14 DAY TRIAL // 
Orcs Must Die is the peculiarly named first project from studio Robot Entertainment, made out of veterans from the long running Ensemble Studios group, which brought PC gamers the award winning Age of Empires franchise, not to mention the Halo Wars real time strategy title for the Xbox 360.
As you can tell by its name, the goal of the game is to kill Orcs, as the greenskins try to burst into a temple and players, controlling the young yet quite arrogant guardian apprentice, must stop them through direct combat as well as by setting up traps and other Orc-killing devices.
Promising to blend elements from tower defense games with third person shooting and hack and slash gameplay, in order to reward strategic thinking and split second reactions, Orcs Must Die definitely has a lot to live up to.
So, does Robot Entertainment's first foray into gaming deliver a good mix between these genres or should the Orcs desecrate it?
Story Orcs Must Die has a pretty basic story, as players are thrust into the Orc-killing shoes of a young and quite arrogant War Mage apprentice, who, after the death of his Master, must now face off against the hordes of greenskins alone and stop them from entering the magical Rifts found in 24 fortresses.
As you can imagine, throughout the levels the War Mage grows up a bit, honoring the legacy of his master and single-handedly saving the human world from the evil monsters. The protagonist manages to come off pretty likeable, with a self deprecating humor characteristic of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, and has quite a few hilarious one-liners, like laughing in front of danger … and kittens.
While it’s not Oscar-worthy, the story in Orcs Must Die is quite good and, being delivered by stylized images, makes it look like something out of a Pixar movie.
Gameplay Orcs Must Die, as I’ve said above, is a blend of quite a few gameplay genres, basically being a tower defense title, seeing as how you use traps and your abilities to stop waves of enemies from going into the Rift. You also get a bit of third person shooting and hack and slash brawling when you use weapons like your crossbow or blade staff, and even level up your abilities in an RPG-like manner.
The game has 24 levels and, as you progress, you unlock new weapons and traps that you can use, in exchange for points gained by killing enemies, during your fight against the Orcs. These range from your trusty crossbow to a blade staff or special kinds of gauntlets that allows the War Mage to send fireballs, lightning, or shards of ice. Traps include traditional spike or tar pits, not to mention swinging maces or spring traps. You can also call in AI-controlled helpers like Elf Guardians that shoot arrows at enemies or lumbering Paladins that take them on with their big swords.
At the end of each level you get a rating in the form of a number of skulls, which depends on how many enemies make it through the rift and can be exchanged for upgrades to your traps, making them cheaper or more effective in killing Orcs.
Later in the game you’re introduced to Weavers, which offer three areas where you can invest points to gain special bonuses like larger damage dealt with headshots or more powerful traps, not to mention enhanced powers for the War Mage or the other guardians.
Enemies are quite varied, as besides the regular old Orcs, you get to fight giant Ogres, in basic, ice, fire and armored varieties, small and fast Kobolds or flying Hellbats. While at first they arrive in small numbers, you’ll soon find yourself overwhelmed by enemies unless you build up your defenses and make sure to use all the available power-ups, not to mention set up the right traps for the enemies that will be coming your way.
Level design is pretty great, but you’ll have to try out quite a lot of strategies in some cases to stop the Orcs in an effective manner. Most of the times, however, you’ll be able to spot the optimum strategy pretty easily, and select the right amount of traps and powers that you need before unleashing the horde of enemies. Some fortresses have portals that make getting around much easier, while others have multiple points of entry or more rifts, making strategic thinking even more important.
By blending all these elements together, Orcs Must Die transforms into a great gaming experience that will make you think in its intermissions between waves, sweat during them, and sometimes curse at its pretty steep difficulty curve when you’ll be forced to restart the level, which happened to me quite a lot.
The game has two basic difficulties, Apprentice, where you can earn a maximum of two out of five skulls, and War Mage. When you complete the game, you’ll be able to tackle a third Nightmare difficulty. The new traps you unlock can be used in previous levels, so there’s quite a lot of incentive to go back and earn the maximum amount of skulls.
Visuals and Sound Orcs Must Die looks great, using stylized graphics that borrow heavily from CG movies made by companies like Pixar or Disney. This works smoothly with the fantasy tone of its overall story and complements the tongue-in-cheek nature of the protagonist.
Sound design is also very impressive, working together with the action on screen to really make players sweat while battling the legions of enemies. Voice acting is good, with the hero managing to come across as a bit arrogant yet lighthearted, while the rest of the cast strikes all the right tones to keep the story going.
Conclusion Orcs Must Die is a great game that manages to deliver a near perfect blend of strategy and action in its gameplay, and will no doubt entertain a huge amount of players. The difficulty curve is a bit steep but you can always go through the game at an easier setting, unlock and upgrade traps, and then go back to earn maximum ratings. It looks and feels great so you won’t be making any mistake by purchasing it.
Orcs Must Die is available on the PC via digital distribution services like Steam, GamersGate, Impulse or OnLive, for $14.99/13.99 Euros, and on the Xbox 360, via the Xbox Live Arcade, for 1200 MS Points.
