While playing Robot Entertainment’s Orcs Must Die tower defense action games, has the thought of the series being adapted into a board game ever crossed your mind? Probably not, but now that such an adaptation is about to happen the idea suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.

After its first week on Kickstarter, Petersen Games’ officially licensed Orcs Must Die! The Boardgame has been funded and already received more than twice its opening pledge goal with 25 days still to go.

The game structure appears to play out exactly the same on a tabletop: Choose a map, select a hero avatar, place traps, kills monsters, earn skulls, level up your hero, and ultimately protect your Rift from waves of enemies. Each map supports 1-4 players in cooperative play as well as different difficulty options.

Actually, there are two different boxed games–Order Edition or Unchained Edition–to choose from at $90 pledge level. At the $150 pledge level, you’ll get both versions, opening up the ability to combine the two for 8-player, team-based PvP matches.

It’s not cheap, but the game sure looks fun.

Last year Robot Entertainment took the gaming world by surprise with the indie hit Orcs Must Die!.  A hybrid title of action and tower defense set against an almost Disney-like art style with a lovable buffoon War Mage facing swarms of orcs, ogres, and goblins, Orcs Must Die! was a challenging yet addictive and fun game.  As with any great game, fans want more, and in most cases developers aren’t able to stuff every last idea into a title on the first go around.  Fortunately Robot was able to return to the well and include a huge compliment of new features in Orcs Must Die! 2.

So what are these new features and do they improve an already fun game?  First off the game now features co-op, which is a huge addition to the original game.  One of my issues with some of the late levels in the first game were the difficulty spikes that made me feel like I needed to be in two places at the same time.  Co-op fixes that.  The levels in OMD2 are different, but there is still that same underlying pressure of frantically trying to defend multiple points at once, so it’s great to have a friend by your side.  Plus, having a co-op partner offers up the chance to play as the War Mage or as the new Sorceress.  The Sorceress has the same standard arsenal of traps and weapons, but she also has the power to seduce the enemy, which then turns the orcs against each other.

One of the other really great things about playing co-op is trap selection and how skull points applied to traps is unique to each person playing. What that means is traps that I may not have selected to use for a map could very well be used by my co-op partner, increasing our array of traps and expanding our tactical choices in order to handily stop orcs from reaching the rift.

Let me dig a little deeper into the spellbook for a moment.  In the original OMD, skulls were earned for completing a level and could then be used to upgrade a trap.  Once a skull was used, you were stuck with that build.  Now with OMD2, skulls aren’t necessarily permanently spent, which is a wonderful thing as the spellbook has increased in size by a wide margin.  As with the first game, new traps become available after beating levels, but require skulls to unlock them.  But now when new traps become available and early traps are less effective, all skulls can be pulled from whichever traps have been purchased or leveled up and then used to unlock and enhance more effective traps.

In addition to a larger variety of traps and weapons, OMD2 now also provides trinkets which can be added to slots during trap selection at the beginning of each level.  Trinkets offer passive and active bonuses which can help during particularly harrowing moments.  Of course the downside to loading a trinket to one of the trap slots is that one less trap can be taken into the mission.  Having complementary traps and trinkets while playing co-op can give gamers an advantage which can mean the difference of barely surviving or losing a level entirely.

As I mentioned earlier, OMD2 also introduces the Sorceress as a playable character.  From the outset the Sorceress can use the Sceptre of Domination which allows orcs to be seduced so that the swarms of enemies turn and attack their own kind.  The Sorceress also can use the Acid Sprayer (a very effective wall trap) and the Ice Vent (which freezes orcs in ice blocks temporarily). Switching between the War Mage and the Sorceress has one downside though.  Any skulls used to unlock perks or traps with one character does not carry over to the other, meaning if you finish the game with the War Mage and then play as the Sorceress, all progress earned is not available with the second character.  This isn’t a deal breaker, but for all the freedoms that OMD2 offers, having unlocked traps not available when playing the other character seems like a misstep.

Some additional features that have been implemented are endless mode and classic mode.  Endless mode is just like it sounds: wave upon wave of orcs continue to rush the rift portal in an endless barrage.  To help with surviving Endless mode, one of the new traps earned by finishing the story mode is a coinforge.  The coinforge increases coins dropping from enemies if they die while standing on the trap.  Coins of course add to the overall bank which allows for additional traps to be built to stop the never ending enemy hordes.  Combine the coinforge trap with a scavenger trinket, and the chance to collect a nice amount of extra coins quickly adds up.  Playing OMD2‘s Endless mode in co-op stands as one of the best game experiences of the year if you ask me.  To add to the deep level of replay, Robot stuck in Classic mode, which is available to Steam users who have the original game and makes 10 older levels available for both standard co-op play as well as Endless mode.

