Death Is So Cheap.

I had wanted to post about the many house related tasks Dawn and I accomplished this weekend...but I forgot the memory card with the photos at home. And what fun would a home improvement post be without photos?

So instead I'll give a quick review of the new video game I've been playing, Two Worlds.

I've heard this game described as "the poor-man's Oblivion." I think the description is apt. Two Worlds does not have as much polish as Oblivion so it ends up taking a beating when compared toe-to-toe with Oblivion. The first hour playing the game is rough, because you spend the entire time cataloging all the ways in which Two Worlds comes up short when compare to Oblivion.

The Awkwardness
I've read that Two Worlds was basically designed for the PC and ported over to the 360....and it shows. The menus for the game beg for a mouse, it's a bit time consuming hopping all over the place with a joystick. The map in the corner is near impossible to read because it so damn small. I suppose if it were on a monitor a foot away from my face it might not be so bad. The text in the game is tiny, the myopic need not apply.

The World
The world is huge. I've read that it's actually larger than Oblivion's. The visuals are nice enough, and there are lots of environmental effects (it rains). The place is covered with tons of vegetation...which is actually a bit of a problem. Fallen foes fall into the vegetation and are hidden. That makes it hard to find and loot them. I now have an immediate loot rule. I loot as soon as I drop someone. I don't care if I get hit once or twice in the back by his friends. I rather take the damage than forget where this joker fell.

The Loot
I actually think looting is one place where Two Worlds compares favorably to Oblivion. There is a huge variety of weapons and armor. So far it's been pretty interesting seeing what people are carrying. If they have a weapon in their hands when they are a live it tends to be in their inventory when they are dead.

Two Worlds allows you to "double up" items...which means if you find an identical item you can "combine" it with the one you already have to make a better version. I don't know how combining 12 pairs of identical boots makes a better boot...but it does. This actually keeps looting interesting...instead of sighing when someone drops something you already have you get excited because yours just got better. It also makes picking up a better item more of a decision. There might be a new sword...but since you've cobbled together so many basic swords you're basic sword is now better than the new sword..but if you cobbled together a bunch of new swords it would be better than your uber basic sword. I wonder how many new swords you're likely to find.....?

The other genius thing Two Worlds does in regard to looting is it also displays what your are currently wearing or using for comparison purposes when you look at another item. No more having to page to your inventory to see if what you just found is better than what you have. All RPG games ought to adopt this function.

Life Is Cheap
In Two Worlds you can't really die. If you die you just get respawned at the closest rejuvenation point WITH NO PENALTY for dying. Heck if you even walk by a rejuvenation point it will top off your hit points. I find fighting monsters way over my level on rejuvenation points to be very convenient. My hit points are constantly restored and if the monster deals damage fast enough to actually kill me I just respawn right there to continue the fight. Cheap? You bet.

Almost too cheap. I guess it comes down to what is more fun, the illusion of your hero making it through every fight without dying (but probably being forced to reload your game a bunch to maintain the illusion), or just respawning to continuing your adventure. I know one thing for sure, not having the reload the game penalty will lead you to take bigger risks.

Over all, once I got past the initial Two Worlds is not Oblivion thing, I've started to enjoy the game...which is a shame because I don't have the time to spare for Oblivion-sized video game time commitment right now.