The Inventory System - ideal for inventing.
The inventory system in Two Worlds can only be described as 'a complete mess.' I've played many RPGs and seen some rather poor, un-user-friendly systems, but this one had me shaking my head with disbelief. In an interview prior to the game's release the developers said that their 'inventory system is smarter' than Oblivion's. This does hold some weight because there is an in-depth item creation system that allows you to upgrade any duplicate items that you may find. For example, you may kill an enemy and he'll drop a helmet. Now, if you already have a helmet of that type you can combine them to create more powerful protection. This works for most items in the game, so if you keep finding the same objects, it's actually quite a bonus! This makes dungeon crawling and searching the environment very worthwhile.Very clever indeed, but the problem is that the inventory window is so cramped on the screen, difficult to navigate, thanks to some poor control mapping to the Xbox 360 controller, and the text is practically too small to read. It ust gets far too frustrating to mess around with items for longer than is really necessary. The inventory screen is so important to the enjoyment of Two Worlds, that its lack of good functionality and presentation practically ruins the enjoyment of the game; a few alterations and it could have been so different.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageTwo Worlds doesn't just involve fumbling around in the Inventory window, but there's also plenty of combat to get stuck into on your travels. Combat is very basic and consists of three different moves, a basic thrust attack, a one-two combo and a flurry attack. Unfortunately, they all involve clicking the right trigger, either once twice or three times, meaning that fighting soon becomes fairly dull and repetitive. With the addition of a block move, fighting could have been more fun and tactical, but as it stands it merely involves you pressing the trigger at the right time, so as not to coincide with their attack, whilst keeping an eye on your health metre should you need to make a quick escape or to take a health potion. Two Worlds has got some things right though - the balancing of weapons for example is spot-on. So, using the likes of the bow is just as effective as using the sword and so on. This means that you are encouraged to try more than one weapon and probably won't stick to levelling up in just one specific skill.
Magic users, on the other hand, get access to huge range of spells, such as ring of fire in which a flamed circle appears around your enemy or meteor, that casts huge balls of fire from the sky, causing massive damage to all enemies within range. There are over 100 spells available and by completing missions and leveling up you'll be able to assign points in each of the five schools of magic (air, water, fire, earth, necromancy) depending on which type of magic you enjoy the most.
