Magicka (Game)

Magicka

GAME » on April 14, 2011

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A satirical fantasy action-adventure in which you and up to three friends take on The Forces of Evil by wielding eight elements of magick and combining them in unique ways.

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Overview

Magicka, Arrowhead Game Studios (Company)' first release, sets you up with a mage, mouse controls, infinite mana and an isometric view. The infinite mana system results in gameplay centred around the eight magickal elements -- combining and casting them with a series of keystrokes and mouse clicks.

The game was released on Steam (Concept) and GamersGate (Concept) on January 25th, and according to the publisher, Paradox, features "thousands" of possible spells, 13 levels, and lets you "experience the parody and satire of a clichéd fantasy world." The XBLA version is yet to have a firm release date.

Game Modes

Magicka is currently a cooperative game that supports 1-4 players in two game modes: Adventure and Challenge. Competitive modes are scheduled to be added to the game on June 21, 2011.

Cooperative Modes

Adventure: explore the world of Midgård, and try to save it from destruction.
Challenge: play against wave after wave of monsters for survival.

Competitive Modes (To be added on June 21st, 2011)

Deathmatch: Players battle each other until one reaches the score required for victory.
Brawl: Players start with a set amount of lives. Last man standing wins.
Kreitor: Named after a member of the game's modding community, this mode features a unique mechanic. At set intervals during the match, additional spells are unlocked for the players to use against one another.

Magic / Gameplay

In Magicka, magic is cast by selecting elements with keystrokes, which stack up in your spell bar (shown under the player), and then firing them off via middle-mouse (self-cast), right-mouse (cast forward), shift-right-mouse (cast area), or shift-left-mouse (cast on weapon). Different elements cause the magic to take different forms and have different effects.

For example, to spray flame, you would simply tap the button for Fire, put one Fire element in your bar, then right click. To shoot a short lightning burst you would do the same with the Lightning element. But by combining Fire and Earth in your spell bar, you create a ball of fire. Or with Arcane plus Lightning, you fire a beam of swirling red lightning across the screen. With a single Shield element, you can put up a huge half-sphere shield and maintain it by tapping the space bar, or with Shield Earth, you could conjure a wall of rock in front of your character.

The elements and their respective effects are as follow:

\|\|===Water (Spray)=== Soaks Knockback Hazardous to mix with Lightning
\|\|===Fire (Spray)=== Damage over time Causes Panic Opposite to Cold
\|\|===Lightning=== Effective vs. wet targets Effective vs. armor Hazardous to mix with Water Opposite to Earth
\|\|===Earth (Projectile)=== High damage Knockdown Opposite to Lightning
\|\|===Cold (Spray)=== Slows Effective vs. wet targets Opposite to Fire
\|\|===Shield=== Protective Shield Can be boosted
\|\|===Arcane (Beam)=== Locks on Explosive Opposite to Life
\|\|===Life (Beam)=== Locks on Healing Opposite to Arcane

Combination Elements

Combination Elements are not castable from one keystroke, but function the same as their single keystroke element counterparts. These elements, like normal elements, take up only one slot of the player's spell bar. Both Combination elements can be combined with the standard eight elements, though, Steam and Ice cannot be combined.

Steam (Spray)

Combination of Fire and Water
Soaks
Opposite of Cold

Ice (Projectile)

Combination of Cold and Water
Shoots multiple Ice Shards
Slows
Opposite of Fire

Magicks

Magicks are special, order dependent spells that the player can cast. Magicks are cast by queuing up the required elements in the correct order and pressing the space bar. The player can cycle through their list of known Magicks by using the scroll wheel. The name of the Magick and a transparent guide of the order of the elements needed to cast the Magick will then be shown in the player's spell bar. Nearly all of these are learned by finding spell books scattered through the game. Some of these Magicks are buffs, while others are offensive. Some will summon monsters to help you fight.

Grease(Water, Earth, Life)

Creates a semi-circle of slippery grease in front of the caster.
Can be set on fire and burns longer and hurts more than normal fire.
Smaller monsters tend to avoid a grease fire.

Revive (Life, Lightning)

Revives a fallen teammate.

Haste (Lightning, Arcane, Fire)

Increase player movement speed.

