Sometimes your foes will appear quite intelligent, finding the best place to snipe from, backing off to use magic, or running away when too injured. Speaking of enemy AI, Two Worlds II is a bit of a mixed up beast. It’s all a bit confusing, and the stealth elements could have been much better. It’s also very hard to tell when an enemy may be able to see you, as some seem to see you from a mile away, whilst others are oddly unable to detect you. It is possible to get stealth kills (and satisfying to boot), but when you’re desperately trying to sneak only to be stopped by a small step that forces to you run or jump, thus negating your stealthy approach, it’s a bit of a bummer, as the AI instantly hears you and attacks. The included stealth mode is a little glitched too. Blocking and counterattacking is very flaky, and often hard to get right, and it’s sometimes hard to target your intended foes, both up close and at range. There are some other glitches aside from sometimes clunky melee, though. It all feels so much better than before you’d be forgiven for thinking your playing a different series. Ranged combat, including magic, is also better, and far more approachable, especially bow and arrow attacks, which now feature a decent zoom mode and upgraded specials. You still pretty much mash attack for the most part, but now you can also block, counterattack and dodge, as well as utilise special attacks, which again, are implemented better than before. The camera is a huge improvement, offing a better view, and the core combat mechanics are far smoother. Character control isn’t perfect still, and has a few glitches, most notably occasionally sluggish and unresponsive combat, but on the whole, this is a far more enjoyable game to play. Not only does the game look far more attractive than the original, which, to be honest, was a bit of an eyesore, but, more importantly, it plays better too. Two Worlds II, I have to say, is as different quality-wise to its lame predecessor as night is to day, and this can be seen almost instantly. After all, it had the world and quests in great quantities too, but the problem lay in the execution. However, this could all be arguably said of the original. It’s always interesting and you really aren’t going to find yourself with nothing to do. Even early on you’ll get to save a village from starvation, take part in a horse riding challenge, escort important NPCs and stealthily rob a warehouse, to name but a few tasks. Quests are also quite varied and are more than simple ‘go here and kill these’ missions. It’s a rich and packed world full of NPCs, locations and interesting areas to locate and explore, and like the original Two Worlds, and other RPGs such as Gothic, Morrowind and Oblivion, it’s all free form. There are desert savannas, forests, mountains, caves, graveyards, bustling towns and cities and much more. This world consists of several islands which, together, are even larger than the world in the original game and just as varied. As the game opens, you escape with the help of a band of Orcs, and are quickly let loose into the new world. ![]() This time the evil Emperor Gandohar has you prisoner, involved in some form of magical ritual alongside your captive sister. ![]() Set in a totally different area of Antaloor, Two Worlds II doesn’t feature the same hero as before, but a whole new warrior. If the devs are to be believed, this is the game we wanted the original to be, and I’m happy to say that, in many ways, this is true. Two Worlds II, on the other hand, promises a far more refined adventure, and one that rights the wrongs of the first game, whilst adding a whole new raft of features. Sadly, the aforementioned list of problems (and that’s just a tiny fraction of them) stopped the game from being as good as it could have been, and it was a very rough gem that most would throw back in favour of a more polished and shiny offering. In essence, it was a very old school, loot-driven RPG, and one that I spent a long time with.
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