Orcs. Can’t live with ‘em. Can’t eat ‘em in a stew (we’ve tried, it’s gross). So what do you do with a horde of Orcs? Well, kill them of course! And it’s this attitude that brought us Robot Entertainment’s Orcs Must Die! This entertainingly titled downloadable game had just enough penuche in it’s title to grab our attention. But was it worth the download?
Orcs Must Die! starts off with a little bit of backstory. The archmage whose defended the realm from the orc horde for years has had an unfortunate, and permanently scaring accident (he’s dead, Jim), and it’s up to the player, his apprentice, to keep on keeping on as defender of the portal which leads to the world beyond. There are a number of different levels, each with their own portal. At the player’s disposal are a number of weapons, traps and magical powers as well as a few minions of his own, which can be used to defend the portals.
While Orcs Must Die! is a humorous little action game at it’s heart, there’s quite a bit strategy involved in each level, and on each level it becomes more difficult to defend the portal from the onslaught. While the very first level may be just a straight hallway that’s easily defended, later levels branch off in various ways, making the use of traps vital to the player’s success.
These Orcs are a blast to have around.
At the conclusion of every level, players are given a new power or trap to use. Some of the traps include spike traps, tar traps, spring traps, arrow walls and exploding barrels. It’s a good variety of traps that can be used however the player sees fit, giving them options on how to handle each level.
We found that many of the powers and traps work very well together. An item like the Wind Belt can be used to blow enemies back into traps they’ve already crossed over, taking more damage. However, since traps need time to reset before they will go off again, cascading traps can also be useful, as enemies will pass over traps that are already sprung, and right into a new set of traps. While these Orcs are blocking up the way, the traps behind them will reset, takng out the next row of orcs behind them.
All in all, we liked Orcs Must Die! quite a bit. It’s an entertaining, and somewhat challenging little tower defense game, that’s very creative in the way it forces the player to use strategy in laying traps, while still keeping the look and feel of a solid little action title. Our only real gripe with the game is the rather blandness of combat, as players will find themselves spamming the same attack button over and over again. But with the proper use of the traps and powers, as well as knights and archers that can be bought as the player levels up, this issue more or less resolves itself.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
