Magicka 2 Preview

Magicka 2, the sequel to Paradox Interactive’s 2011 title, puts you into the slippers of one of four wizards and has you return to Midgard, the setting of the first game, to eradicate the evil that has set up camp there.

I only got a short time with Magicka 2 but it’s safe to say that it’s more of the same. Now, that isn’t me saying it’s bad by any means. More of a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” situation. I was given a wizard to control (in a variety of four colours) and put quite late into Chapter Three of the game. I hadn’t played Magicka for about a year at this point so it took a while for the spells to come back to me.

The way that Magicka 2’s abilties work is that you’re given a different selection of spells such as fire, water, life, and stone (to name a few). You then have to combine up to five of these, and then cast that combination in one of four ways. You can either shoot it out straight, perform an area of effect (AoE), enchant your sword, or cast upon yourself. Each of these methods is good for certain situations and with certain spells, but Magicka has never been a title that has lended itself to ‘button bashing’.

It wasn’t very long into my playthrough that I died. Then I died again. This went on for a while until I remembered a few of the different spell combinations (and by remember, I mean Peter, a developer, showed me them). Once I’d re-figured out the basics, it took a little bit of messing around with different spells before I was comfortable with the game again. Once I had acquired the basic knowledge that there’s eight spells which can be combined in a variety of over 30,000 different ways, it was child’s play.

Something that has always rung true with not only the Magicka franchise, but Paradox Interactive games as a whole, is their unique sense of humour. All of their titles have a very funny side to them, usually in the dialogue between the characters. Much to the appreciation of the fans, your guide Vlad has returned in this second iteration, adding a whole new layer of clever and funny dialogue to the party.

Whilst the graphics engine seems to have had huge overhaul when compared to its predecessor, that’s not the only thing that has been added to Magicka 2. Three major additions have taken place. The first of these is the matchmaking. Paradox Interactive really think that this is a game that is best played with people, and so they’ve added in random matchmaking into the online play. You can simply join a random game with other wizards around the world and start to play!

Secondly, environmental puzzles have been added into levels to create a new level of teamwork. In the example that I played through, there was a stone gate blocking our path. Just to the left of this, there was a big water wheel. Instinctively, I equipped my water spell and shot it into the wheel. It began to turn and the gate started to slowly lower. Unfortunately, at this point, a whole horde of crab-creatures emerged from a nearby lake and began to attack us. If I stopped spinning the wheel, the gate would start to close again. This meant that my allies had to fight off the hordes whilst I kept the gate opening and then we all made a mad dash for the gate once open. I make that sound easy, but believe you me, it wasn’t.

The third addition is Artifacts. During the campaign, players will unlock Artifacts through various means. These change how the game plays and they range from making it near-impossible for players to complete, to adding laugh tracks as your wizards kill enemies. These Artifacts are completely optional and are just there to give players a lot more replayability, should they want it.

Magicka 2 is shaping up, in my eyes atleast, to be a must-have title of 2015. I have no doubt that myself and a few friends will be sinking many a dozen hours into it. So, if you’re up for it, don your robe and cowl, pick up your sword and staff, and remember that friendly fire is always on.