The other game we finished was the first Magicka. We've beaten Magicka 2 together 3 times across all three difficulties, so I thought we should try playing the first one together. It's still the co-optional friendly-fire murder-fest of fun the second game is, thankfully :D . However, while Magicka 2 is a little shorter and has far less add-on content than its predecessor, Magicka 1 is riddled with a score of other problems that make it a horrible bastard to play at times XP

First of all, this game runs like absolute trash given how long it's been out and that this is the only platform it's on. It crashed on us at least one every hour or two, and with a game as difficult and with fairly unforgiving checkpoints as Magicka, that was a real ball-buster. Some of the DLC's don't even have save-points in them, meaning a crash resets your ENTIRE PROGRESS. The crashing isn't so much a problem in the main campaign, but in the DLC's that's absolutely inexcusable. If your game is prone to crashing (as Magicka 1 has been since launch), give your add-on content hard save points! It wasn't even a problem with net-code (which Magicka 1 also has such a problem with they made fun of it in the promo-song/trailer they announced the sequel with), because we were playing local co-op, but that is a WHOLE other barrel of problems.

Magicka 1 was designed completely with PC in mind. You need 8-keys with your left hand (Q, W, E, R, A, S, D, and F) just to assign your 8 elements to cast spells, and this isn't counting aiming spells with the mouse and your several other keyboard buttons to do different kinds of spells (AOE, beam, imbue weapon, etc). Needless to say, playing it on a controller would be pretty hard (although Magicka 2 found a great solution to this, thank god). Magicka 1 does have controller support, but the controller support is so god damn terrible that it may as well not have.

Magicka 2 uses the 4-face buttons (using a shoulder button to toggle between the first and second 4 elements) to assign elements so you can cast spells as quickly as if you were pressing buttons on a keyboard. Magicka 1 has the absolutely insane method of doing Street Fighter-style quarter-circle movements on the right joystick to assign spell elements (up and counter-clockwise, up and clockwise, left and counter-clockwise, etc), which works about as well as you think it does for a game that assumes you can cast spells in less than a second. This makes the person with the keyboard carry the team as hard as possible the whole game, because the inherent slowness in the controller controls makes it so your other player(s) is fundamentally worse than you. Like, it IS nice that it's there, but it is so ridiculously unusable that it may as well not be.

Magnifying these other problems is the difficulty, which from being a bit too hard due to retroactive "balancing." (The game was complained at first for being too easy, and then all the enemies' stats were given a hard buff by the devs to shut people up without actually changing the encounters at all, meaning some come off as a bit more than a little unfair). It's still fun, but some encounters really come off as unfair with how many enemies you're expected to kill between checkpoints. One or two bosses in particular come off as CRAZY difficult without knowing very specific ways to kill them (which you are given no indication of) as a result of them being so beefed up. Multiple difficulty options really would've done Magicka a lot of good because there's really no reason they can't be here.

Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. If you're a BIG fan of Magicka 2 like me, then this will probably give you some enjoyment on the writing alone, but it just runs so badly that it's really hard to recommend given that Magicka 2 and Nine Parchments are so much better designed. Magicka 1 is notable and important for the kind of game it brought about and better imitators it gave rise to, but it really hasn't aged very well as a result and often ends up being more frustrating than fun.

Firstly, play with friends.

This game is a mostly linear adventure, with hordes of enemies and some hidden items to find along the way. a sort of modern approach to a street brawler. The main way of attacking is by casting spells. Spells are made by combining a series of elements, and each combination of elements tends to have a unique output. Use a single fire element? you'll get a weak little spray of fire. Use water then fire to make steam, do that twice, add chaos, add lightening??? Shoot an electric mist laser.

Downside to this game is that, after enough experimenting, you will find your one or two favorite spells that sort of trivialize all combat. from there, the enjoyment just comes from killing your friends. And I've enjoyed every minute of that.

Did not run so smoothly, I remember many disconnects and crashes in my time playing this. The game was also pretty short with the DLC just being survival arenas and playable characters.

The premise of mixing elements together before casting them is pretty novel. If you loaded up 5 Rock elements, you're going to toss a LARGE boulder. If you load up 3 Fire and 2 Rock elements, you fired a meteor. You and a friend could angle elemental beams at each other and they would combine into one omega beam. The shield element ended up doing more harm than good, considering it would reflect your own or friendly spells into unintended directions. Forgot to mention, friendly fire and self targeting is very possible in this game. You and your friends will be accidently killing each other constantly. The way spells interact with the environment and other players was a lot of fun. If you walk into a puddle, got wet, and tried to add the lightning element to your spell, you just died.

Unfortunately, the campaign is soft and the game is pretty short. For the first few levels you'll have fun mixing and playing around with the game mechanics. Then you'll find "the spell" that is most efficient and just do that. Over and over. Wish this game ran better and had more to it. The full roster of wizards to pick from ends up being pretty cool!

This game is really cool, but I have some issues while playing. I dont finished yet, but I will review ultil the point a quit. I played this game in LAN with a friend, and some times the game gives images problems that I can't solve and cannot play. Talking about the good things now, the game give you a adventure that you can to play with 3 friends, you are magicians and can also create spells gathering others spells. The enemies are goblins, trolls, live trees and others monster that you can see in an tabletop RPG fantasy. The most funny part of this game is the friendly fire, you can kill yout friends purposely or by accident.

This game has a unique mechanic where you can create your own spells. There is a very specific humor and the first part has a lot of meme DLC that I never played, alas. The game is still designed for 2+ players, in which case a mishmash of different spells will go off scale on the screen and a friend’s stone sent to an enemy will definitely ricochet back at you..

В этой игре есть уникальная механика, где можно создавать самостоятельно заклинания. Присутствует очень специфический юмор и первая часть имеет очень много мемных DLC в которые я так и не поиграл, увы. Игра все же рассчитана для 2+ игрока, в таком случае мешанина из разных заклинаний будет зашкаливать на экране и камень друга, отправленный во врага, обязательно отрикошетит в тебя..

é maravilhoso
mas fiquei bem triste de ter perdido o save dele estava no finalzinho nahahah
seria legal se tivesse nuvem que nem o segundo jogo!
mas tudo bem re-jogar ele vai ser bem legal!
Um fato bem negativo é que para o coop online precisa do IP do outro jogador isso pode ser perigoso! seria legal se não fosse dessa forma! eu acredito que devem ter retirado isso hoje! Vamos ver como está