you into freshly cut sausage.

Straight away after we were shown another new area within the game, the swampy area in which plenty of zombies and beasts are lurking amongst the dirty waters. This is the first time the games GRACE engine truly shows its power, even though it is 2 years old it’s still looking bloody brilliant with a tremendous frame rate (no hiccups what-so-ever) – considering the games draw distance in the open areas is literally for miles I did expect the occasional bit of pop in, but for the half hour or so of playing around within the area, not the slightest bit was to be seen.

Luckily, we were able to play both the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. And whichever platform you plan on picking the game up on, you’ll be pleased to know that there is very little difference (graphically) between the two. The only major difference was the way the game controls, due to the PC having many more buttons for shortcuts to be placed on, it was easier to control. Albeit the 360 version was still excellent with the newly added radial menu, allowing the player to switch between armour sets, skills and other items in a split second.

Over the whole preview event; both played and shown, easily the most notable (and honestly, best) feature about Two Worlds II was the improvements – seemingly completely remade- combat system within the game.  Instead of pretty much 1 animation of a sword swing being repeated hundreds of times, it has a whole new combat system where attacks are turned into combinations and will vary depending on the weapon you’re using, guaranteed to be something different each time. And with the incredibly nifty armour set shortcut keys and the massive amount of variation which is available with the 200 weapons and god-only knows how many armour pieces, there is another variation for anyone who is into the whole ‘decking your character out’.

As with any RPG title, you’d expect there to be a massive area for you to explore, which again, Two Worlds 2 doesn’t let you down in this section. In total, there is around 60km x 60km of land mass for you to wonder around aimlessly – and if you find something interesting, the game will award you with anything from experience to new skills to books full of information adding to the back-story of the game. If you’re not digging the idea of only be able to explore one major island, a small surprise is coming your way with the new addition of being able to sail the high seas (which is a separate skill) so you can go out and see the small lumps of land – which you never know, may have some impressive treasures.

Unfortunately, Two Worlds II doesn’t offer a straight up co-op/jump in, jump out like its predecessor did – instead offering a complete overhaul with its multiplayer features. There will be 3 new options for you to pick from; Adventure with you and other players in set scenario/objectives as well as being able to trade items etc., straight up player vs. player and Village mode, which is similar to a small economy manager where you can create your own village and have been visit it.

Conclusion

I very rarely say that a games sequel is a stellar improvement on the original, but this is the easiest time I’ll ever say it. Before playing Two Worlds II, I wasn’t in all honesty, that bothered about the game being released due to how much of a disaster Two Worlds (1) was, but Two Worlds II is now 110% on my radar and I’ll be watching everything that is released about the game like a hawk. If you played the first one, please don’t instantly ignore Two Worlds II because you know what the first one was like, it’s hard to believe it’s even the same game – you’re going to be shocked with what TopWare Interactive have managed to pull out of the magic hat.

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