As soon as the conversation concerns “milking” series, everyone immediately remembers Need for Speed, Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty. But hardly anyone will mention Magicka, which a small Swedish studio has been making for almost three years now Arrowhead. After the great success of the original, the authors are only focusing on major story DLCs. About Cthulhu, about Vietnam and about everything else that comes to mind.
So the studio’s next announcement was not surprising – it’s again the adventures of wizards in colorful robes. Only it’s not an add-on anymore, but an independent game, so it won’t require purchasing the original. The time has come for team battles: without a plot, with “leveling up”, capturing control points and seriously changed balance. If the series can be turned into something eSports, then this is exactly what the new part strives for.
Defense of the Battlefield
Although in the case of Magicka It’s always difficult to understand whether she’s really trying to keep up with other people’s finds, or whether she’s brazenly and absurdly parodying them. In the presented beta version there is only one mode – the classic Conquest, as, for example, in Battlefield. Members of the two teams appear in different parts of the map and rush to control points that need to be captured. To win, you will have to conquer the entire field so that the enemy has nowhere to respawn. Or just be the first to kill 50 people.
There is only one map with three “checkpoints” available in Early Access, and it is cramped enough that a complete apocalypse is happening at every intersection. Moreover, guests from running around the area don’t let you get bored DotA: in addition to powerful magicians, there are little unknown ones wandering around, who have a habit of clinging to players and running after them. The combat power of the dwarf party members should not be underestimated – they can easily finish off a relaxed wizard.
After the end of the https://casinounibet.co.uk/ round, the magicians share experience for their battle merits and receive a bag of gold. Nothing unusual either: the higher the level, the more items in the in-game store will be available for purchase, the more powerful the game avatar turns out to be, and the richer the “customization” becomes. But you won’t be able to make an eighty-level killing machine: a hat that increases one parameter will certainly decrease another. So it’s useless to blame your own losses on high-level opponents with cool “loot”.
Otherwise everything is very good Arrowhead: the scenery is made with the right amount of idiocy, and after victory the wizards begin to dance fervently. The story could have ended here, if not for serious changes in gameplay mechanics, so subtle and important that they will only be understandable and noticeable to a hardcore player.
The color of the robe does not depend on the team – this is often a hindrance, because the enemy can only be distinguished by the color of the name above their head.
Precipitation in the form of meteorites is possible
Magicka was hard to call a dynamic game. Sorcerers often could not walk while “casting” spells, the number of lives was scanty, and the combinations studied over so many years with one precise hit sent scraps of the enemy to the other side of the map. Not very convenient for a multiplayer action game.
Now the players are much meatier – they no longer fly around the location and do not die on the first hit. This makes battles more convenient: if you get hit on the head, you can have time to come to your senses and come up with a counterattack, or even run away completely. In order to somehow compensate for such survivability, the shields were weakened: there is no longer one hundred percent protection from the elements, so you will have to be treated more often.
Melee attacks have become much more powerful, but the power of spells has been greatly reduced. Firstly, there are only three slots left for the combination. In addition, if previously “cold” and “water” formed “ice” and occupied one cell, now they are written precisely as “cold” and “water”. Therefore, all unbalanced twenty-story combos were cut out. The advantage is that now there are more actions in battle, and your fingers get tangled much less. But connoisseurs will not approve.
Experts will also react to eliminating many types of attacks. You can no longer build long walls and push meteorites away from you with an “empty” blow. And now, when using the “beam”, you can run, which automatically raises the level of chaos happening around tenfold.
Finally, ultimate spells have been added that regenerate over time: the bar at the bottom of the screen gradually reveals 4 powerful magics. For now they are changing at the request of the developers, and it is unclear what will be selected for the final version. To date, players have been given access to personal death with a scythe, calling a hurricane or meteor shower, and resurrecting allies.
Advantages of the updated Magicka noticeable after half an hour of hectic running around. The game has become much more dynamic and fun. And now he treats beginners with love, simplifying the gameplay in many ways and taking away from those who are especially “diligent” a dozen subtle nuances that would take a couple of months to master.
But, despite the changes, this is still the same simulator of a mad elementalist, and if you once did not appreciate the original, then there is nothing to do here. This is a project with its own atmosphere and an already established community. And it’s needed either by fans or “hipsters” who love multiplayer battles, but don’t want to be like everyone else.
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