SG PAX Prime 2011: Orcs Must Die
I don’t play tower defense games. It’s not that I dislike them; I simply have never played them. So PAX was my first experience with the genre, and I must say, if all tower defense games are like Orcs Must Die, I’ll definitely be paying better attention to that branch of gaming.
Although Orcs Must Die has some third-person shooter aspect to it, I think it’s a good representation of what tower defense games should be. Overall it was quite fun!
The premise of the game is simple: you’re a War mage in a fortress. In this fortress, you have a rift to protect. Some orcs want to get through the rift to cause some mayhem on the other side (and buy some t-shirts). At your disposal you have magic, swords, crossbows and traps. Your goal is make good use of all that.
You have an assortment of traps to choose from (tar pits, explosive barrels, wall darts, springs) that you can place anywhere around in creative ways. When you place the traps conveniently, you can kill some orcs while slowing down the others. You can kill whoever manages to pass your traps with your sword, fire, etc.
The orcs just keep coming, trying to relentlessly get past your bulky body. After a few waves, though, you will have a moment to catch your breath and plant your traps more effectively. It’s a nice little break from the mayhem, but if you’re like me, you’ll quickly recover and get back into the action.
Mrs. Lefty Brown wants us to remember that with every orc we kill, there’s a new orc orphan to tend to.
As the game progresses, you have more rifts to protect and more creative ways to kill the orcs. While the game will be single-player only, the craving to beat your friend’s score either on PC or Xbox 360 will be hard to resist. Orcs Must Die comes out in October.
For my first time playing the game, I did fairly well. I managed to ace the level with 5 skulls (insert Bender happy dance.gif). If I haven’t made it apparent already, I really enjoyed the game and can’t wait to make some orc orphans cry!