As if the standard levels, classic levels and endless mode weren’t enough, Robot has also released two DLC booster packs (with a third on the way). While OMD2 feels likes a complete game as is, these add-ons slather the extra icing onto the cake. The first DLC pack is Fire & Water and is based on the new elemental enemies that are introduced.  Similar to the Earth Elemental, the Fire Lord and Fire Elemental are large flaming enemies that burst into smaller Firelings when destroyed.  Water Lords and Water Elementals bring up the other half of the booster pack title and behave similarly.  Also included in the booster pack are three new maps as well as three new traps.  Personally my favorite trap in the entire game, the Dart Spitter, is included in this DLC. What’s not to love about a spinning cylinder that drops from the ceiling and shoots out a massive cloud of darts?

The second DLC booster pack is called Family Ties and it introduces a new female orc for the War Mage and Sorceress to battle.  This female orc is heavily armored and is a true challenge to take down, especially when she casts an area effect spell that motivates nearby orcs to move faster toward the rift portal.  Deciding which to go after becomes a true challenge. Do you spend time trying to take down the heavy armor female or hunt down the faster, motivated orcs?  To help with the decision, the booster pack also includes a new weapon, the Stone Staff, which can temporarily turn all nearby orcs to stone.  One of my favorite trinkets is also included in this booster pack, a Jar of Ghosts, which causes enemies who hit the War Mage to turn and run in fear. The trinket is handy for slowing forward momentum as many orcs turn and run in the opposite direction of the rift after attempting to land a shot on me.  As with the Fire & Water booster pack, Family Ties also includes three new maps.  

Orcs Must Die! 2 is an exceptional sequel to an already great game.  Keeping all of the great traps and weapons, but improving the spellbook and skull system, plus adding co-op, gives Orcs Must Die! 2 a wealth of replay that any gamer with a Steam account is sure to appreciate. Orcs Must Die! 2 is already a great value at $15, but thanks to Steam’s Halloween sale you can currently steal it for just $7.49–along with the DLC boosters for only $2.49 each–until the discount ends on November 1st. On sale or not, it’s well worth the price.

Pros:
+ Co-op throughout the entire game
+ Re-speccable spellbook
+ New traps, weapons and playable Sorceress class
+ Endless mode adds tons of replay

Cons:
– Playing solo can be frustrating in the later levels
– Playing a new character resets all traps unlocked

Game Info:
Platform: PC
Publisher: Robot Entertainment
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Release Date: 7/30/2012
Genre: Action-Strategy
Players: 1-2
Source: Review code provided by developer

Tower Defense games have traditionally been played from a top down view with a mouse or a cursor of some sort used to place each defense along a set path to stop waves of enemies or creeps from either capturing or destroying something of value to the players.  The great thing about tower defense games is that concept is simple to understand but can take many hours to master.  Often times the creeps will appear in waves of many different types that are immune to one type of attack or have a stronger defense. Adding to the complexity is the method of input, either touch a la iOS devices, or mouse on PC, or some form of cursor manipulation with a console controller.  Sense of control has always felt a bit lacking to me playing tower defense games with a console controller.  Movement sensitivity is either too slow or too fast, or menus to select various towers never feel responsive enough to be able to select the right defense type quick enough to defeat the constant waves of creeps.

Robot Entertainment spins the tower defense concept on it’s heels with a pretty awesome point of view in Orcs Must Die.  Instead of viewing everything from above as a map overview, OMD is much more akin to a third-person action shooter as the camera view is placed over the shoulder of the last of the War Mages.  His crosshairs can be swapped between aiming a crossbow, sword and spells to an assortment of traps.  Trap placement is quick and switching between traps is handled by pressing the bumper buttons.  Movement is just like moving any third-person action character on screen and once orcs are close enough, combat plays out just like a great action brawler.

