Orcs Must Die! (and OMD!2)

[Bob]

Anyone else bought this? It's a tower defence sort of thing with some third person shooter bits tacked on. You get a crossbow, melee weapon and a load of traps that you continue to unlock as you progress through the game. Kill Orcs, get money for more traps, put traps down in the most evil configurations you can think of and shit back as bits of Orc go flying everywhere as they are smashed, chopped, skewered and burned to death.

When the trailer came out for it I thought it looked quite terrible but it is not. It has a lot of charm and it's full of amusing one liners from the Orcs and the main guy. Gameplay is really satisfying and not at all fiddly. You can pick 8ish traps at the start of the level and cycle through them with LB/RB and put them down with RT.

I am well over half way through now and it has become very repetitive and that is my main criticism. Environments haven't changed at all the whole time and each level consists of herding the Orcs into a choke point and putting all your defences there. Levels that are a bit more open and require you to guard multiple areas can be quite frustrating and the map doesn't do a very good job of letting you know how close the enemy is to your base on the multi tiered maps.

Unless it all changes on the next level I would say the game is a lot of fun but at 1200 points there isn't really the variety you would expect and no co-op or multiplayer modes is disappointing. Definitely one to consider but 800 points is probably a fairer price so I would suggest waiting for deal of the week.

[wholehole]

Played the trial and really enjoyed it although I could see how repetitive it would eventually become.

Will be waiting for it to become cheaper before purchasing.

[Hendo]

Yep, same. Enjoyed the demo but I can wait for it to drop.

EDIT:

I love the description of what you're doing on your profile under the game title - "killing Orcs"

[Bob]

Just finished it and other than some basic environmental hazards there wasn't much added to the game after the trial. Even with all the traps added throughout I generally relied on the spikes, tar and arrow walls you see in the trial. There is a swinging ball of doom that once upgraded is pretty much all you need for the rest of the game. Stick some tar underneath them and you are good to go. I enjoyed it and it was a pretty funny game but it's another example of an XBLA game where the majority of effort went into the trial and then they slacked off for the full game once they knew they had you and didn't need to try anymore.

I would still definitely recommend it though once it goes on deal of the week.

[Hendo]

So I got it as soon as it went cheap yesterday and I'm enjoying it but I am playing on the easiest setting as I always like to play tower defense games on easy and just wreck some shit. However this is another TD hybrid action game like Toy Soldiers or Iron Brigade so there's lots of moving round from place to place - co-op would've good for this but there are warps on the bigger levels.

One thing that may annoy some people is that there's no telling what enemies you will get on the next wave or which gate (for there might be 2 or more) they will come out of. One level I'd set a load of traps outside both gates so any enemies coming out would get flung into lava, any left would get burnt, any left after that I could mop up with my crossbow. Then the gate opened and it was exclusively just flying dudes that made all my traps redundant.

I'm enjoying it though, failed on a couple of levels and I'm currently stuck on one, about 6 levels from the end.

Will try Bob's advice and use the spinning ceiling thing and tar.

[spatular]

won a dlc code for this if anyone wants it lmk: Orcs Must Die: Lost Adventures

[Hendo]

I have that, hope it goes to a good home though.

[Sly Reflex]

I had a go of Orcs Must Die! 2 with Hendo so thought I'd have a look at this. I think I got them as a job lot in the steam sale, although I don't remember buying them.

I'm enjoying it, but it feels really unpolished compared to Orcs must Die! 2. There some some things I like better like being able to fire full auto, having to press for each shot makes me a sad panda.

I'm starting to get tired of all the meme stuff in games. This is absolutely chock full of them. I'm not levelling that complaint at this game directly. It's a fad that's wearing thin on me. I find memes funny for the most part, but some of them burn out real quick and get annoying.

Since there's not that much interest in this game series have we to put Orcs Must Die! 2 stuff in here as well? I probably will talk about it when I've played it a bit more.

[Sly Reflex]

Why has Bob quoted himself in the opening post? That's a bit weird.

