Two worlds is interestingly similar to Bethesda Softwork's best selling 2008 release title, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I will write a comparative review to compare the two titles in several different categories. All ratings are out of ten and are comparative, one game will always receive a ten, the other number is for relative comparison between the games.
Graphics: (comparison of both games' graphics set to maximum or near maximum settings) Both TESO and TW have a similar and wide array of landscapes, ranging from freezing glaciers to large alpine forests, to old growth forests, and sandy beaches; both games feature many landscapes, but TW2 has a slightly wider array to show off. Both TESO and TW2 have good textures, but TW seems to have substantially higher resolution textures than oblivion. In contrast Oblivion has slightly higher character detail by using high polygon models for most races and creatures. In TW some models felt slightly blocky, but both games have good polygon counts. Both games' maps are densely populated with a wide array of detail objects such as shrubs, grass, tree stumps, trees, rubble, rocks of various sizes, and bushes. TESO and TW are approximately equivalent in this, but TW has slightly better looking grass models. Both games feature modern effects such as HDR, HQ fog, reflection, dynamic water and dynamic shadows, TW beats Oblivion's' maximum graphics settings by featuring depth of field, higher resolution textures, and by having a higher number special effects and animations. In oblivion special effects were limited in number, but in TW the effects are more numerous. Oblivion also features lip syncing, and characters have various facial expressions. In two worlds lip syncing is often missing and you will often feel like to are talking to an emotionless mannequin as facial expression is limited. I recommend you look up screen shots from both games for more info, as there is too much to go through in this review. A picture is worth a thousand words, so go look up 20 ; ) .TW wins the graphics category. TESO Graphics 8/10 (gains points for character expression and emotion) TW Graphics 10/10
Sound: Both games have very nice music and sound effects, but two worlds has some major voice over problems and pales in comparison to the voice work in Oblivion. Oblivion gets a 10/10 and TW only gets 6/10 because of all the voice limitations and issues (mentioned later in the review). Both oblivion and TW have limited enemy voices , as do most games (for example, a quote from Oblivion: “This is the part where you fall down and bleed to death!”, a comment exclaimed by most human-like fighter characters as they try to impale you with their sword).
Size of game: (game play wise, not file size) Both games feature a huge world map with the freedom of exploration and the promise of discovery. Not only does Oblivion has a much larger map then TW, but Oblivion also has much more game content. In TW dungeons were quite small, repetitive, and spread out. I have to say that the TW dungeons were a bit of a disappointment. In Oblivion there are hundreds of dungeons and caves for you to find on the world map, most of them unique is some way, and many of them interconnect. Many places in oblivion contain hidden items, locations, and quests. As a side note The Elder Scrolls is an old series, and quests and storyline are deeply anchored in the rich lore of the series. TW has many side quests, but most are very small and many are repetitive, Oblivion has many more side quests in comparison. Oblivion's side quests also tend to have much more depth to them, and are more enjoyable and varied. Many are even humorous. Both games' dungeons will get repetitive after some time as the textures and enemies will be the same or similar from one dungeon to the next. In both games no two dungeons are the same, but Oblivion not only has more dungeons, it also has much larger ones. Both games have short main story lines, but make up for it with large maps and side quests. After you complete the main storyline in TESO you can continue your game and receive a rare armour set to encourage further adventuring, in TW the game abruptly ends in a short and disappointing ending cut scene, then quits to the main menu. Oblivion also has many more NPCs; So many more in fact, that TW can not compare. In oblivion almost all NPCs have their own voice acting (although the voice actors are limited and most minor NPCs sound the same). Many detail NPCs in Oblivion such as guards and pedestrians share the same dialogue options, but even minor side quest characters and shop keepers in Oblivion will usually have unique dialogue. In Two worlds most NPCs are boring characters without personalities, Only quest characters have custom scripts and voice acting, but even then many of even the major characters have mismatched subtitles to voices, and sometime only have subtitles for part of their speech (no voice). Many of the conversations in TW also lack lip sync. In TW you will repeatedly be talking to characters and they will stop speaking and only show a subtitle of the script, or they will speak to you with a blank expression. TW has more variety in preset items, while Oblivion has a slightly smaller array. The advantage Oblivion has over TW is that you can CUSTOM enchant normal items and even create your own spells. The creatures of oblivion will start to be repetitive after a while as the same models are used, but TW is about the same. Oblivion gets a 10/10 while TW only gets a 5/10
