Introduction
Today we are going to review another game of the Orcs Must Die series, we will be looking at the second game in the series. Once again you will need to slay Orcs but this time you can play co-op, however we want to look at the new gameplay mechanics, we are going to hone in on the co-op of this game. Does this game live up to the previous game or not? There are new traps, but also old traps!
What did I think before playing Orcs Must Die! 2?
My wife and I enjoyed the last game a lot, we did miss co-op in the first game, we were excited to see new traps, we also wondered what the new levels would bring. We even had the DLC, we were mostly interested in how the endless mode would work. We needed more information, thus we went to the Steam page.
The Steam page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/201790/Orcs_Must_Die_2/
The new campaign sounds great, it will pick up right where the story ended in the first game. The Orcs are back though, this time you will need to protect the real world with new traps, and you can choose from two characters. This time around you can farm skulls to keep upgrading traps, most of them would have two paths to take.
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die! 2 with an 8.1 before playing.
The both of us had high expectations for this game!
Story
The story of Orcs Must Die 2 starts a few days after the first game, the rifts are opening up again, and magic is slowly retuning, Max needs to stop the orcs together with the sorceress.
Rating
I rate the story of Orcs Must Die 2 with a 6.5
The story is going downhill, but it is still fun.
Gameplay
We will be focusing on co-op gameplay in this review, we have tried to play the game in co-op completely, however I will firstly address the biggest issue, co-op has many problems. The game will crash every ten to twenty minutes. Considering most levels take over twenty minutes in the later stages of the game, this makes it hard to even finish the game. We could not even finish one level on endless mode, nor the final level.
You will have fewer slots for traps when playing in co-op, meaning that you will need to focus on working together to get the most out of a level, do not bring the same traps, or you will most likely fail the level. There is also a limit as to how many guardians you place, working together, and fast is essentially for the win. You will need a reliable partner, since dying will make you lose some of the portal that you need to protect.
All your rune coins to build new traps will be split up, as there are also multiple places the orcs will come from, you literally need to divide and conquer. You can also make a kill box together near the portal. If you have a good co-op partner, this game can be a lot of fun. As traps can be upgraded quite a lot, you will also have weapons, the ring of lightning is back, and combine it with your partner to almost kill all the orcs right where they spawn! Make sure one of you has a healing trinket, while the other can heal the guardians!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Orcs Must Die! 2 with a 2.7
Why the low rating, you might ask? The co-op is awesome, the gameplay is awesome, working together to kill those pesky orcs is amazing, here comes the drawback. You can barely finish any level, it does not matter what kind of network, godlike computer you use, you will crash, negating everything you have done in that level.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Orcs Must Die 2 are much better than the previous game off course, the orcs look much better, the levels are pretty, but we did not check out the DLC, the co-op has some lag spikes. Some items show up on one screen, while not on the other. It can also be easy to lose yourself in the chaos if you both have the same costume, better use a different character or equip a costume!
Sound
The soundtracks are fun, with a lot more fun quips to hear from Max. The new orcs and enemies also have great sound effects, it will sound like pure chaos!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Orcs Must die 2 with an 8.5.
While the game keeps crashing, it is pretty to look at!
What did I think after playing Orcs Must Die! 2?
I understand that some co-op mechanics just do not work well, what is even worse, is when it works perfect, but it keeps crashing all the time! My wife and I had a great time when it did work, however when you need to play the same level four times before you can finally complete it, the game gets frustrating very quickly! We could not even finish the last level as it kept crashing in the middle of the level!
The traps work great, working together feels amazing when you finally achieve five skulls to upgrade your gear. However, farming skulls was very hard due to the game crashing all the time. This is also why we quit this game early in co-op mode, we have not tried it in single mode though!
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die 2 with a 5.5 after playing.
This is an awesome game, when it actually works.
What are my personal thoughts about Orcs Must Die! 2?
It is hard to give this game a personal rating, for this review, I will look at how much i enjoyed the game while playing in co-op disregarding the crashes!
Rating
My personal Rating of Orcs Must Die 2 co-op without crashing is a solid 10!
Last Words
Pros
- Face off with more orcs, they brought some new friends
- New weapons and traps to use in battle while older ones have been modified
- The sound and graphics are amazing!
- Play through many missions in co-op
- You can upgrade your health and mana.
- The quotes are still amazing
- Team up to make amazing kill boxes
Cons
- There are so many crashes
- Grinding skulls is hard when the game keeps crashing
- It is impossible to complete the game in co-op
- You cannot complete a single endless mode level
- You need to have perfect teamwork to make this game work in co-op
While playing together with my wife, co-op went smooth, we know each other and what we expect the other to do without saying a word. However, if you play with a new friend, you might get the equivalent of what would happen if you steal a star in Mario Party, big problems.
Final Rating
6.3
Let me know what you think of Orcs Must Die 2 in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
Jaromir Krzyszczak
It is impossible to complete the game in co-op?? I love co-op games but sadly, because of this and the crashes, this game is a hard pass for me 🙁
supersven
I would not recommend it for co-op
Alex M
Cool review!
jett cameron
"There are so many crashes"
really?
supersven
Yes, we were even unable to complete most of the levels
Riddler
Best game in the trilogy IMHO
krutarthxo
Quite a good game, perhaps rough around the edges but its a good play once in a while!
Glyxo
It is sad, because It is impossible to complete the game in co-op
Silentrets
we wait review for third game
supersven
It is now online!
Nick Russo
Great insight about co- op problems
Nasaku
i actually found this game weird i don't like it at all now more
eldar4k
Co-op game that impossible to complete? Really not cool from devs
supersven
And no one fixes it!
DonCarlos
Co-op during a pandemic is one of the best things ever! That's why it's even more disappointing to see this issue, which has been plaguing us for TEN YEARS and no one has fixed it!
supersven
I wonder why, but after playing Orcs Must Die 3, the gameplay has gone downhill way too much since the first game, they should have just stopped at the second game and fixed it later.
long shade
Good review! Too bad the co-op is broken...
Halil KAPLAN
Thanks for review 😉
Wonder
I don't usually play co-op in games due to not having many friends into gaming and not being too familiar with the online multiplayer gaming scene, and I usually prefer single player experiences overall! Still, I'm sad to hear the co-op that was really hyped up for this game is lagging in its connections and constantly crashing! I hope the developers can patch it up so you and your wife can continue having a great time gaming together!
supersven
This game has been out for almost ten years, with a new game in the series, yet the crashes have not been fixed.
Javier del Ríos
I hate grinding in games, it´s a real pain.
PoeticKatana
Sorry to hear about the crashes. That's terrible for a co-op game.
supersven
It indeed is!
jon doe
need to see this for myself
Valky
It is sad to see that the game crushes constantly, didn't know about that issue. Thanks for the honest review!
supersven
You are welcome, you are better playing it solo mode.
Mateusz
It's still better than 3d one, imho.