Friendly fireball

Magicka established a distinct formula when it came out back in 2011, and the sequel isn’t looking to stray too far from it. That’s probably sensible. The original spell-slinger was a sleeper hit for developer Arrowhead, with a tasty blend of elemental chaos, quirky humour and surprisingly effective monetisation in the form of robe and staff DLC packs. All that’s present and correct in Magicka 2, which feels like a refinement rather than a dramatic change of pace.

First Impressions Video

Magicka 2

Friendly fireball.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. There’s a reason why people played Magicka to death, and the inventive and often ridiculous core of the game is still intact. Elements can be queued up in various different ways for a range of different effects, from simple flame-thrower blasts to complex meteor storms and chain lightning blasts. Blowing yourself or your partner up with an ill-advised vortex of energy is still almost as celebrated as defeating a tough boss, and the game retains that odd feel of being incredibly difficult and clunky to control, but still heaps of fun.

In fact the unwieldy controls strike me as being part of the fun, often causing you as much damage as good as you backtrack desperately out of the way of a giant enemy crab, fingers desperately clawing for the correct combination. It’s tricky and completely unintuitive, but it somehow works. I should mention here that I played with a PS4 controller plugged into a PC – the developers claim this is just as easy to play with as a keyboard and mouse setup, but honestly I felt a lot more comfortable with the latter. Both options are there though, which is good.

Co-op is great fun, and in my humble opinion still the only way to play. You will murder your friends, by accident or design, and it will be hilarious every time. Dying causes a timer to run down until you can spawn again, so it’s never too long until you’re back in the fray. As ever, there’s some really nice strategic options between multiple players; one player might spray a horde of enemies with water for example, for another to blast with a lightning spell that shocks and paralyses them.

There a few new options that mix things up nicely. ‘Artefacts’ are new collectibles that function like mutators from Unreal Tournament, little modifications to the core game that add humorous tweaks – one, titled Sitcom Mode, adds a laugh track to the game, which is the best idea ever – or extra challenge. There’s Artefacts that double enemy health, for example, or randomise your elements. There are several of these to collect in the main game, but I imagine they’ll be perfect for the kind of extensive DLC library that Paradox created for the original Magicka.

Other tricky challenges to test yourself against include new ‘Dark Altars’, which are just as unpleasant as they sound. Find one in a level and activate it via the correct elemental spells, and you’ll kick off a little mini-event with various high-powered enemies. Completing these battles will earn you extra loot and experience, but I’m told they’re particularly difficult – only the best wizards need apply.

As you’d expect, the game’s also had a visual makeover. Models, lighting and animations are all much sharper, and spells look better than ever as they ping and zing around the level. I only got my hands on one map, a grimy cave inhabited by scores of evil crab soldiers, so I can’t speak to variety there, but what I did play looked good. There were some tricky enemies to face, including colossal tank-like crabs protected by heavy armour, which you needed to freeze, flank and attack from behind. Magicka could have done with a tad more enemy variety, so I hope this trend continues.

I don’t think Magicka 2 is going to be a hugely innovative leap forward from the original, but to fans that won’t matter one jot. It looks better, it’s got some neat little features to add a bit more bite to the singleplayer challenge, and friendly firing your friends to death in co-op play is as anarchically fun as ever. If you found Magicka a bit cumbersome I don’t think you’ll be swayed by the sequel, but for fans it’s gratifying to know that there’s a solo alternative to free-to-play PVP-focused Magicka: Wizard Wars. Magicka 2 is on the way sometime next year, and right now it’s looking pretty solid.

Most Anticipated Moment: Irritating my co-op buddies with wildly ill-placed fireballs and lightning bursts.