Now with a name like Orcs Must Die you’d expect just that.  Orcs die in so many crazy unique ways depending on the combination and placement of traps as well as the various spells that the War Mage can cast.  The levels start simple with one entrance that Orcs appear from and they make their way to the Rift portal so that they can destroy the power held within.  Traps start out as floor spikes and walls of arrows such that when waves of Orcs step over them spikes come shooting up, piercing multiple enemies and leaving their bodies in jumbled piles.  The wall of arrows is another satisfying sight, especially if the trap is placed on both sides of a hallway.  As the Orcs walk into the path a swoosh is heard and a rain of arrows flies out, tossing Orcs into the air as they are assaulted with the deadly shafts.

As levels are completed, awards are presented in the form of up to five skulls for defeating the level under par (the time set by Robot Entertainment) as well as not losing any Rift points.  These skulls can be saved up to purchase enhanced versions of traps which reduce the cost of the traps, add more damage or add poisons to slow and damage Orcs even more once they’ve managed to slip past a trap.  Each completed level also introduces new trap types or spells which add to the War Mage’s arsenal.  During the beginning of each level the War Mage picks which spells or traps he can use from his spell book, place the traps, and then activate the oncoming waves of Orcs.  As the waves of Orcs are defeated the War Mage earns additional currency to place more traps.  After the second or third wave of Orcs in any given level, the War Mage is given a short breather, allowing more traps to be placed without the threat of more Orcs attacking.

Of course Orcs being ugly, smelly, nasty enemies, they consort with all sorts of other bad guys.  Level progression introduces new enemies that swarm along with the Orcs such as giant Ogres, flying dragon whelps, tiny, swift Kobolds or truly nasty hyena-like hunters.  But the War Mage also has hidden allies in the form of Weavers that offer spell and trap enhancements that can help tip the balance of power in the Ware Mage’s favor.  As with any compelling strategy game though, only one of the Weavers’ enhancement trees can be activated per level using the same currency to buy traps.  The War Mage must choose carefully between spending all his money on the Weavers, having nothing for traps, and then deal with Orcs in direct melee combat or choose to spend all money on traps without the benefit of the Weaver bonuses.

One of the great things about Orcs Must Die is the replay factor.  As I mentioned above, level completion awards the War Mage with new traps or spells and these unlocked spells and traps can then be selected during earlier levels.  In the earlier stages Orcs travel down much more constricted pathways and some of the traps earned later in the game are not only devastating, but are just a riot to watch as Orcs blindly move into the direct path of ceiling smashers or pendulum axes.

While I can honestly say it is a blast to watch huge waves of Orcs getting tossed about by arrow traps or spring loaded floors, I also find the later levels to be frustrating.  The little kid in me likes watching all of the mayhem and shouts from the Orcs as they stumble into my traps, but the grown adult gets frustrated as I find myself having to defend waves of Orcs from two to three different directions at once with a limited budget for traps and a feeling of being overwhelmed with so many things going on at once. Throw flying dragon whelps, swift kobolds, swarms of Orcs, a giant ogre and a few hunters out at the same time and all I end up doing is watching my Rift points drop to zero.  Part of that is probably my fault for not learning how to best employ all of the various traps that I’ve unlocked, but I think that new trap introduction could be better explained.  I dislike the idea of having to go outside of the game to read forum posts or watch a video on the best way to beat a level.

Later level difficulties aside, Orcs Must Die is a fantastic game.  The art style is unique, sort of a mix between the cartoony World of Warcraft and a more serious and deadly Lord of the Rings.  The music is a romp as well, mixing stately medieval themes with a jamming rock ‘n roll vibe.  Additionally, Robot Entertainment has added a great leaderboard system to keep players coming back for more as friends scores are reflected on each level, which can cause a bit of a rivalry to see who can take the top spot.

Available on XBLA, Steam and On-Live, Orcs Must Die is definitely worth buying.  OMD offers plenty of replay value, with easy to learn, difficult to master spells and traps, along with unique and challenging level design. Of course the best reason to play is the complete satisfaction of watching swarms and swarms of Orcs dying by frost, fire, spikes, arrows or being flung through the air by various traps.

Pros:
+ Fun traps and spells
+ Quick levels offer plenty of replay
+ Leaderboard challenges
+ Great use of console controller in a tower defense game

Cons:
– Harsh difficulty spikes in later levels
– New trap types are given very little explanation on how to best use them

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on PC via Steam; also available on Xbox 360 via XBLA
Publisher: Robot Entertainment
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Release Date: XBLA – 10/5/2011, PC – 10/11/2011
Genre: Action / Tower Defense Strategy
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher