Trying every PS-Plus Extra game: Magicka 2

Recently I drunkenly signed up for the upgraded PlayStation Plus account. It was only going to be a few dollars a month for the next two months and I was immediately rewarded with over 100 new games. I figure if I can get just 10 hours of enjoyment out of these games that they will be worth it.

Most of the games are not AAA titles but rather indie stuff that you probably haven't heard of. It was a bit amusing when my first choice, an Y's title, was downloaded but only available in Chinese. I couldn't play that one of course although I did try.

I already went through a couple titles and the 2nd one I had a go at was Magicka 2. I was hopeful that it would be a great game because normally shitty games don't get a 2nd installment, do they?

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At first I was really excited because the opening sequences and tutorial make the game appear to be like a Gauntlet type experience - if that means anything to you younger folks. However, as the tutorial kept progressing it started to make my head spin a bit. There are so many things that get thrown at you all at once and perhaps this is because this game is a sequel. Maybe the intention would be that most people playing this are already familiar with the original controls and can handle having 14 possible buttons as well as the combination of those buttons being thrown at them all at once.

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Unfortunately I am not the kind of player that can retain knowledge like this so quickly so I soon found myself just spamming the fire spell until someone had an immunity to that and then I didn't really know what to do. I died a lot and progressed a bit until about 1.5 hours after starting the game I thought to myself that there is no way I am going to remember these button combinations and just decided after a sequence of deaths at the same spot that I would go ahead and move on to another game.

For someone that DOESN'T have 100 games to try to get through in the next 2 months and isn't someone who drinks a lot like I do, this game could be pretty great because the top-down way the game works, as well as the art style and the humor, was actually very entertaining. For me the fact that there was a ton of combinations that could be used with all of your possible spell options was too overwhelming especially when you consider the fact that during a battle you are constantly being pursued and don't really have time to reference the key-bindings on screen in the bottom left corner.

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I would imagine that this game could become incredibly involved and interesting to someone that was willing to dedicate the time to realizing the best spells and commit those actions to memory. I simply am not that guy though, nor do I generally play multiplayer. So after 1.5 hours I decided to walk away from this one and in all honesty, I am unlikely to return to it.

However, if you are the kind of person that enjoyed Gauntlet or other games like it and can handle what I consider to be very complex spell crafting systems, then this might be your cuppa. For me, I am just kind of happy that this game was acquired for "free"

I wish there was a more simplistic version of it available for casual players like me because the real turnoff was the complexity of the massive amount of spell types that the game contains. For more advanced player than me, this might be a big plus about the game that they would really enjoy.

Games played so far in my trip through all the "Extra" games on Playstation Plus

• Windbound (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended)
• Magicka 2 (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)