At one point during Two Worlds II, while walking along the beach near a fisherman's village, I spotted a large castle looming across the water. Without hesitation, I dove into the surf and swam for the next 10 minutes, paddling with all my might.
Just as the castle was nearly within reach, the game sent me a menacing message: "You are too far away from shoreline. Turn back before you drown." A few seconds later, my character died.
The promise of a fantastic payoff, followed by an empty death. That's Two Worlds II.
Released last month on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (reviewed), Two Worlds II is a role-playing game with production values so shoddy they come close to ruining the whole package. Although the game packs some neat features under the hood, graphical glitches and clunky controls hamstring everything. While this medieval adventure never sinks as low as its critically panned predecessor, it falls far short of its full potential.
The first thing you're likely to notice about Two Worlds II is that none of it looks very good. The character models are unpolished at best and downright ugly at worst. Environments are rendered in drab pale grays and greens. The graphics will randomly slow down as you walk around; it feels like you're playing an online RPG on a dial up connection.
Combat is, in a word, awkward. Your character will inappropriately twirl around and shake his weapon in the air as you attack enemies, occasionally falling into the background scenery or hovering several feet above the ground.
I say "his" because you don't have a choice in the matter: Despite allowing you to customize character features like shoulder width and "facial grit," Two Worlds II doesn't let you play as a girl. This is presumably because it would have been a pain in the ass to record voice acting for two sexes. A better solution might have been to ditch the vocal work entirely, since for the most part it is insufferable.
The game does present some unique ideas that almost make it worthwhile. For example, you can rip apart just about any item in the game, releasing raw materials like steel and wood that you can use to enhance other weapons. You'll spend solid chunks of time hoarding and dismantling loot just to max out your stats.
Spell-crafting is an equally impressive time-waster. By combining various elemental cards and modifiers, you can conjure up a very, very large number of different spells. The game is huge, so you'll have plenty of time to experiment and feel out which magic best suits your playing style.
But for a game with such an expansive variety of doodads to carry around, Two Worlds II's inventory interface is remarkably difficult to navigate. The menus are opaque and difficult to see properly, and the icons are cluttered and complicated.
Yes, there's plenty to do in Two Worlds II, and you won't get very far unless you do every last little bit of it. If you're hoping to hammer through the story quests like I tried to do, the "game over" screen will turn into your new best friend. Your only real options are to grind for levels or embark upon side quests for extra experience and gear.
Ameliorating this somewhat is the fact that the side quests are quite varied, featuring races, murder investigations and political assassinations. They also feature a good amount of snarky humor, but that can feel very out of place among the save-the-world story's stark seriousness.
Two Worlds II is just a pale shadow of the games it attempts to imitate. While exceptional open-world RPGs like Oblivion and Fallout: New Vegas encourage exploration by hiding pieces of narrative and flavor in every little corner of the map, the massive fields of Two Worlds II are lifeless and empty.
WIRED Lots of potential customization, big world, some fun quests.
TIRED Difficult to get past the terrible aesthetics and glitches, mundane story.
$60, SouthPeak Games
Rating: 
Read Game|Life’s game ratings guide.
See Also:
