Originally posted by The TL,DR Genie:

I installed Orcs Must Die! and played through the first two difficulties with a constant smile on my face, pretty much bewitched by the fun combination of traps and spells I could use during each mission. I refused to let it go until I beat it on the hardest difficulty and got all the achievements. I give this game five skulls (and a horned helmet to boot)!

Orcs Must Die! is not the type to focus on its lore or story more than it's necessary. There's a legion of baddies out there and it's up to you and your ridiculously generous array of traps, weapons and spells to stop them. The simple and funny cinematics and voice acting cover the rest. The protagonist is witty, easy-going, wise-cracking, and arrogant to the point of annoyance. And as such, I lovingly refer to him as Bruce Campbell.

The HUD and menus are minimalistic and have been built for easy and simple navigation with a gamepad. Even so, using a keyboard is in no way inconvenient especially when considering that all of the action is paused while looking through the menus.

The graphics are in no way elaborate or any form of high definition but they are far from being poor or shoddy. Considering the high level of action and running around required, they are quite appropriate as nobody wants to have to restart a mission because they got overrun by orcs while looking at the pretty walls. The sound effects fit with the visual style amazingly well, the music is very fun and needs a lot of time for the repetitiveness to become annoying, which sadly cannot be said by the quippy voice acting which does get old pretty fast.

The controls rarely feel awkward and only become a problem for perfectionists (such as myself) who wish to align all their traps perfectly. The heat of battle on higher difficulties makes for split-second perfect placement which when failed might require users to restart the mission. The Options menu is quite modest but fitting to the purpose of Orcs Must Die!. The Achievements don't ask too much from the user and completionists will get almost all of them by the end. In regards to the Leaderboards, some of the higher scoring users got there with cheats that allowed absurd numbers but ranking among friends works just fine and in real time.

I installed Orcs Must Die! and played through the first two difficulties with a constant smile on my face, pretty much bewitched by the fun combination of traps and spells I could use during each mission. I refused to let it go until I beat it on the hardest difficulty and got all the achievements. I give this game five skulls (and a horned helmet to boot)!

[quote=The TL,DR Genie]I installed [i]Orcs Must Die![/i] and played through the first two difficulties with a constant smile on my face, pretty much bewitched by the fun combination of traps and spells I could use during each mission. I refused to let it go until I beat it on the hardest difficulty and got all the achievements. I give this game five skulls (and a horned helmet to boot)![/quote] [h1]A fun, addictive, and enjoyable experience that keeps on giving.[/h1] [i]Orcs Must Die![/i] is not the type to focus on its lore or story more than it's necessary. There's a legion of baddies out there and it's up to you and your ridiculously generous array of traps, weapons and spells to stop them. The simple and funny cinematics and voice acting cover the rest. The protagonist is witty, easy-going, wise-cracking, and arrogant to the point of annoyance. And as such, I lovingly refer to him as Bruce Campbell. The HUD and menus are minimalistic and have been built for easy and simple navigation with a gamepad. Even so, using a keyboard is in no way inconvenient especially when considering that all of the action is paused while looking through the menus. The graphics are in no way elaborate or any form of high definition but they are far from being poor or shoddy. Considering the high level of action and running around required, they are quite appropriate as nobody wants to have to restart a mission because they got overrun by orcs while looking at the pretty walls. The sound effects fit with the visual style amazingly well, the music is very fun and needs a lot of time for the repetitiveness to become annoying, which sadly cannot be said by the quippy voice acting which does get old pretty fast. The controls rarely feel awkward and only become a problem for perfectionists (such as myself) who wish to align all their traps perfectly. The heat of battle on higher difficulties makes for split-second perfect placement which when failed might require users to restart the mission. The Options menu is quite modest but fitting to the purpose of [i]Orcs Must Die![/i]. The Achievements don't ask too much from the user and completionists will get almost all of them by the end. In regards to the Leaderboards, some of the higher scoring users got there with cheats that allowed absurd numbers but ranking among friends works just fine and in real time. I installed [i]Orcs Must Die![/i] and played through the first two difficulties with a constant smile on my face, pretty much bewitched by the fun combination of traps and spells I could use during each mission. I refused to let it go until I beat it on the hardest difficulty and got all the achievements. I give this game five skulls (and a horned helmet to boot)!