Developer / Distributor: Arrowhead Game Studios / Paradox Interactive
Release Date: 15 Feb 2011
Rating: ESRB - Teen, PEGI - 16
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Looking for a fantasy game but can't decide which one to get?
I'm not surprised, after all fantasy games are a dime a dozen these days that it takes that extra something to stand out among the crowd. Luckily, it seems the Swedish developer Arrowhead Game Studios and Paradox Interactive have some really wild and cool ideas that have translated well into their first release.
Magicka is a truly unique action game that boasts elements of adventure and role-playing. The fantasy world of Midgård, the setting for the game, is a rich fantasy world that is inhabited by goblins, trolls, beastmen, daemons, dwarves, yetis, and even beholders. Plus, there are some ugly, nasty, and merciless bosses waiting to be vanquished by your character - who happens to be a wizard.
The game features a long single player campaign; four players can even go at it cooperatively; and there's also a multiplayer challenge mode and versus mode. Sounds typical so far, right?
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| Go ahead, open the book |
- The magic spell-casting system is an innovative approach to spicing up the typical RPG wizard character into a Rambo-like-magic-toting-action-packed individual, and
- The game is dripping with loads of sarcastic humour and witty dialogues, with some of these even poking fun at the gaming culture and ourselves. You will also get to see cool parodies of scenes taken from cult movie favourites such as Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Aliens, James Bond and more. Not forgetting games like Diablo, Loom, and others.
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| Will you look at that... |
Upon opening the book of Magicka: An Adventure of Sorts, you get to see your menu on the very first page. From here, you can either choose to dive straight into the Adventure or to select multiplay. Let's cover the former option first.
It is advisable to select Adventure mode if you are new to the game, there's an important tutorial that you must play before even embarking on the other options. That's because Magicka's spell-casting mechanic is an ingenious system that allows you to mix and match or to cast fixed spells. Once you are done with the all important tutorial, you can take your time as you embark on completing the remaining twelve levels of the campaign - that will take you at least ten to twelve hours of play, so good luck there!
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| Too much of a challenge for me... |
- Challenges dares you to survive wave after wave of monsters who can't wait to slice and dice your group into small bite-sized pieces.
- Versus is essentially player-versus-player mode and comes in three flavours: Deathmatch is where the player with the highest kill score after a set time wins; Brawl is where all players are given a set number of lives; the last man standing wins. And, at certain intervals, Kreitor's Tourney will have new magicks (spells) being unlocked during your match.
- Online Play shows you a list of all Magicka games on LAN or Internet. You can either join a game or choose to host your very own.
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| Versus mode configuration screen |
Magicka's Magic System
Magic deserves mention as the game uses a highly original system; you can either cast spells by choosing elements or through the use of magicks. All you need for spell casting is a staff, one of two inventory items your character possesses.
Elements
There are eight elements in the game (shown in the bottom left corner of the screen shot below); they are Water (Q), Life (W), Shield (E), Cold (R), Lightning (A), Arcane (S), Earth (D), and Fire (F). These elements are represented by the 8 keys on your qwerty keyboard.
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| Learn, my young apprentice |
Element spells can be cast on enemies, yourself, or upon an area; it all depends on which spell-casting action you desire:
- To cast a spell on an enemy, you must end with a right-click of the mouse to cast the spell in that direction.
- To cast a spell upon yourself (like healing) by clicking the middle mouse button.
- To cast an area spell, you must hold down the shift key and perform a right-click.
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| The chained lightning spell spells disaster for enemies |
Magicks
You will discover spell books in the game that contains Magicks. These are fixed effect spells that are activated by pressing a certain key sequence. Take for example the Haste spell - cast by typing out ASF, or the Fear spell - cast with a quick tap of the RSE keys in that order. To complete the casting of a magick, you only need hit the space bar.
As you can't go around memorizing all the key sequences for each magick spell, you must utilize the mouse scroll wheel to look through them in turn; the sequences for each magick appear just below your wizard.
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| Do you dare cast the Magick - Crash to Desktop? |
Now that you have a better understanding of the magic spell-casting system, you'd be glad to know that there is one last mode of attack up your sleeve. Other than being equipped with a staff, your wizard may also have a weapon - it can be a conventional melee weapon (a sword like the Excalibur) or ranged attack weapon (a gyroget pistol, huh?). It is activated by the shift key plus a click with the left mouse button. And, don't forget that your wizard can also block attacks; just activate it with the Left+Ctrl key.
Monsters of Magicka
Enemies in Magicka range from tiny imps to humanoid beastmen, and from lumbering trolls to a huge serpent boss. All monsters also have a unique pattern in the way they attack, for example there are dagger wielding goblins who will swarm towards you. One of them may break out from the group and pounce on your wizard who must then quickly press the space bar to free himself from it's grip. Then, there's the huge troll who pursues you everywhere you run to; you must defeat trolls with fire or their health points will regenerate.
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| I hate goblins! |
Humour - Slick, Sick, or just good old schtick?
