The First Game Was Much Better

[Samhain]

I really have to say, after enjoying the first one, OMD2 is just a real letdown and altogether a frustrating experience. Let's just list everything wrong right here:

*Buggy enemy AI that causes it to sometimes stand around doing nothing.
*Glitchy walls or pits that orcs can get stuck in and waste time.
*Terrible story.
*Hardly any actual differences between War Mage and Sorceress besides a whole whopping three pieces of gear.
*Traps that don't even function as advertised (ex. autoballista hardly even firing at anything, even fliers)
*No actual matchmaking for co-op, essentially forcing players to bribe their friends with the game if they don't have it as well.
*Skull refunds don't affect individual items, meaning if you misspend a skull on one upgrade, you have to redo EVERYTHING all over again.
*Maps are convoluted and hard to follow, especially the DLC maps.
*Most weapons are terrible or simply underpowered compared to others (why would I want even want to use the blunderbuss when the dwarven grenade launcher has so much more utility to it?)
*Some special outfits require skulls to unlock (see above as to why this is stupid).
*When doing weekly missions, you can't even tell what upgrades your gear have so that you can better formulate a strategy.

The list goes on really. Considering that the game has been out for a year, you'd think they'd have patched most of this stuff up by now. Guess I just needed to rant a bit after dealing with another frsutrating session.

[Lustigesnilpferd]

I think 1 is goog as 2

[maga998]

I think both are good

[Cougarific]

I thought this comparison/review was great - the first time I read it - which was a year ago, when the game was released.

Welcome to the party, pal!

[ki.chi]

I think the second Part is better.

[anima spritus]

Sounds like mimimi

[Resident Asswhole]

You are putting too much though into a game about blowing sh*t up. Orks Must Die 2 is basically the same as the first game with multiplayer enabled. That was the largest complaint with the first one, so you are paying for a multiplayer DLC with the second game.

[Cougarific]

But R13 be fair - find one complaint in the OP that isn't true and didn't pi$$ you off when you first bought the game (a year ago).

so you are paying for a multiplayer DLC

Also never forget to point out that they paid what, $15 *MAX* for the game? More likely $5-$12 with all the sales?

Must keep expectations in check based on the low, low price of the game. I've got 400+ hours in OMD2, I've gotten my money's worth about a hundred times over.

[Cadpig]

Some of these reasons were why after my brother and I went through the campaign once on War Mage, we dropped the game until the recent sale. I really, really liked the original Orcs Must Die! and really wanted to see it get Co-Op. Then they announced a Co-Op sequel.

My brother and I got Orcs Must Die! 2 right away. I liked that there were multiple characters and that you could earn as many skulls as you wanted. But it wasn't long before I was extremely disappointed. The game gets awkward very quickly. To make it challenging with two players, most of the maps are these huge, awkward, sprawling maps that are hard to defend, and initially hard to comprehend, with four or more doors all placed in strange places, sometimes right next to a rift.

Not only did this largely defeat the point of Co-Op (I spent most levels defending one half of the level while my brother defended the other half so we never saw each other), but it got in the way of why I liked the first game to begin with: watching bad guys getting owned in a gauntlet of traps. In the last few levels especially, you spend more time desperately trying to stop some huge guy from getting into the rift personally than you do get to see your traps massacre your enemies.

The other problem I have, is that it seems that in an attempt to stop overpowered strategies from the first game, they neutered a few traps too much and designed maps in such a way where nothing was good, instead of one or two being too good. For instance, barricades. Not only are they pretty expensive for how many you need in certain levels, almost every other level is built in a way to make them utterly useless (and then there are the times where I have enemies start to swarm the barricades for no reason I can discern).

It's not all bad though. I ended up having a little bit of fun when I tried it again the other day, and we ended up buying the DLC. I feel like, while some of the maps are still confusing at first, the DLC levels were much more fair and conducive to fun trap gauntlets. I'd still support an Orcs Must Die! 3, but I really hope they make sure to remember the core element of this game's existence: orcs dying to crazy gauntlets of traps.

[Arlmando]

I miss the power up you can buy D:

[Redheadtn]

It's Okay but there are definatly some balance issues and i'm a little disappointed in the no differences between characters.

[aajostar]

I enjoy both

[Beach Party]

The first had enemies standing around and getting stuck all the time. There would be 1 orc left, in the lava, not dying.

[Cat]

I bought them both at once and must say, there is little difference to them. Both are very enjoyable though and well 2 has co-op and a bit more content and workshop but 1 has very nice, simple and symmetric maps which are a pleasure to defend rather than complicated tunnels. I also like how the traps are earned one by one with each level, not a bad idea at all.

I wish the sequel had all the maps and more simple symmetrical 1-2 entrance/chokepoint maps. I noticed right away in 2 that there are few such and all are rather complicated, then playing the first game explained where those were but cmon...

[Thomas Croft]

Im a great fan of these games i think both game is amazing but there is a few annoying thing like really you cant reset the skulls from only 1 trap or skin if you dont like it after the first game i was very disappointed about the strenght of some of the old traps what i like is you have to do much better and more thinking about tactics but some of the traps are so underpowered and the same with weapons like why i shoud use any other weapon than the bow when it kills an armored ogre with 3 or maybe 4 shots (only if i combine it with frost amulet) or the 12 slots all together for 2 chars that redicilous both of us use at leats 2 weapons 2 trinkets so we bring 4 traps??? but against all of those problems i really enjoy this game and i enjoy the harder challange in those maps

[Cat]

^true, traps could use more balance. I seem to always be stuck using just brimstones for everything else is underpowered. Also it saddens me to see how even when you use the most situational of traps in the best scenario possible, they are weak. Say the range of those push traps? or the cooldown of the spring trap? Still better off with brimstone, arrows even, but not something that pushes off just 2-3 weak enemies and costs a lot to place.