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Orcs Must Die!
PC (Steam)
Step Right This Way, Mister Orc
4.5/5 stars
In October, 2011, twins were born. Two Indie developers, Trendy Entertainment and Robot Entertainment, simultaneously came-up with and released Tower Defense games with the same twist: Instead of relying entirely on hands-off strategy, the player could take control of a character and dive into the defense strategy personally. Being a fan of Trendy’s “Dungeon Defenders” motivated me to check out its twin, Robot’s “Orcs Must Die!” (“OMD”). I was curious to find out how these two separated-at-birth games would compare to one-another.
Presentation
“OMD” is a sharp, clean, great-looking game. While the game’s environments are all small and claustrophobic, thus not really putting any pressure on the game engine to render huge environments, all of the stages look great and have a lot of character. The characters themselves look even better and have even more character. I was particularly impressed that the generic rank-and-file orcs (which are most numerous in each stage) have a variety of character models with different helmets, armor, etc., giving the impression that there really are hundreds of orcs running around, rather than hundreds of clones of a single orc. The graphics engine also has a large number of interesting lighting effects and animations that accompany magic attacks and orc deaths, all of which look great.
The sound in “OMD” is exemplary as well. The soundtrack, while relatively small, features a fusion of driving rock chords and classical styling, resulting in music that perfectly fits the game’s overall attitude and appeals directly to my personal sense of music snobbery.
The voiceacting is fairly limited, but is well-done and effective. The main character is voiced by anime voiceactor Robert McCollum to hilarious effect. The other voices featured in the game also belong to recurring anime dubbers, specifically the game’s main villain and the random orcs who say hilarious things while running around (“Don’t kill me! I’m only half-orc!” or “Don’t hit me! I’m a girl!” or “Can I get parking validated?”). The only problem I had with the voiceacting is that most of the important conversations between the hero and the villain occur during actual gameplay, in which they are drowned-out by the driving music and constant noise caused by dying orcs.
Narrative segments that take place outside of the game’s framework take the form of still images with voiceover. While it would have been nicer if these images were fully animated, that would have been an unnecessary extra expenditure in the game’s budget. As it is, the still artwork used in these ‘cutscenes’ looks great and is perfectly complementary to the in-game graphical style.
Story
“OMD” takes place in a high fantasy setting where magic is generated by rifts between the real world and a parallel dimension inhabited solely by orcs, kobolds, ogres, gnolls, and the like. This ‘dead world’ was apparently used-up by the orcs, who now seem to be obsessed with the idea of entering the rifts to pass into the real world.
To prevent the orcs from befouling the real world, the Order of War Mages was created. The Order built imposing fortresses around each rift on the dead world’s side to prevent the orcs from crossing over. Now, War Mages must man these fortresses and defend the rifts using a combination of magic, traps, and martial prowess to push back the orcish horde.
The game opens with our hero, an unnamed Apprentice, watching his master fall in battle. The Apprentice must take up his fallen master’s spellbook and hold the line. Of course, this particular Apprentice is the dumbest member of the Order, with the least potential and the most wisecracks. Fans of the ‘Evil Dead’ movie franchise might notice a strong similarity between the unnamed hero of “OMD” and Bruce Campbell’s character of Ashley Williams.
Before long, the Apprentice discovers that the recent push by the orcs to reach the rifts is more insistent and more organized than ever before in the long history of the Order. Indeed, the orcs are no longer attempting to enter the rifts of their own volition, but are now under the command of a mysterious villain who goads them on (and taunts the Apprentice) via telepathic communication.
As he continues to slaughter orcs by the hundreds, the Apprentice comes to the realization that all of the other War Mages have been killed, leaving him as the last protector of the rifts. Can he prevail against a numberless horde? Will he make the right choices in the end?