Anyway, played some more of this tonight. The leaderboards are not very competitive, which I find a bit odd as most games on 360 there's quite a few people that will try and outdo one another.

You can do stuff perfect and still not get 5 skulls which I find really odd. I'm not sure how the scoring works for getting 5 skulls. I thought it was related to letting mobs through as well as taking damage, but there was one stage where I nearly died a few times but still managed to 5 skull score. Some of it's pretty fucking difficult as well. I cannot say I'm keen on the maps where you have to split your attention. The game doesn't inform you well enough with the map on what's happening, the shout outs it does are often too late for you to do anything. All the time I'm playing it I wish I was playing the second game in co-op.

Playing Orcs Must Die is like eating chips.

Playing Orcs Must Die 2 is like eating chips with some sauce on.

[Craymen Edge]

I booted it up and played the first couple of levels of Orcs Must Die 2 last night. I really liked it.

I did find myself shotgunning nearly all of the enemies for the first couple of waves. I don't know if that was down to my poor trap selection and placement, or just the natural ramp-up of a level, but it was fun.

[Hendo]

Yeah me and Sly have put a lot of time into the second game. Got a bit stuck near the end of a level called Crunch which is supposed to be the hardest in the game. I would imagine it would have you punching your screen if played solo.

I'm playing as the woman and using the charm weapon as my main. It damages with main attack and secondary (that uses mana) turns an enemy into a friend for a moment and they attack the others. Very useful when things get hairy.

I'm really enjoying it but I can't say it's a big leap from the first game. There's little I've found new, except for the addition of co-op which the first game always felt like it needed.

Like the first game, the real trick is learning the "correct" way to play the level. For example there's one level with two high points along the side and it has flying enemies, so archers are a must.

I'm also using a trinket which gets us more coins out of enemies.

[Sly Reflex]

Crunch has been a bit of a bastard. I still think fighting right next to the rift is the best option, going right up to those North and South gates and putting stuff down there is a waste. I'm beginning to think that the archers up top are not a good idea either. We need them obviously, but putting them there isn't the best idea because of those Hunter Gnolls.

Enjoyed the bout of survival or whatever it was called. Things got hairy a lot, but we managed to keep them from the door longer than I was expecting. I reckon wave 40 is doable with a bit of practice. Those gates and tar seemed to hold them back more than the gates and spikes.

[Hendo]

Haven't had time to watch much of it but 5 skull guide here:

http://youtu.be/cIV30VdpvJc

[Sly Reflex]

That fucking level. I hate that fucking level.

[Hendo]

You wanna try grinding out the DLC levels to get more skulls then come back to it?

[Sly Reflex]

Either that or do some endless to see if we can grab some skulls that way. I'm going to need loads to get all that stuff he had in the video though.

[Hendo]

Those are teleports he puts on the floor? Those currently cost 1200 each for me!

I want the wall grinders, loved them on the first game, and an upgraded crossbow.

Might try and find more guides to see if there's a good strategy with the tools we have.

Also, I should be free tomorrow afternoon, from about noon till 6.

[Sly Reflex]

Nah. He uses:

The air lifter things. I think the Sorceress comes with these as standard.

The acid trap. Comes as standard with the lady.

The wall grinders. I don't think either of us have these.

Them overhead stamper things. I don't know if either of us have those.

The lightning ring. I have no idea if I have that.

The archers. The bow and arrow kind, not the ones you get on the radio.

The blockades.

Finally the crossbow maxed out.

I'm guessing we could sub the air lifter things with tar. Same goes for the acid traps in exchange for arrows. If we split buying the things we need between us it should make it doable, but I cannot see us getting anywhere as clear as he does. He's obviously studied the game and played it a lot, he's very direct with how he plays, not like us two running about like headless chickens.

[Hendo]

Found another video with a different tactic, this looks more up my street.

http://uk.ign.com/wikis/orcs-must-die-2/Crunch

It does seem we are using the wrong weapons.

[Sly Reflex]

Fuck me hooray. I thought we'd never pass that level.