Magicka 2

Magicka 2 offers a smoother, more comfortable experience than its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean the series has lost its signature charm. It’s still insane, madcap fun, that somehow manages to make an absolutely unintuitive control system into a strength rather than a weakness. Played as a drop-in multiplayer game, it’s an entertaining, amusing hack and slash. With a group of friends, it’s an absolute riot.

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Though it momentarily made me want to commit crimes against my controller at certain points when playing alone, Magicka 2’s one-of-a-kind magic system made it difficult to stay mad for very long. Add in the zany, unpredictable nature of co-op and the many ways in which you can alter the experience, and Magicka 2 can provide long lasting, if somewhat demanding and occasionally frustrating good times.

Magicka 2 is a stellar adventure as long as you have friends along for the ride. The mechanics of the spellcasting system and the gameplay in general are tuned perfectly for multiple wizards, however flying solo will only bring you frustration and fits of rage.

Cook up a death ray, blow up a swarm of fire-wielding goblins, then quickly prepare a shield and an area-of-effect earth blast to knock down another horde of oncoming aggressors. During the few moments your friend’s errant fireball singes you to a crisp while another ally electrocutes themselves in a panicked retreat. It’s okay, your pals will have you back on your feet in no time, and during the next encounter you can return the favor as everything goes terribly wrong as beams fly everywhere except where they’re supposed to.

More Wizard-Bursting Carnage.

Magicka 2, much like the PC hit Magicka before it, is a magic-'em-up which plays out in cartoony environments from a Diablo-esque isometric viewpoint. As the name suggests, it's all about magic(ka) and it packs a fun, surprisingly deep spell casting system that will see you conjuring up all manner of devastation.

I enjoyed my time battling foes alongside wizard friends new and old, but Magicka 2 takes more effort than most games, and it's tiring.

Although it hits the marks in several key areas, there’s no shying away from the fact that Magicka 2 can feel monotonous in parts. This may be eradicated (in part) when playing with friends locally or online, but not everyone will have that same privilege. There’s an overriding focus here on combat that could have been invested in other, more interesting pursuits such as puzzle solving or even platfoming. Still, it’s a competent action game that has made a beautiful transition from its original PC roots and one that will no doubt garner a new console-based coven.

Enemies are fodder, relentlessly marching toward you en masse, hardly flinching in the face of your supposedly powerful magics. The crowds get messy and you die, or you do a lot of running backwards while spraying spells at your angry entourage like metal filings chasing a Wooly Willy pen. It often feels like the equivalent to a shooter with lengthy mounted turret sections, the discovery of powerful spell combinations evoking sighs of, “Thank god, I can kill the next wave of 20 goblins more easily.”

Ultimately, Magicka 2 fails to adequately build on its first outing. It feels more like an expansion to the original Magicka, or an unusually faithful remake.