SouthPeak Interactive seduces gamers on a promise to deliver an epic role-playing game measured to the grand scale of Bethesda Softworks Oblivion. Two Worlds perks feature an open world adventure based in the world of magic, swordplay and Tolkien lore beasts. The arena gates have opened and the first challenger to Oblivions death grip of the medieval RPG steps in, I introduce you to Reality Pump’s epic Two Worlds.

Aspiration is the best world to describe developer Reality Pump's attempt at creating an epic role-playing game on scale with the critically acclaimed gaming opus, Oblivion. It’s a goal that should be admired, but this aspiring breathe falls short and evaporates into a whisper of brilliance that can’t measure up to Bethesda Softworks masterpiece. This realization becomes apparent after the first few moments into the game, you know it’s not going to be Oblivion and frankly a good majority of gamers might be looking for something a little new and a little different. If that is the case and your standards aren’t set to the stars then you might just settle down with Two Worlds and find a competent role-playing adventure in the vein of the old PC role-playing games of the past. Two Worlds isn’t going to be marked on the top ten list of role-playing games, and like my advice once you get that, Two Worlds starts to become entertaining and in its own unique way, enjoyable.

In Two Worlds case you can really tell it was developed with a PC mindset and then translated and re-created to mesh with the Xbox 360 console. Right from the get go the interface of the inventory and menu systems seem off and this flows over to the combat as well. Two Worlds is a little clumsy to start, but the more you roll with the punches the more Two Worlds starts to become more fluid and a fulfilling gaming experience.  Initially I know the Oblivion marker is going to be hard to shed, but really Two Worlds has more in common with PC side of gaming then the console world gamers have been focusing on.

Re-tooling a PC role-playing game onto a console platform is troublesome and it seems like Reality Pump’s Two Worlds a good learning for starting developers to see the differences. First off the controls aren’t that smooth and seem to be a little dated in the animation department. I remember my first few minuets just looking at the elongated horse neck and thinking that doesn’t look right. Besides graphics halting the realism of the controls they also play a little off and a little clunky when in combat or just navigating around the world. Some aspects like the horseback riding are extremely difficult to navigate and the constant loading doesn’t help when you’re traveling fast. This chunkiness also effects the combat and makes it into a bad hack n’ slash type of affair rather then a realistic fighting system. It’s too bad the controls couldn’t have been translated a little better, and the cache memory loading made a little more stable. In the beginning all these factors make the gameplay a little frustrating, but like anything you get used to it and then unfortunately accept it as you go along with your adventure.

If you have only given Two Worlds the fifteen minute look over then your probably wondering how you can slice and dice when any enemy is a strong challenge forget about the pack of wolves that have been chewing on my bones over and over as you re-spawn in their pack. Two Worlds is slightly challenging for the first moments, but once you start gaining experience by completing quests you will feel the rewards and then the fun really beings. I hit a few bugs like initially, so I had to restart the adventure again and then all of the sudden I got it. Levelling up helps the game become more enjoyable and besides the new skills, you will start to handle yourself better in combat and at the highest levels you can basically debouch in and start slicing and dicing only to retreat to heal yourself for a minor minute.

So what is Two Worlds about? Well the plot revolves around your characters, a head strong bounty hunter and his twin sister who is captured. Your character has to work to free her from her captures which turns into a search for ancient relics and burial tombs. The plot isn’t groundbreaking, although it’s good enough to keep you interested as you listen to the horrible voice acting leading you step by step. This isn’t your only option in Two Worlds because Reality Pump added enough side-quests to keep you busy for a while. Also Two Worlds works on the sandbox premise so it’s up to you where you go and what quests you want to pursue. Like Oblivion it’s not essential for you to start the main quest at any time. You can easily do all the other quests before you start the search for your beloved twin sister.

Two Worlds has a lot of freedom in exploration and quests and this which is reflected in the weapon and spell use as well. Your character in its quick and easy creation can learn any magic skills, use any weapons and develop in any direction as you please. Without restrictions you can turn you mage into a strong hand as well, but like any game you’ll have a number of points you gain per level so distribution has be a little thought out. Besides collection weapons and magic skills you can also use alchemy in a neat alchemy brewing pot interface. If you’re deep into magic there are lots of combinations that you can experiment with that can turn even the strongest barbarian straight ahead warrior into a dabbler in magic mage.

The monsters and NPCs along your quest in Two Words are repeated too frequently for my likely which has to be taken lightly given the immense size of the gaming world. There are lot of wild creatures roaming like wolves, reapers (dinosaurs) and Giant Scorpions which can give you some troubles and then you have the typical Orcs, bandits and bugs to contend with as well. Again, the size of Antaloor (gaming world) is huge which causes the random attacks to become boring over a short time. It also doesn't help that the A.I. is basically the same for every creature man, or beast. This turns Two Worlds into a snooze-fest for most of your traveling time.

For another back of the box bullet point, Two Worlds is exploiting its multiplayer feature which outclasses other games of similar nature. The 1-8 player multiplayer mode refers to a Player vs. Player and a co-operative RPG multiplayer mode. The PvP multiplayer mode consists of your standard monster hunt and deathmatch modes and doesn't prove to be of much of an interest. If you're gaming online with Two Worlds you are going to want to explore the RPG online mode and go adventuring with friends. The RPG mode is a like a light version of the game shrunk down to be played on multiplayer maps. This instantly makes Two Worlds feels a lot like a MMORPG. The real reward of playing online with Two Worlds is to build up your character to become a monster online and since your statistics carry over game to game this is easy to do with some dedication. Plus you don't always have to assume the role of the friendly helper, the shadows and darker side might be more interesting.

If you already enjoy the single player portion of Two Worlds then there is more to love online. One criticism I have is towards some problematic reoccurring lag. Two Worlds already has its graphical glitches, the last thing it needed was online lag. I originally felt the he online portion of Two Worlds should have been excluded from the Xbox 360 version and left for those on the PC world, but after adventuring for a while online, I'm switching to the other side.

Oh no, I bet this is one area which SouthPeak would like game reviewers to skip. The graphics in nature have a lot going for them, but like I mentioned above they are jerky and load too often. The quality when you’re at a stand still measures up to our expectations and looks great, it’s once you start moving that the game falls apart, and this is referring only to the environments. Aside from the landscape the characters are really rough around the edges and suffer from horrendous voice acting and battle animations. The jerky graphics and bad script writting and voice overs makes Two Worlds a chore to get inspired by. The audio and graphics hits a major roadblock in Two Worlds and doesn't come close to achieving the standard it needs to compete with other Next-Generation games released this holiday season. I honestly hope PC owners get more out of Two Worlds then the 360 version sent to console gamers.

Aspiration is the word to sum up Two Worlds. It wanted it all and sadly it can have it. This ambitious game is a little rough around the edges concerning the production which unfortunately hinders many of the gameplay aspects. Besides technical problems, Two Worlds ends up being too complex and utterly boring for casual gamers who could easy grasp similar games like Oblivion. The hardcore RPG fan and adventure nut will love the complex menu systems and vast world to explore, however that might be it for Two Worlds. If you’re interested in this adventure make sure you rent this one before you run out and purchase it, definitely some will love this one and other will hate it within a second. I enjoyed my time within Two Worlds, but now that this review is finished, I think I will move on past Antaloor and look for a greener pastures.