Orcs Must Die! 2 Impressions

Orcs Must Die! 2

So I got Orcs Must Die! 2 over the weekend, and its a total blast to play coop on Steam. Its not out on Xbox Live or PSN, although if it sells well I wont be surprised if it is one day. But if you have a gaming PC and enjoy coop games, this one is extremely satisfying and easily worth the $15 asking price. In a word, its addictive as hell.

There isnt a whole lot to the game, it has no AAA aspirations, and those are its strengths. Its like a restaurant that only serves on thing. Im my experience, these restaurants tend to be of much higher quality than some random place you might pick out of a phonebook. If a place is called Joes Cheeseteaks or Bobbys Lobster Rolls, you can bet that their signature dish is probably going to be pretty solid.

This game serves up orc slaying in the form of a tower defense, action light-RPG recipe without no fluff or filler whatsoever. You get some points, spend them on upgrades like traps, obstacles, and guards, and then trigger a multiwave attack of orcs which you must not only survive, but are graded on for style and efficiency. Dont let any orcs through your defenses while earning huge killstreaks and combo multipliers, and you will earn more skulls which allow you to purchase upgrades to your gear, new items, better traps and guards.

Its a simple, effective recipe and while I never played the first game, I cant imagine it being nearly as good due to the lack of coop. I dont think I would even want to try to play OMD2 by myself, as half the fun is coordinating your defenses and upgrades with a partner for maximium efficiency. Its probably not the type of game which will keep you playing for 100 hours, but I downloaded it Friday and the next thing I knew the sun was rising and Ajax and I had earned our first flawless, 5 skull mission completion. If videogames are the ultimate distraction, this one isnt far off from being perfect.