Orcs Must Die! 2 Review

[Ghostbear]

Orcs Must Die! 2 Review

Product: Orcs Must Die! 2
Platform: PC
Developer: Robot Entertainment
MSRP: $14.99.
Editor: Jeremy 'Ghostbear' Spurlock

What's Hot: Orc smashing, stabbing, burning and slashing at it's finest.

What's Not: Levels a bit too balanced for co-op, making single player a tad rough.

BOOM!

For those of you not familiar with the first game, Orcs Must Die! was a pretty different take on the tower defense genre. Instead of setting up your path of destruction from on high and waiting for your enemies to perish, you are down in the mix shooting and and blasting all who oppose you. Orcs Must Die! 2 expands on this by letting you play with a friend and it is far better for it. So join me will you? As we murder a host of orcs!

Fire at will.

Do you want to murder all the orcs? I think a better question is, what are you? An orc sympathizer? Someone call Senator McOrcthy and get this greenskin lover out of here. Now that we got rid of that guy we can get down to business. Orcs Must Die! 2 takes place a short time after the original game. This time though, we're brought into the games world with the perspective of the first game's villain, The Sorceress. Trapped, with certain doom approaching, a rift appears! She makes it through, but right on her heels is a whole host of orc baddies. We see a familiar face on the other side, that most dim witted of heroes, the War Mage. With that, we're off! It's time to get to orc filleting.

All of your favorite traps are back in this game, including everything from the original game's DLC. Your choices are so varied that it will certainly be tough to choose the proper arsenal. Don't worry though friends, there are plenty of new methods of destruction available. From the acid sprayer to the ice trap you'll have plenty of new tools. There is also a bevy of new weapons to use. One of my favorites is the new polymorph ring, it lets you turn your self into a giant ogre and wade into the orc horde for some real devastation. Something completely new however is the trinkets category, these items generally give you a passive and active ability. For example, the mana trinket gives you the passive bonus of a deeper mana pool and the active ability of "mana rage" which quickly regenerates your mana supply. As you can see, your choices are greatly expanded from the first game.

At the carwash, no one can hear your scream.

Speaking of choices, the upgrade system is a lot more forgiving than the first game. Now you can refund those precious skulls any time you have access to your spell book allowing you to custom your arsenal for every mission. I much prefer this to the zero refund policy of the first game. Now while it's more forgiving, it is also much more expansive. You have to spend those precious skulls to unlock many of the game's traps and minions. There are of course damage upgrades for all the traps, but there are also unique upgrades for them, allowing you to do things like place traps on the ceilings that normally can only be put on walls. This makes your tactical options much broader. The downside though is that you'll never be able to take everything you want on a mission. You must make the hard choices, but how can one choose between the Paladin and the spring trap? It's like trying to pick your favorite child, or candy bar. It tears at the very soul.

ULTRA KILL!

Playing this game co-op is a dream. I didn't know how much I missed it in the original game until I was tearing through the orc masses with a pal this time around. Being able to coordinate traps, cover multiple entry points and just general hilarity are all key to maximizing this game's fun factor. This brings me to my only real issue with the game, it is clearly balanced for co-op. So much so, that playing single player might seem unfair on a few levels. My solution? Play with a friend. Seriously, it is ridiculous how fun this game is with pals.

Even the undead battle the invading orcs.

I was pretty excited when this game was announced, considering how much I enjoyed the first one. I was not let down. From the new traps, weapons and trinkets to the hilarious dialogue this game fires on all cylinders. I wasn't sure they could top the first game. Not only did they do so, they knocked this one out of the park. If you are looking for a new game to play with a friend, this is the game.


Score: 4.5 out of 5 CoGs


Jeremy says, "This game is hilarious, and just a great time. Buy it."

[Ink Asylum]

I've already sunk over 20 hours into this game since its release last week, a mix of single-player and co-op. I've also managed to 5-skull (perfect rating) every level in the regular difficulty campaign in single-player, so it's challenging but possible.

I agree fully with this review. There's some annoying issues with the basic sructure that could be fixed to improve the experience, like being able to refund just one trap's skulls instead of all of them, and the horrible in-game voice chat, but they don't stop the game from being a blast to play.

[Superman's Dead]

Senator McOrcthy? UGH.

I think I'll pick this up next time it's a daily deal. Caped Crusader and I were so excited for this to be co-op but it's PC only and his computer was state of the art in 2007, so I guess I'll have to play with one of you...people.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by Superman's Dead

Senator McOrcthy? UGH.

I think I'll pick this up next time it's a daily deal. Caped Crusader and I were so excited for this to be co-op but it's PC only and his computer was state of the art in 2007, so I guess I'll have to play with one of you...people.

You know you love that joke. LOVE IT.

[CES]

The single-player being somewhat unfair is really carried over from the first game, there were a few levels that really could have done with another player pitching in. I'm glad to see the DLC content from the first games comes as standard in OMD2, they really added to the base game.

[Pale Ale]

Were gonna let GB review this? This is like letting a fat kid review cake!!! I bet he's already got a MWO review waiting for NDA to drop!

[Ghostbear]

I'm not sure where I would have a conflict of interest in either case. THough I must confess as to being completely mystified on the origin of the joke regarding OMD!

[Spigot]

I've almost finished the campaign in single-player and got 4-5 skulls on every level so far on the normal difficulty.

I'll admit that a few of these later maps would be much more manageable if I had a friend along but they're not impossible. Just annoying.

[Ink Asylum]

If you want to do some co-op just let me know, Spigot. I'm around most nights and always up for killing orcs.