Gameplay
Where “Dungeon Defenders” is a hybrid of Tower Defense and Hack ‘n Slash RPG, “OMD” is pure Tower Defense. In each of the 24 stages (plus 5 bonus stages that come with the Game of the Year Edition or can be purchased separately in the “Lost Adventures” DLC), the Apprentice must prevent waves of orcs and other enemies, who enter the stage via one or more doors, from reaching one or more rifts. Each rift has a certain number of rift points, which decrease with each enemy that slips in.
Upon completing a stage, the player earns a rank between one and five skulls (one for beating the stage under its ‘par’ time, and four for keeping full rift points). These skulls can be spent in the game’s very basic upgrade system to improve each trap type a single time. In order to fully upgrade every trap type, the player must get a 5-skull rank on every stage in the game on both the normal ‘War Mage’ difficulty and on the super-challenging ‘Nightmare’ difficulty.
At the start of each stage, the player has unlimited time to run around the map, learn the layout, fill the available equipment slots with the spells and traps they want to use for the stage, and set an initial batch of traps using their starting funds. Each stage provides the player with a different amount of money to start with, but more money can be earned during a by killing enemies, and each completed wave provides a significant payment. Each trap costs a specific amount of money (though some can have their price decreased via skull-upgrade) and has a specific type. There are floor traps that can only be placed on floors, wall traps that can only be placed on walls, and ceiling traps that can only be placed on ceilings. There are also two minion-type traps that allow the player to summon either a tough Paladin to melee enemies or a weak Archer to pick-off foes from a distance. It is also possible to temporarily upgrade a variety of game aspects (traps, the Apprentice’s weapons, etc.) by contacting the Weavers, a trio of sexy sorceresses who take money in exchange for bonuses that last for the duration of the current stage.
Once the player has setup their traps and/or paid the Weavers, they must ‘Unleash the Horde.’ After the horde is unleashed, the par timer begins counting. After each wave, the player gets a 10-second reprieve to build more traps or check their layout for weaknesses, and every third wave provides another unlimited break (of course, the par timer doesn’t stop during these breaks). The player can build traps during the waves as well, but there usually isn’t enough money available and the Apprentice is usually more valuable acting as a mobile tower, unloading a storm of magical crossbow bolts or magic spells into big clumps of enemies (especially ogres, as their bulk makes them highly resistant to regular traps). The breaks between waves are also the only time the player can sell defenses that no longer serve a purpose.
Nightmare difficulty is another story entirely. There is no free initial setup period, no breaks between waves, no breaks every-third wave, and tougher enemies on each map. While Nightmare in “OMD” is certainly more balanced than Nightmare in “Dungeon Defenders,” it is also a difficulty aimed solely at hard-core Tower Defense maniacs with perfect reflexes. I played through some of the earlier maps on Nightmare and frequently found myself mis-placing traps (which can’t be sold because there are no breaks between waves) due to the camera randomly spazzing out in cramped quarters filled with enemies. Since there are no unlockables or interesting rewards for completing Nightmare in this game (unlike “Dungeon Defenders”) there is very little reason to bother with it, besides having the opportunity to earn enough skulls to upgrade the last few worthless defenses that nobody in their right mind would ever use (exploding barrels = lame).
Overall
“Orcs Must Die!” is one of the greatest Tower Defense games I have ever played. The game’s great presentation, sense of humor, and polished gameplay combine to form an overall excellent experience, especially for its low, low asking price. While “Orcs Must Die!” doesn’t have nearly the amount of content as its twin, “Dungeon Defenders,” it also doesn’t suffer from the interminable grinding that has crept into that game with its unbalanced DLC. Also unlike “Dungeon Defenders,” this game is identical on both PC and Xbox Live, providing players on all platforms with the same experience. “Orcs Must Die!” is enjoyable from start to finish, provides optional hard content for fanatics, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to play the sequel, especially due to the addition of co-op multiplayer. Tower Defense fans, action/adventure fans, and burned-out “Dungeon Defenders” players definitely need to give this game a chance.
Presentation: 4.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
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