If you are looking for satirical humour in a game then Magicka will reward you with loads of laughter. There are also moments of awkwardness, especially if you didn't catch the point - you'll need to be a know-it-all to catch what some of the jokes are saying. Here are some sample words to cue in to the satirical richness in Magicka - Rakanishlol (a reference to a Diablo 2 boss monster), LARP (Live Action Role Playing), and Sprint (Scrum agile software development).
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| Hmm... where have I seen this before? |
The graphics in Magicka is so much alive; everything is drawn with loving care and looks just great. You will feel that you have been teleported to a living Midgård - where trees and grass sway in the wind, where the shadow of clouds rush across the screen, where sweet dappled sunlight come through forest canopies, and where rivers and lakes shimmer with pure beauty.
Your character models (you have a small selection to choose from) are smoothly animated. The monsters are also lovingly done up, they look so life-like making their way towards you - be it walking, running, hopping, slithering, or what have you.
The spell effects are perhaps most impressive. You can't help but be awed at the blast of fire, the bouts of lightning beams, the scary red arcane beams, or the huge flying rocks.
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| Battling the first boss |
The main theme music of Magicka is absolutely lovely and pleasing. It feels fantasy-like at first but repeats its thematic subject with more aplomb on the subsequent stanza before it enters a waltz like coda and diversifies from there into a stunning conclusion. Listen to see what I mean. The other music pieces are also apt for whatever the situation is for that chapter - like the thrilling airship ride, or exploring the Jarn mines.
The sound effects are also used to great effect. I felt that each monster was given a unique voice and behaviour that will make you remember them easily. The spell effects and ambient sounds are also realistic enough to make you feel like nature is unleashing it's wrath around you.
The voice acting is top notch when it comes to the less than serious nature of the game. The narrator has the right amount of sarcasm laced in his part that you can't help but snicker at him. The rest of the characters in the game speak in a senseless babble that sounds like some Germanic language mixed in with actual English words.
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| Ouch! I'd better start healing my wizard |
Magicka is one game that should be on every gamer's shelf. It just needs a bit more spit and polish to be in the realm of excellence.
- Magicka features 12 large chapters of an incredible campaign.
- The tutorial does a great job of teaching you all the intricacies of surviving in the world of Midgård.
- The magic system is brilliantly innovative (or innovatively brilliant). It's sort of like dressing a kung-fu fighting game in a fantasy skin, the best part though is you can customize the abilities you wish to use by picking your favorite combo to cast at your enemy.
- You'll laugh at the humorous references to many cult favourites - movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, and games like Diablo, and King's Quest.
- Magicka has excellent cooperative play modes as well as the versus mode (PvP) to keep you occupied for a long time to come.
- At it's core, Magicka is an impressive action game that tries to sell itself as a fantasy role playing game.
- The developers keep extending the life of Magicka with interesting downloadable content - read section below about the DLCs.
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| The simplest inventory system - ever |
Stability was not and is still not Magicka's strong point. One thing's for sure, the developers are still busy trying to rectify all them bugs; must have had too much scrumming.
- There are still some bugs in the game that may send your character flying off the screen, or dying for no rhyme or reason.
- Worse still, you might encounter that rare graphical bug that makes your display go awry as you grapple with saving your game before it's too late; I know I did.
- The Adventure can be quite tough to solo, that is unless you are an experienced gamer who knows how to survive what the developers throw at you. There is a high chance you will find yourself heading to the forums to glean hints and tips or to hunt for a walkthrough.
- You may not appreciate that a particular moment in the game is actually a satirical reference.
- Your twitch reactions may cause your wizard to die a pointless death.
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| The Empire Strikes Back? |
Arrowhead Studios have been really busy since the release of Magicka. To date, they have released a total of 9 DLCs that will help liven up your game even more.
- The Wizard's Survival Kit DLC gives you new magical items to equip for your wizard.
- The Vietnam DLC sends you off to 'Nam for an impressive cross-over battle. You get a new scenario, 2 new Challenge maps, new weapons and magick, and other goodies.
- Marshlands DLC comes with two new Challenges and some minor gameplay variations.
- This is a strange one indeed - the Party Robes DLC gives you three new robes. Dedicated for masochistic players who want that unique identity.
- The Watchtower DLC features a new Versus map.
- Final Frontier DLC is more for a science fiction enthusiast. It comes with a new Versus map, a new Challenge and other assorted goodies.
- The Frozen Lake DLC features a new Versus game mode over water.
- The Gamer Bundle DLC provides three more cool looking robes.
- Finally, the Nippon DLC throws in a touch of Japanese culture with three new items.
It's a much better option to get the Magicka - Complete Pack, than to get the DLCs individually.
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| That Japanese touch |
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Ok... no spoilers for you. Go try out Magicka for yourself now and play the Adventure all the way through to witness an incredible ending. You won't regret it; I know I didn't.
Daily PC Game Review Score: 7.5 / 10
Review Date: 21 Nov 2011
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