The near-flawless execution on every level makes the brilliant concepts at the game's core shine through with perfect clarity. Even if you've never played or so much as heard of the original game, Orcs Must Die 2 is worth a place of honor in your collection.
It never loses sight of the singular imperative to kill as many orcs as possible, and while there's a sense that too much has been recycled from the first outing, its unique combination of tower defense and action mechanics reach near perfection here. A qualified triumph for veterans of the first game and newcomers alike.
Just as great as the first game. If you've enjoyed Orcs Must Die, you should definitely pick this one up too.
Most of the gameplay is very much similar. You still have a plethora of traps to use, and lots of orcs in each stage. There are fewer overall stages in the main campaign than there were in the first game, but the game offers some new stuff to make up for it. It now has 2 playable characters. Their starting weapons and starting traps are different. Like for example the Apprentice uses a blunderbuss as the main weapon, whereas the sorceress uses a sceptre to shoot small projectiles from. The presence of two playable characters also means the game can be played in co-op.
In addition to this, some stages also have an endless mode, where you can keep fighting hordes of orcs till you lose all the rift points, and the game also lets you play some of the classic stages from the first game.
The upgrade mechanic has been improved from the first game. Though the simplicity of it in the first game was nice, it's also great to have a bigger variety of upgrades that this game offers. Now each trap has more than 1 upgrade, and in addition to upgrading your existing traps, you can also buy new traps, weapons, and trinkets for all sorts of benefits, depending on how you prefer to play. Now this also means that it's easier to earn skulls, which are used as upgrade points. You can now gain them in more ways. In the first game you could only get them as a rating for each mission, but now you can also get them as bonuses and random drops, and as rewards for surviving a certain amount of waves in the endless stages.
Just as with new traps, you also meet some new enemies. We now have some earth elementals which split into two smaller units upon death, some tall, lanky trolls which can take a lot of punishment, and even the regular grunts now have light, medium, and heavy armour varieties.
There are only a couple of minor things I didn't like. The first one is that I was unable to find an easy way to switch between characters when in the campaign menu. I first played through the whole campaign as the Apprentice, and when I wanted to try out the Sorceress, I couldn't simply pick a stage I've beaten already and to do it with her. Instead I had to create a new character profile with no upgrades or unlocks and to start the campaign all over from the start, which isn't all that great.
Another thing I didn't like was how the barricades have become virtually useless now. It's possible that maybe I was just unlucky, but on many occasions I noticed that the orcs now seem to prefer to rather smash their way through the barricades rather take an alternate path, even if the alternate path is within their vision. The only time this didn't happen was when I played the classic levels from the first game.
In conclusion, this is a great 3rd person tower defence game and lives up to the quality of the first one. If you've enjoyed the first one, get this one too. If you've enjoyed this one, get the first one too.
Whether played solo or tackled with a friend, those looking for a fast-paced, third-person tower defense will find that the unique traps and reaching for high scores will more than keep them occupied.
I'm itching to play again once I finish this. If you have someone to team up with, get it without hesitation. If you don't, hesitate slightly, then notice it's only £12 and get it anyway.
It's in the myriad ways you can decimate your attackers that the game's appeal lies, and the improvements made here have only made that pleasure more intense. While Orcs Must Die 2 still has balancing issues, they're more than outweighed by the sheer pleasure of the minute-by-minute gameplay, where calculated carnage is its own reward.
There's nothing wrong with the design of the levels or the gameplay in
and of themselves. It's just that OMD!2 feels more like a sizeable
update complete with co-op integration. It is a good game, though,
which manages to best its predecessor. Soloing veterans of that game
should think very hard if the amendments are enough to buy this sequel
at launch.
A new twist on the very much loved genre of tower defence. Set your traps and ready your magic/bows/fists! Waves of creatures will come at you and you better be prepared for everything. Very strategic and challenging and all the more fun with another friend with you! Worth getting during the steam sales or/and if you're in the mood for some charming graphics and tantalising strategy fun.
Easily the worst of the Orcs Must Die Trilogy. Frustrating & limiting are the best terms to describe this entry. It feels as though the developers took a look at the first game and decided it was too easy/fun. So they nerfed all the traps, all the weapons, the money generation, and the things that made the game fun aside from some dialogue. Then the new additions they added were also incredibly weak and not really worth using unless you are messing around. All the while it felt like the devs decided they wanted to absolutely screw over any "kill-boxes" you wanted to make (the fun part about the first game and how anyone succeeds) and just loaded every level up with Sappers to destroy them.
I will never play this entry again unless I install mods to change the traps back to be more in line with the first title and make barricades indestructible. I don't quite regret 5-skulling every level, but I certainly didn't enjoy it.
This is a really difficult title to enjoy. If you have played the first one, then the controls are slower, less integrated and more touchy than the previous game. Weapons are less effective and controllable. Every level is designed for two players. While one player can complete them it changes the game completely from a blend of strategy and shooter into an arcade disaster of hack'n slash. The graphics and program itself are certainly smoother and run more easily, however, there is no real improvement in the level of presentation. While the menus and advancement in the first were more simplified and this has more customization, it is significantly handicapping while developing your character. The two games are simply backwards. On its own or as the first, this game would have been a 6 or 7, generic fun, good humor, alright gameplay.
As a sequel it is absolute garbage in the vein of Spaceballs' Yogurt, "The Quest For More Money."
Might have worked as spin-off or multiplayer presentation, but it is hard to forgive a less refined game with sloppier controls as a sequel.
Can only recommend this game specifically to people who have not played or seen the first and that means marketing to people not interested. Hugely disappointing.
SummaryOrcs Must Die! 2 begins days after the ending of the original game. With the rifts closed and the magical Order dead, the War Mage finds himself suddenly thrust into a new battle against the mindless orc mob. He has a powerful, if questionable, new companion in the Sorceress, an ex-War Mage responsible for the destruction of the Order.