| Author | Review |
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Lavindathar
347,924
TA Score for this game: 262
Posted on 13 October 11 at 17:43 |
This review has 19 positive votes and 4 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
As with all my reviews, this was wrote by myself for GamerEuphoria.com
Orcs Must Die!
Platform : Xbox 360 (Arcade)
Developer : Robot Entertainment
Publisher : Microsoft Studios
Cost : 1200MSP
Introduction
Orcs are bad. I know it, you know it. Lord of the Rings proved it (despite a fantastic counter argument from World of Warcraft) and to settle the argument once and for all, we have
Orcs Must Die! OmD (henceforth) is the first game to land on the Xbox 360 from Robot Entertainment, and what a debut it is. The studio (mainly consisting of former members of Ensemble) responsible for Age of Empires Online brings us a third person variation of the much loved tower defence genre.
Plot
Let's be honest, most tower defence games don't have a plot. OmD is split into three chapters, all of which begin with beautiful narrated cut-scenes. The cut-scenes are funny, concise, and convey the small story wonderfully. In short, the story from start to finish is perfect.
The tale is narrated by a veteran war-mage, stationed deep within the 'World of the Dead'. War Mages of The Order are tasked with the job of protecting the magical rifts from invading Orcs, stopping them from entering the 'real world'. If the war-mages fail, the Orcs will spill through the rifts wreaking havoc upon the world.
Then the Orcs get stronger and attack in greater numbers. The war-mages start to fall and the rifts are left unprotected. Only two remain, with the veteran war-mage and his pretty useless apprentice the sole survivors of the Order. Well, there was two. An untimely, yet quite humerous accident deprives the world of the veteran, leaving only the apprentice to protect the rifts. That apprentice, is you.
Gameplay
The objective in OmD is simple. Every level has one/or more magical rifts which you must protect. Every rift has a 'counter', the figure that determines how many Orcs may pass through it until the rift is breached. Each level also has a door (or two or three or four) which the Orcs will enter from.
For example, level one is a corridor with a rift at one end and a door at the other. The last level is a multitude of complex hallways with four entry doors, two rifts, twisting staircases and backwards passages. The map design is fantastic with even simple looking maps posing problems in some areas, and even the simplest of maps remains fun and exciting.
So how does one useless apprentice protect the rifts? Traps, traps, weapons, magic and traps.
You are equipped with a magical crossbow by default which fires bolts of pure energy at your foes. The other starting weapon is a sword, perfect for swiping down lots of enemies at once. You also start off with a few simple traps, such as the 'Spike Trap' and the 'Tar Trap'. In case you need a more detailed explanation, the spike trap shoots spikes up from the ground impaling those above, and the tar trap slows anyone who crosses it down. Magic is also available later on in the game in the form of magical bracers, enabling you to cast spells.
Every level follows the same format and it goes something like this. You start a level, with just a crossbow, a health bar, a mana bar and some gold. The mana bar is used for spells and your weapons secondary attack and your starting gold is used to buy the first traps. As you enter a level, you have access to your “spellbook”, which contains all of the traps you've unlocked so far. But, herein lies your first tactical choice. If you've unlocked six different kinds of traps and two magical bracers, each level has its own limit on how many you can take with you. So, say the limit on the level is four, you then have to choose only four of them to start the level with, and these can't be altered until the level is over. A level is considered over when you have protected the rift for a predetermined amount of waves with your rift intact. The first level starts out as a three wave battle whereas later levels require you to survive for twelve waves.
Every level has a rating system, whereby you earn one to five skulls based on your effectiveness at keeping your rift defending. These skulls are then used as your currency with which you can upgrade your traps and defenders. Lower level traps will require only eight skulls to upgrade where as higher level traps may require sixteen. The upgrades vary in ability, from making archers cheaper, to adding a snare to spike traps, to increasing the D.o.T. Damage on the brimstone trap. You'll learn which traps you like and upgrade those accordingly.
One criticism I do have of the trap system, is despite being overloaded with choice, I found a system that worked for me in almost every situation. I won't disclose it here, but throughout the campaign I was using the same two/three traps in a system religiously. I'll admit, some of the really cool looking traps I never used once. I guess they could have been better than my system, but mine worked so why would I change it?
Later on in the game you will also unlock 'Weavers', a magical entity that basically works as a talent tree. There are three trees, and you can buy talents with your gold that will help you for that particular level. Talents include things such as ; Melee attacks returning health, spells costing 30% mana and enemies dropping more gold. Only one tree can be selected per level and it's up to you to determine which suits your situation best.
Now, I know the games title states Orcs, and yes there is an awful lot of them, but there is also a lot more. We have kobolds (Baldurs Gate anyone?), Gnolls, Ogres, Fire Ogres, Orc Warriors, Fire Babies and a whole host more. Each foe has a different strength, vitality and weakness ensuring that you are kept on your toes constantly.
And that's why this game is fantastic. Yes, it sounds like just another horde mode in another game, and I've personally played a lot of 'horde modes' in the various titles on the market right now, but none, and I really mean none do it with as much excitement and tension as OmD. The slightest lapse in concentration can lead to disaster, placing the wrong kind of trap will set you rushing to fix the mistake ; I could go on forever, it really is fantastic. Plus, unlike most other games here you're being rushed by up to one hundred enemies, possible more. I've never counted. Versus you. Just you. Thats why the trap setup, the weapon choice, everything, has to be considered and thought out to ensure that elusive 'five skull rating' you so desire.
The campaign itself features twenty four levels and will take you a while to complete. Some of the levels are similar in appearance, yet differ greatly in difficulty based on which traps you've unlocked, the amount of enemies that come per wave and the type of enemies. Kobolds now hold a deep hatred within my heart as they are especially good at dodging most traps unless they are purely ground based where as the flying enemies will destroy your defences unless your heavily stacked on archers.
The campaign also features three difficulty levels, Apprentice (easy), War Mage (normal) and Nightmare (hard). Nightmare mode is only unlocked after completing the campaign on War Mage, which can be tricky in itself. I've personally tried Nightmare mode, and it is a massive step up from War Mage. If you like a challenge, then trust me, you'll find it here.
Graphics & Sound
I know you've been waiting for the 'but' in this review, but it's not coming here either. Graphically, the game is gorgeous. The game is drawn in a cartoon style and it looks beautiful. The cut-scenes are wonderfully drawn and the in game graphics do the job perfectly. You can make out an enemies class at a great distance by the animation allowing you time to adjust tactics accordingly. Whilst they Orcs may be cartoony, they also look fierce and evil. The apprentice himself also looks great and I took a lot of pleasure watching him run around the dungeons eliminating foes.
The audio on the game is also fantastic. The ambient music is perfect for the job, changing tempo as the waves start and finish. The apprentice, as the sole survivor from the Order has no-one to talk too, but that doesn't hinder his ability to produce funny dialogue, albeit with himself. As with all games, I tend to judge their sounds based on 'does it annoy me after a long play session'. My current in game stats say I've slain just over 15,000 Orcs, and I've not been annoyed once. The traps sound great as they dice up Orcs and the guardians also give little one liners as they purchased. These may be little things, but multiply one by a hundred and you still have a pretty big number.
Multiplayer
Unfortunately the game has no multiplayer but fear not, as the leaderboards replace this to a certain extent. Every level has it's own leaderboard sorted by 'friends' and 'overall' and each level is sorted by difficulty as well. It's so well done in fact, that after every level instead of hitting continue I would run back to the main menu and check my scores against my friends. On the rare occasion I was beaten, I'd be straight back on that level aiming to beat any friend who dare best me!
Achievements
The game features twelve achievements worth a total of 200g. For the average player, you'll hit 110g (9/12) just by completing the campaign on war-mage and hitting a few miscellaneous achievements that aren't particularly hard. However, there are three achievements (Ultimate War Mage, Member : 30k club and Legendary War Mage) thrown in here that will you give you trouble. But challenge is fun right?
Final Thoughts
Whenever a game is released onto the marketplace and costs 1200msp, my first thought is always 'This best be *#?*
% fantastic to be worth that'. Don't worry, it is. Orcs Must Die! Is an amazing experience that I have loved every second of so far, and will continue to love for some time to come.
4.5 stars
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Vorpal Smilodon
207,873
TA Score for this game: 121
Posted on 15 January 12 at 22:27, Edited on 18 June 12 at 14:28 |
This review has 14 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
When I first saw screens for Orcs Must Die I wrote it off as looking terrible, so I didn't even consider picking it up until it went on sale for half price at which point I picked it up as a matter of habit. How wrong I was for not trying it out sooner! OmD is a well-paced, well-polished, humorous and addicting Action Tower-Defense; easily the best 600 MSP I've spent on the Xbox Marketplace.
Gameplay
It's a Defense game, so the basic gameplay is killing waves of enemies as they try to run to your Gate. You start with a crossbow and a bladestaff, and a single Trap spell - spikes that stab out of the ground to seriously injure the orcs stupid enough to blindly run into it. From there you unlock a new spell, trap or guardian unit at the beginning of each level, which gives you a good chance to familiarize yourself with each new unit and keeps up a good sense of pace throughout the game.