Game play: TW quests are often bland and emotionless, not to mention many of them can break under certain circumstances. As I had said above Oblivion has an absolutely astounding number of side quests and dungeons. TW has many also, but nowhere near the amount that Oblivion has, not to mention the better emotion and depth. TW lacks a good tutorial at the start, leaving you quite helpless should you not have read the manual. Oblivion has a rather nice tutorial, where you learn the basics while escaping a prison by following the emperor and his guards as he makes his escape from assassins (through a secret rout which just happens to be in your cell). At the beginning of Oblivion you can create a character of either gender, choosing from the various races in the game. The character appearance settings that can be adjusted are many and can be a bit cumbersome, your character also does not speak during the course of the game. In TW the character can only be a male human, and appearance options are limited. Your TW character does speak however, which is nice, but he is the only character who has such fine voice detail. Oblivion can be a tad unbalanced at times and some classes are better than others. The fact that monsters and loot level up every time you gain five levels makes it so that you are never without a challenge. This can also be frustrating at times as by lets say; lvl 8 you are starting to get an upper hand in combat, but two levels later monsters are again slightly stronger than you. In Oblivion there are no skill points, just like in real life you level up skills by practising them, character level is determined by the skill level of your major skills. During the tutorial you can choose your major skills, these start off with a +25 modifier and determine your character level. Stats on the other hand are determined by stat points, when you level up you may choose which stats to improve. In Two Worlds you use a point system for stats and skills, each level grants stat and skill points. Skills cannot be improved until you visit a trainer to train in that skill. Many skills are HUGELY unbalanced! For example you can defeat the final boss in two or- three hits by levelling up your trap setting skill to 8 (only 8!?), which allows you to use the strongest bomb (technically a mine as it explodes when stepped on). As mentioned below the magic system in TW is very unbalanced, you can often incapacitate enemies better and damage them more with low level spells, while high level spells are often mana wasters which deal little damage for the mana input required. The map system in TW is often annoying as it is cluttered and all quest markers are visible at any one time. You can not place your own map markers in TW. In oblivion only the quest marker of the active quest is shown, so there is much less clutter. In TESO you can also place your own marker on the world map, and a compass in the heads up display allows you to better orient yourself. This compass also displays the direction of active quest markers and your custom marker. TW uses Teleports to travel, these can be hard to find sometimes, and still require much travel as they are scattered about. In Oblivion you can fast travel to any visited location (map markers only), the game estimates the time it would take you to travel to your target then advances the game time, and places you there. You can quick travel to any map marker location which you have visited. Oblivion also uses the Havok physics engine, items and corpses will roll around, rool down hills, can be dragged, and both you and your enemy can take masive damage by falling (or being pushed >:3) off a cliff. Oblivion has a huge fan/mod site and is fully modifiable, therefore when you exhaust the available quests or are losing interest you can easily extend the game. Many of these mods even have custom models and voice overs; some are also quite large, adding many hours of game play. Additional character hairstyles, items, equipment, races, etc can also be modded in. You can even find mods for ride-able dragons, that fly! (as compared to the default horse back riding, much better view from the air). Oblivion receives a 10/10, TW pales in comparison with an unfortunate 4/10.
Interface: Oblivion has a much more user friendly interface with several item hot keys. TW on the othr hand uses three hotkey bars, the first only contains default actions, and in the other two you can place items. Although this technically gives TW more hotkeys the system is not user friendly and you will often die because you accidentally pressed F7 – F9 instead of 7-9. This may seem silly, but in the heat of battle it will happen; leaving you to wonder why the button you use to cast spells is not working as you get pummelled by a lava dragon and shot through the heart by an orcish arrow. Indeed TW relies too much on this system and it is quite irritating. Other than that control keys for movement and interaction are usually the same as the TESO counterpart (W,A,S,D,Q,E,I,C,Space,LMB, etc).
Magic System: In oblivion spells tend to have very limited special effects, all spells of a type will look the same regardless of power, level, or area effect. For example a 1dmg projectile fire spell looks exactly like a 200dmg projectile fire spell. If the spell has a blast radius this effect is also a bit limited. Oblivion makes up for this by allowing you to create your own spells. You can create a spell at a spell alter, the spells' mana usage and casting level are determined by the options you choose when creating the spell. These are.... spell effect (ex: fire damage, frost damage, drain mana, light, capture soul), spell range (cast self, cast on touch, projectile...), spell duration, spell power, and spell area. Oblivion has several schools of magic and many many spell effects. Even spells that levitate otherwise unreachable items towards you In TW the spell system is based on cards. To cast a spell you must put it's card in your magic locket, which can only hold 3 spells at a time, extra cards are stored in your card/spell book (yes only three active spells, choose wisely mages). The spell's power is limited by your spell school level (up to 15) the number of cards of that spell (you can overlay the same card to increase the spell power), and any spell booster cards. TW's spell system is very unbalanced as many of the lower powered spells are actually much better at defeating enemies than the higher level ones. Take for instance that you have nearly 2000 mana, you cast the lvl 15 air magic lightning storm spell, you can only cast this approx 6 times before you run out of mana. This spell does little damage for the mana expended, and a low level area fire spell could be much more efficient at not only damaging but also disabling enemies. Also a medium level burn area spell sets a large area ablaze for little mana, distracting enemies for some time while dealing damage several times in one spell. The high level fire, wave spell causes more damage, but it a small area in front of you, it also hits enemies only once as it goes by. In TW you can enchant weapons with poison, fire, cold, spirit, or lightning damage by using element stones which you can make via alchemy, buy, or find as loot. This is very limited as there are only 5 effects and they can only be applied to weapons. Also, only one effect type can be applied. You can also buy, make and set traps and bombs in TW, while in oblivion the environment is your trap. There are pre set non play traps in Oblivion. You will find many varieties of these throughout dungeons, you can be the helpless victim, avoid them, or.... push your unsuspecting foe into them and/or trigger them as they walk by. (if your up for a challenge try to push an enemy off a cliff). In Oblivion you capture enemies' life energy in "soul stones". First you must cast a capture soul spell, then you must kill the enemy; if the enemy is killed while the spell is active and you have a sufficiently sized soul stone in your inventory, the enemies soul/life energy/whatever charges the stone. These stones can then be used at enchanting alters to enchant almost any wearable non-enchanted item. If armour the the stones charge determines the power of the permanent effect you choose. If it is a weapon you will get a screen similar to the spell creation screen. Attacking enemies with an enchanted weapon drains it's charge, when empty you must refill it via several possible methods. In oblivion items can only be enchanted once, but weapons can carry multiple effects. (you can also find armour loot with multiple effects, but not make it yourself) For magic and enchanting Oblivion gets a 10/10, while TW receieves a 5/10. (it would have been a six should you have been able to have more than three active spells at any one time)
Alchemy: Both games feature alchemy, and in both games the effectiveness of potions depends on the player's alchemy skill. In both games alchemical ingredients can be found on monster corpses, bought at stores, and picked from the wild. Many plants and fungi are spread around both game worlds, and can be harvested. In TW the plant disappears after you pick it, in Oblivion it does not change. This oversight can easily be fixed with a player made mod freely available online; which makes the harvested plant part invisible. In TW the alchemy system can often be confusing, frustrating and very silly. Some potion combinations yield special concoctions that permanently boost a stat, while other combinations suche as.... lets say any plant (foxglove) + any mineral (magnesite) could yield a low powered hammer trap. I'm not sure how this is possible, but I have to admit that it is funny. It would be hard to explain the complexities of the TW Alchemy system, and much luck is involved when experimenting. Suffice to say TWs' alchemy system does not overly impress me. In Oblivion on the other hand, items with similar properties must be combined to form potions. The player's alchemy skill and alchemy equipment determines the effectiveness of any potion. A higher alchemy skill also allows the player to mix more items, a beginner can use only two items in a potion, with practice three, and so on, and if memory serves a master can make a potion from only one ingredient. TW alchemy allows you to make potions which restore health and mana, boost stats temporarily or permanently, and these potions may also poison the player. In Oblivion potions can be made to restore or temporarily boost stats, restore health and mana (magika in oblivion terms), potions that lower stats or cause damage but do something good also (a potion with negative and positive effects, poisons are only negative), or make poisons, which are potions with only negative effects. Poisons can be applied to weapons and poison the next enemy that is hit with the weapon. Poisons can have many types of effects, from fire damage to draining agility. Oblivion receives 10/10 for alchemy and TW gets a 5.5/10
Conclusion: Two Worlds is still a decent game, but if you are a fan of fantasy role playing games, Oblivion may be more to your liking. From my experience TESO is a much more realistic, and a much more captivating game to play. The depth and detail is truly entertaining.
(I had bought TW from GOG as people were comparing it to TESO and saying it was really good. Your opinions may differ, it is not a bad game, but I was not overly impressed. The elder scrolls is, and remains my favourite game series of all time. If you think TW sounds good and wish to buy TW then do so. Maybe TES IV Oblivion could be your next adventure ; )