Magicka 2

Written by Jeremy Duff on 7/8/2015 for PS4  

In recent years, playing against your friends has sort of taken a backseat to playing against them. Cooperative games are suddenly all the rave again, and I am not complaining. I love games where you have to work together as a unit for a common goal, be it a classic hit like Gauntlet or something modern such as the Gears of War franchise. Few games in recent memory nail the cooperative experience as well as these classics, but Arrowhead Game Studios’ Magicka, which launched back in 2011, showed exactly how it should be done. Thankfully, they’re going back for more with Magicka 2 and this time it has hit the PS4 in addition to the PC.

The Magicka series is all about spellcasting on the fly. How quickly can you identify your enemies and the situations and figure out which of your many spells will suit you the best in the heat of battle? With a ton of spell options and frantic, humorous gameplay, this is one that keeps things turned up to 11 from start to finish by putting you in these types of situations constantly.

There is a glimmer of a story here, but it isn’t anything that will define your experience. Following the story of the free-to-play Wizard Wars, the world’s wizard population has been drastically depleted. Those who still practice the dark arts are few and far between, but they find their selves with an urgent purpose. A prophecy reveals that a great wizard has been born, one who holds the key to the saving the world. The remaining wizards are challenged with finding and identifying the child before the dark shadow eliminates the child and prevents it from ever reaching its full potential. It is a very forgettable story that never takes itself serious. You will find a ton of humor and constant pop culture references that simply provide you with a backdrop for the chaos. The focus here is solely on the gameplay, a mechanic that it nails perfectly.

The spell and casting system in the game is really a work of art. I had major concerns, given how robust the system was the was established in the PC original. If you aren’t familiar with the set up, you have eight “elements” at your disposal, which can be mixed together into five slots. You don’t have to utilize all of the available slots, but the more slots that you use, the more powerful the spell. Most of them are actual elements, such as fire, water and lightning; with other variations like a shield for protection. You can choose to either cast them on their own or mix them together for different results; fire and water, for example, creates a steam blast. If you mix lightning and water however, you will find that they don’t mix well and cause damage to yourself.

As you can see, between the eight options and all of the different combinations that you can craft, there are a lot of options to choose from when casting a spell. The wealth of options worked well on the PC thanks to all of the keys available and it works pretty well on the PS4 too. Each of your facebuttons corresponds to an element, and you can modify them to 4 other elements by simply pulling the left trigger. It isn’t as accessible as a PC, but it is arguably the best option we could have been given on the console. Since this is a lot of information to remember, so there are thankfully some quick-access buttons that can be assigned to your favorite spells with the directional pad which further alleviates the frustration of piecing all of the elements together in the heat of battle.

Actually casting the spells also offers some variation as you can cast them on yourself, on the area around you or project them towards another object or creature. Once again, you have to pay attention to what you are combining, otherwise you might inflict accidental damage to you or your fellow teammates, so this is often as important as the element combinations that you are stringing together. Friendly fire is ALWAYS on, no matter what and as you can imagine, four wizards throwing spells around in a hurry can make for quite the hectic environment.

As great as all of the game’s mechanics are, it is clear to see that this is a game that was designed for multiple players. Magicka 2 is nearly impossible to enjoy when flying solo. The spell system and the element interactions are built around the idea of combining powers; while you can still accomplish all of the same effects when you are alone, it is insanely difficult to do so, especially when all Hell is breaking loose around you. Things moves so fast and there are so many options, you will only frustrate yourself by trying to execute the more complex spells and combinations by yourself. I would highly recommend that you either bring a friend or two, or don’t take the trip at all. Aside from the issues regarding solo versus coop play, all other issues with Magicka 2 are simply minor complaints. Things such as ridiculously small text size in the game and slow character movement is enough to warrant mentioning but don’t ultimately ruin the experience.

The adventure will take you roughly 10 hours and there are tons of options that promote replayability. There are tons of loot and customization options to be found, plus a challenge mode to put your skills to the test. The biggest problem however is that Magicka 2 is almost two completely different games when played alone versus with a group of friends. While venturing alone, it is a frustrating and insanely difficult trek that will breed more disdain for the experience than anything else. Throw in a friend or two however, and it transforms into one of the most memorable cooperative experiences in gaming history. Plan ahead before you pick this one up because you will need help to get the most out of this game.