Normal difficulty is challenging without being too hard, but there's an easier mode for levels you're having trouble with and once you've beat the game once it unlocks a harder difficulty.
The level designs are clever, since the level dictates enemy spawns as well as what sorts of traps you can place and where the chokepoints are - each one is distinct and requires new strategies.
Each trap or spell unit can be upgraded once by spending the Skull Rating you've earned on your levels, giving you added reason to go back and perfect each level.
About halfway through the game you unlock skill trees that you get to chose between, specializing in either traps or hero abilities depending on your playstyle.
Story
The story to the game is minimal - you're a mage apprentice, you need to defend the portals from orcs and their brethren. But as you advance through more pieces fall into place - it's still not much, but where it shines is in the hilarious dialogue, both the storyline and random comments like the orc that complains 'Only one day until retirement' before a trap flips him into a pit of lava.
Graphics
The graphics are solid, the style is cartoonish in very good way and the enemies are easy to identify, which is important for this sort of game.
Sound
The music in this game is good, the sound effects for the various traps and spells well chosen - the only problem with the sound I have is that there's not seperate volume slider for dialogue, so often the characters lines are overridden by the sound of orcs being dismembered.
Replay Value
The gameplay is addictive, and with a harder difficulty, leaderboards and that urge to perfect each level, there's alot of bang for your buck. Overall I'd estimate it's length at 12-16 hours depending on your skill level, as the achievement for Nightmare difficulty might take some doing.
Overall 10/10
There's enough content and more than enough quality here for an arcade game. It would be nice if they bring out some DLC for added longevity, but the game stands well on its own - the fact that I want more is just another bit of praise for a good game.
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fayering
149,690
TA Score for this game: 418
Posted on 08 October 11 at 14:52 |
This review has 18 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I have been waiting for this game for a couple of months now, and to honest, I felt that it wouldn't be as good as I thought. luckily, I was wrong.
STORY
The game takes place in a mythical world, were humans lives in a wonderful world, were everything is good cause of the "mages" that can control how the world works, water the grain and so on. But all is not well. Orcs lives on another planet and wants to kill all the human. But to do that they need to go through rifts. Rifts are magical portals that teleports the person inside it to the other side. Ofcourse the humans don't want that, so they gets help from the "mages", and they then became gatekeepers for the rifts. Hundreds of years goes by and humans protects the rifts. One day a old mage, that has fought for hundreds of years, dies by slipping in some blood... Then the mission to defend the rifts goes to you, his apprentice.
GAMEPLAY
Through the game you defend diffrent rifts on diffrent maps with your trusty crossbow and sword. These diffrent maps works diffrently and you'll have to change tactics all the time, depending on what's happening next.
The mission is ofcourse to defend the rifts from the orcs, that come in waves. so they don't get to the other side. But what fun would this be if you didn't have any toys?
There are a huge amount of different traps, spells and perks in the game you can use and upgrade. But you can only choose a certain amount, so you always have to figure out witch traps and spells you should choose, and which perks you should have, depending on what type of orcs is attacking.
To upgrade your weapons, you need skulls. And to get skulls, you need to complete a map as fast as possible and without letting any orcs get in to the rift. You can only upgrade traps once, but hey, that upgrade is always good to have if you use the trap often! Also there is some traps laid out before the game that you can shoot or use to let the orcs taste them!
GRAPHICS
The graphics in the game is cartonish and looks good. it's nothing you cheer about, but it gets the job done. What is more amazing, is the amount of orcs, traps and shooting that can be done at the same time without any lag. And sometimes you do feel epic when you see one hundred orcs running up the stairs that you don't allow them to take over. That is epic.
SOUND
Here's where the irony of the game takes place. Through the game your character will of course talk, but has, some of the most hilarious sentences in a game in a long time.
The orcs talks to, and every orc does. So it can be a little overwhelming with all the funny comments the orcs does. (example: Why am I the bad guy?)
The music is good and fits perfect. But, after listening to the same track 50 times in a row, maybe isn't the most satisfying. So if you can, take away the ingame music and play your own!.
CONTROLS
What can I say, they are there and are working like a charm.
OTHER
The game is fun. The Campaign has a 3-5 hours of gameplay, were you will return to get all the skulls to upgrade your traps. Cause you will need it when you try to play the campaign again on nightmare mode, were you will get no time to think, and there are ridiculous amounts of orcs.
But why they didn't put any kind of multiplayer in the game don't I understand. But I don't really care about that. The game is awsome anyway.
SUMMARY
The game is meant to be played. You guys who loves tower defense games will love this. you guys who loves shooting, it's for you to. You casual gamers who just like playing a game for fun and not stress, there is an easy mode for you to!
This game is something everybody should play, cause Orcs Must Die!
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