Introduction
Today we are going to take another look at Orcs Must Die, this time we are looking at the most recent entry, Orcs Must Die 3! Once again, we will take the on the role of Max to save the world from orcs. Or are we? Another co-op review, but this time around we have new traps, new levels, and even bigger maps! Does this game work well? Are the crashes back? Can we finally finish endless mode? We were looking forward to using the ring of lightning again!
What did I think before playing Orcs Must Die 3?
While the first game was amazing, it had no co-op or a lot of upgrades for traps, where two had amazing gameplay with lots of upgrades and choices, it was full of crashes. If Orcs Must Die 3 had the best features of those games, along with Max once again making a grand entry, as he is one of the best war mages! The graphics would have to be much better as well, but for more information, we went to the Steam page!
The Steam page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1522820/Orcs_Must_Die_3/
This game promises more of the gameplay along with new scenarios that would be even bigger with more orcs to fight. There would be more game modes to try but there most of the campaigns are locked behind a pay-wall, meaning you will need a lot of DLC to get to the exclusive monsters and exotic items. I was wondering how the co-op would work!
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die 3 with a 7.7 before playing.
I was curious if this game was better compared to the previous game.
Story
The main story follows two new warmages, which means that Max is not playable for the main game, instead you need to find him and save him, which destroys the complete legacy of the previous games that he build up.
Rating
I rate the story of Orcs Must Die 3 with a 2.0
While adding new characters is good, completely removing the main character seems bad. The pacing of the story is horrible, the new mages are overpowered for their age which makes no sense, the ending was also horrible.
Gameplay
The gameplay features more traps but there are also a lot of traps missing or changed. There are also new weapons to use. This game has been made a lot easier to beat, including getting five skulls. If you die, it will not even cost you portal points if you die. However, most of the traps have been nerfed, the tar trap which was super useful in the previous game, does about nothing now., spike traps are also useless, however, there are overpowered traps as well.
The confusion traps are insanely useful when upgraded, the flower can shoot spores that will let the monsters walk in circles, add some lasers and most of them will die very quickly. To add even more confusion, you can add butterflies later. Your enemies will keep walking in circles while getting slaughtered. If you upgrade those two traps, get your favorite weapon, you should be fine if you ignore all the other traps. You can however put a large field of spikes, not that it matters since most of the enemies ignore the spike traps, the damage is negligible.
One of the largest additions is war scenarios, which are completely broken and annoying to even play through. Yes, you get amazing traps and guardians. The problem? In the war scenarios, you can only put them outside the map. Thus, if you are making a kill box inside to receive the hundreds of orcs, you can only use normal traps, when doing this, the level was much easier compared to using the special traps, which are infective and expensive. One war scenario trap can be over 4k rune coins, while a normal trap upgraded would be 1k, or even 500 coins, imagine the kill box that you can make with having four or even eight times the traps!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Orcs Must Die 3 with a 4.0
Next to the useless gameplay with new characters, the balance is nowhere to be seen, one trap is overpowered, the other one does nothing, the same goes for the weapons. Barricades get killed in one hit, even if fully upgraded. The war scenarios can be completed without war scenarios traps.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
This might be one of the better graphics in the series, however it does not follow the same style as previous games. I missed the main character in the story, the new characters looked bland, it felt out of place. Somehow, the enemies just felt as if they do not belong, the main villain is not even faced in battle.
Sound
The music was mediocre at best, whereas the chaos and music was great in the previous game. I really missed the quips of Max in this game, it lost a lot of flair.
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Orcs Must Die 3 with a 5.0.
This game felt more like a downgrade instead of an upgrade, I wish I could see the new monsters in the DLC but for this game, it felt too expensive.
What did I think after playing Orcs Must Die 3?
My wife and I did have some fun when playing, but it was mostly a slog to get through. Most of the levels were either very easy, or suddenly very hard. While in co-op the enemies were harder, most of the weapons barely did any damage to the enemies unless you have upgraded it completely. The scramble mode was fun as it introduced some modifiers to enhance the gameplay, but it was mostly unbalanced.
Once again we found some problems, the war scenarios made the game lag, which is most likely why there was no endless mode of those maps. We once again tried to finish an endless mode, however once again Orcs Must Die had a surprise for us. We encountered a game breaking bug, the portal malfunctioned and once again we could not finish endless mode!
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die 3 with a 3.7 after playing.
Once again, we were denied the enjoyment of ending an endless mode with as many waves completed as we can. This is getting old! They should have just remade Orcs Must Die 2, or even fix up the first game!
What are my personal thoughts about Orcs Must Die 3?
While we did have fun when playing this game, it was completely unbalanced. The upgrades felt odd in most of the upgrades, I would rather play the previous game without the crashes. Despite the spikes not working properly or not fast enough, a large field of them did work properly.
Rating
My personal Rating of Orcs Must Die 3 with a 4.0
Again, we could not finish the endless mode!
Last Words
Pros
- Use new traps to take down orcs.
- Make new killboxes together in co-op
- Multiple game modes to try in different difficulties
- New upgrades to choose from, fire is a bad idea.
Cons
- There are a lot of bugs
- The story does not feature the main character anymore
- A lot of the items are unbalanced
- Endless mode is once again a big problem
- War scenarios are a good idea but they are poorly executed
- The new characters are very bland
This game felt like a huge waste of time, the graphics were not in tune with the previous games. I really disliked the new characters, they add nothing to the story except for plot armor by never facing the villain.
Final Rating
4.5
Let me know what you think of Orcs Must Die 3 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
review of the third part, nice!
its sad that this series is so problematic, unbalanced or bugged 🙁
supersven
Bugs must die as someone else said!
jett cameron
"The story does not feature the main character anymore"
G.I Joe: Orc Must Die
supersven
I think it should have a clear story element as to why that character is not available anymore.
Nick Russo
I was planning to buy Orcs Must Die 3
And i use to think Orcs Must Die 3 was a better game than OMD 2, im pleasantly surprised after reading this review
i guess i have to buy OMD 2 first
supersven
Just do not buy Orcs Must Die 2 to play in co-op mode!
homunculus
sad to hear, OMD was a charming series
Alamar
It is good to hear a substantive critic review about game. One thing not mentioned it also doesn't have workshop which was in omd2.
Halil KAPLAN
thanks for review
DonCarlos
Let's face it though, what people wanted from the sequel to Orcs Must Die! 2 was just more Orcs Must Die! 2.
supersven
Without crashes or bugs!
Alex M
nice!
Wonder
I'm sorry to hear you two mostly had a frustrating time with this game, and I hope you can find better co-op experiences in the future. And thanks for warning about this game, if I ever get into the series I will just stick with the first and second games. It's always a shame to see a series go downhill after the first few installments!
supersven
I wonder what the people were smoking when they made this game.
Silentrets
bugs are annoying unfortunately
fano23
Game could be improved but can still be fun to play for some time
Riddler
Nice review!
jon doe
it is what it is
Vercinger
Still not a fan of this kind of gameplay.
krutarthxo
As expected, this game was an utter downgrade and disappointment to the orcs must die franchise. I think the devs had no vision for the sequel, instead they should've improved OMD2 rather than making this hot mess
supersven
I completely agree!
Mateusz
Just play OMD 2. It's better.
Neil
Good review! Thanks!
PoeticKatana
Should've been named: Bugs Must Die 3!
Feels like a rushed game.