Introduction
Today we are going to hunt down some orcs, or rather they will come visit us, and we will make sure they die. We are going to review three of the Orcs Must Die games, starting with the first game. This might be an older game, but how does it hold up to today’s standards? Have the graphics aged well, we should not forget the gameplay, off course.
What did I think before playing Orcs Must Die?
I did not know what to expect, my wife and I are usually not of the dungeon defender games. We suddenly realized, we barely have any of those games reviewed! We quickly checked out some games, one of the names that popped up was Orcs Must Die! Furthermore, we also had the first game of the Orcs Must Die franchise in the poll. Since we are not familiar with these kinds of games, I needed more information and went to the Steam page.
The Steam Page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/102600/Orcs_Must_Die/
It is clear that this game looks amazing despite being very old, it was released on Steam over ten years ago, you will get access to many traps and weapons to take care of orcs that try to get to the real world. There is only one warmage left, you. It is your job to stop the orcs in a fashionable way and save the world!
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die with a 7.7 before playing.
Not just placing towers but getting into the fray with traps, weapons and more while cooking or slicing orcs sounds like fun!
Story
You play as the last war mage, Maximillian, for short Max. Who only becomes a warmage due to his master slipping on kobold blood and killing him with a wrong fall. Max immediately takes up the weapons of his master and starts defending rifts as the last person standing before the orcs invade the real world.
Rating
I rate the story of Orcs Must Die with a 7.1
While the story is not per se perfect, it does have a good ending. It is not just all about killing orcs!
Gameplay
The gameplay is mostly centered on enemies, like orcs, but do not forget the trolls, kobolds and other mean stuff. You should really watch out for flying enemies! However, it might be hard to kill hundreds of enemies just with your weapon! It is time to deploy some devilish traps, spiked traps, arrow traps, or even guardians! However, you do need to unlock them first.
You cannot just deploy traps willy-nilly, you will need to have enough rune coins. In each level you will start with a decent amount, but it is not enough to stop the huge masses of orcs approaching. If you kill orcs, you will gain new rune coins for more traps. However, the guardians have a limit. You can even learn magic later, you should use the lightning storm!
Now, you might think, I wish that arrow trap had a little more oomph to its arrows. That is possible as every level gets rated on how fast you clear it, how many enemies get into the rift, since one orc passing is not your doom. Not only that, but there are other factors as well. This rating is done in skulls and these can be used to upgrade some traps, but all upgrades are final.
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Orcs Must Die with an 8.8.
Holy canoly, this game was fun as heck with awesome mechanics! You might notice a few limitations due to the old age of this game, but most of these limitations will not bother you at all.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics awed me for a game that released way back in 2011. While you can see that it is an older game, it has fun cutscenes with voice acting, there are also a lot of variety of enemies in each level. The traps also look great, look at all those orcs dying in my kill box! One of the best mechanics is the barricade trap, want the orcs to go to your amazingly graphical kill box? Just put them down and watch the orcs get slaughtered!
Sound
The music is fun, but the fun, but the odd quotes from Max are even better. The sound effects from the orcs are fun too, the orcs scream for their mommy!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Orcs Must Die with an 8.3.
The quotes are just amazing!
What did I think after playing Orcs Must Die?
My wife and I had a blast when playing this game, both my wife and I used completely different tactics, however we both succeeded in getting the highest rating in each level. The toughest level was the final, where the orcs came from eight different paths.
The best part in this game is that there are multiple ways to deal with levels, however there is always the best option for each level. If you want to gain even more skull for upgrades, you can also play on nightmare mode!
Rating
I rate Orcs Must Die with an 8.1 after playing.
If you enjoy tower defense games, this is a game that you really need to play!
What are my personal thoughts about Orcs Must Die?
I had a lot more fun when playing this game, as did my wife, than expected when starting this game. We saw this game on Xbox Gold, and we just went with it. Ok, let us play this game, and it was awesome!
Rating
My personal Rating of Orcs Must Die with an 8.7
The idea that you can walk in your fortress and kill the orcs alongside with your traps is great!
Last Words
Pros
- Face off with a lot of orcs and murder them
- Use many different weapons and traps to murder said orcs
- Play through a huge campaign in normal and nightmare mode
- Explore many different tactics to beat levels
- Upgrade traps and weapons with your ranking.
- The quotes are amazing
- Unlock new traps after each level.
Cons
- You cannot refund upgrades
It actually amazed me that this game had a story. It was not even a bad story at all, I wonder how Orcs Must Die 2 wil play out!
Final Rating
8.0
Let me know what you think of Orcs Must Die 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!
SadistHacker
A Very good review. The `not able to refund upgrades` is just a minor con but overall its a good game and the review made me want to play the game itself!
supersven
This minor con is luckily fixed in the next game!
krutarthxo
Awesome game for sure, can confirm 🙂
Jaromir Krzyszczak
good game and great review, thanks!
Riddler
Nice TD
DonCarlos
"This classic still holds up" ... Yeah! That's what defines a classic.
supersven
I am curious to see what you think of the other games in the franchise!
Alamar
Had good reviews for co-op and It is still good.
fano23
Seen that game some time ago and seems fun, will have to try it some day
Aiden
It is not the type of game that I play regularly, but I think I will give a chance) thank you for the review.
supersven
I hope that you will enjoy the game!
Silentrets
Second game is coming.
long shade
Good review! All orcs must die!
Mateusz
Fun old school game.
jon doe
never gave these games much thought, maybe i should
supersven
Yeah, you should!
eFe
Although the Tower Defence games are not my thing, I have to admit that it looks a bit entertaining, and there is more variety of enemies than I thought there would be
supersven
It was very entertaining!
Vercinger
I've tried playing third-person tower/hero defence games, but they're sooo not my thing. Top-down is where it's at.
שירותי ליווי
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