Magicka

A world of Magic in 2,5D

Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios

Publisher: Paradox Interactive

Platform: Microsoft Windows

Genre: Fantasy, Action-Adventure RPG

Mode: Single or 4 player coop mode

System Requirements: * Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7,  Processor: Intel® Pentium® IV 2.4 GHz or AMD 3500+,  Memory: 2 GB RAM, Hard disk space: 2 GB Available HDD Space, Video: NVIDIA® GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon® X1900 Please Note: integrated Intel graphic card/chips not supported,  Direct X-compatible sound card, DirectX® 9, 3-button mouse, keyboard and speakers, Internet connection for multiplayer

A game that looks like Diablo, only in which here there isn’t any hellish abomination attacking innocent people, is what the gameplay looks like with the first glimpse. But this isn’t something as easy as Diablo or any other RPG of that kind. It has special features that distinguish this game from the other RPGs of this genre. Yet it could have been better if some serious mistakes were corrected.

Plot

The plot is about a young mage (it can be 4 mages if played in Co-op Mode) who is summoned by the king to help his forces fend off an enemy invasion of Orcs and Goblins. On his way there his teacher Vlad, who tries every time to convince us that he isn’t a vampire, will give you information on what lies ahead or what you should do next. On his way to the king’s castle, our hero will face goblins, trolls and a huge snake to later find out that the city is being besieged by the orc army. After a huge battle he enters the palace and saves the king. The king after that reassigns you to lead his forces against the enemy fort, but with only 50 men your king sends in only you. The plot isn’t anything special, but it stands for the simplicity of the game. The game is linear so even if you don’t bother reading anything you can continue killing all enemies  until you finish the game.

Gameplay

The characteristic of this game is that you have 8 elements to Combine. Each combination creates different attack patterns which you have to adjust not only depending on your opponents but also on the environment.

The elements are: Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Life, Electricity, Arcane and Barrier. A combination of those can create powerful spells: like the Meteor Swarm, which can wipe the entire map out of all enemies. Yet, the weather can make your spells either useless of it can enhance them. For example, if you are wet, you may have crossed a river or it rained, and you try to do a spell containing an Electricity element then your wizard will get damaged and may even die. If you catch fire you can cast a water spell on you and put the fire out. Generally, the whole concept is simple, but quite difficult to get familiar with. Some element combinations can be casted either on yourself or in an area around our hero or straight to an enemy. Beware that you can heal your enemies as well as damage your allies. In each situation you must consider your strategy and your position in the battlefield, you wouldn’t like to be caught in the way of an Arcanely enchanted spell.

Besides you magic you also carry a weapon like an axe, sword, spear and even a machinegun. Yes, even magicians realized the power of 500rounds per minute. To cast your magic spells you need a stove. This stove even if it is the simplest one, it won’t prevent you from doing all spells, but some stoves grand you special abilities like teleportation or summoning creatures to aid in your cause. Spells can either be found by luck, after you try several combinations or you can discover them by books you find along your journey. Some spells can be told to you in a conversation and you will have to find a way to create them. Also keep in mind that some elements can’t be combined. You can’t possibly combine the ice and fire elements or the water and electricity ones.

A serious gameplay drawback is the absence of a savegame. Although there are checkpoints along the way, an exit of the game will erase all date of your progress in the level, meaning you will have to restart the next time you load the game. Although it is an RPG, you don’t level up your character. The hero already knows everything he needs and all he has to do is survive and save the day. That means that you will have the save hitpoints along the whole game. This will make it hard for the last levels since the enemies get harder and harder and require a team to overcome them.

Graphics

The graphics aren’t anything more than decent and extremely satisfactory.   The dackground is quite detailed and the characters and quite nice. For a 2,5D such graphics are more than we could ask for. Yet some work on the hero could have been done since his model is very simple. Other characters like the human soldiers and enemy orcs and trolls and also great,, with both decent design and animation. Magic effects however are the only thing that will leave you with your mouth open. Such effects aren’t anywhere to be seen with a DirectX 10.

Sound

Well, the sound part isn’t anything to get thrilled about.  Simple sound effects and SIM like voice conversations. The conversations are simply funny that even if they say nothing to laugh about, you will simply laugh by their voices. The evil laughter of the boss in the King’s palace battle will be carved as the most hilarious laughter in the world.

Summarizing, the game is a decent title which offers much exploration and many worthy gameplay hours. Your Magicka experience will be something to remember.

Plot:                 6

Gameplay:      8

Graphics:         8

Sound:             7

Constitution:  7

General:           7

Pros: 4-player cooperative mode, graphics, funny, very cheap

Cons: Heavy for a 2,5D, hard to finish solo, lack of savegame

A decent game, which will prove a nice company for many hours and one great 4 player cooperative RPG.