Nullify (Arcane, Shield)

Removes status effects from the caster.
Cancels some area effect spells cast by enemies and other players.

Rain (Water, Steam)

Soaks all living units except those with a shield.

Thunderbolt (Steam, Lightning, Arcane, Lightning)

Creates a lightning bolt that hits the highest standing unit for massive damage.

Tornado(Earth, Steam, Water, Steam)

Creates a large tornado that flings everyone close to it in the air, causing damage.

Conflagration (Steam, Fire, Steam, Fire, Steam)

Creates a wave of fire from the front of the player dealing damage and setting targets on fire.

Time Warp (Cold, Shield)

Slows time for all players and enemies
Does not affect the M60 weapon.

Blizzard (Cold, Ice, Cold)

Creates a large blizzard which slows all units.

Teleport (Lightning, Arcane, Lightning)

Teleports the player a short distance forward.

Summon Phoenix (Life, Lightning, Fire)

Summons a Phoenix at the caster's feet, that deals fire damage and revives all dead players.

Thunderstorm (Steam, Steam, Lightning, Arcane, Lightning)

Essentially a Rain and Thunderbolt hybrid.
Soaks all units.
Many Thunderbolts fall from the sky randomly.

Raise Dead (Ice, Earth, Arcane, Ice)

Summons a few ghouls to help you fight.
Ghouls are healed by arcane and damage by life.

Fear (Ice, Arcane, Shield)

Nearby enemies run away from the caster in random directions.

Charm (Life, Shield, Earth)

Target creature fights by your side
Charmed monsters will having floating hearts over their body.

Summon Death (Arcane, Cold, Ice, Cold, Arcane)

Kills unit (friend or foe) with the lowest amount of health left.
More or less useless.

Summon Elemental (Arcane, Shield, Earth, Steam, Arcane)

Summons an inactive elemental.
Elemental will take the form of what ever element touches it first.
Elemental is healed by its element.

Corporealize (Arcane, Steam, Lightning, Shield, Arcane)

Causes any ethereal daemons to materialize, something they do anyway when they attack.
Essentially totally useless.

Invisibility (Arcane, Shield, Steam, Arcane)

Turns the caster Invisible.
Enemies will not directly attack an invisible player.
Invisibility ends after casting, attacking, taking damage or colliding with an enemy.

Vortex (Ice, Arcane, Ice, Shield, Ice)

Creates a large vortex that kills any unit that gets too close.

Meteor Shower (Fire, Earth, Steam, Earth, Fire)

Acquired from purchasing the game prior to February 1st or getting the Wizard Survival Kit DLC.
Causes many meteors to fall from the sky, hitting random locations on the screen.

Weapons

Melee

Arcane Saber
Blade of Chill
Blade of Surt
Captian's Axe
Crowbar
Excalibur
Exotic Blade
Frost Cleaver
Gram
Gungnir
M60
Mace of the Earth
Mace of the Molten Core
Morgul Blade
Seaward Spear
Sharp Sword
Skyward Spear
Stung
Sword of The Masters
Thunderblade
Tyrfing
Warhammer

Staff

Aristo-Staff
Daemon Arm
Frost Staff
Gnarled Staff
Goblin Staff
Righteous Rod of Runes
Rod of Emergency Teleport
Sceptre of the Troll King
Staff of Malevolence
Shield Staff
Staff +1
Staff of Deflection
Staff of Fire
Staff of Life
Staff of the Dead
Staff of Invisibility
Staff of the White Wizard
Staff of War
Tesla Staff

DLC

Paradox Interactive announced on March 1, 2011 that one of the DLC packs for the game would be Magicka: Vietnam, along with a trailer. The press release states that the main objective of the new content pack for the aspiring wizards will be to " try to do what so many 80’s action stars have done in the past: blow stuff up". Released on April 12, 2011 & offering a lengthy scenario as a Wizard GI going through the Goblin-Cong jungles. Also included are new weapons, a new challenge map & a new spell for summoning a napalm strike on your foes. Other DLC packs include the Party Robes pack, which allows players to take on specific roles within the party, and the Final Frontier pack, which adds a Star Trek (Franchise)-themed robe, staff, and weapon combo as well as a challenge mode map based on an episode of Star Trek.

Full DLC List:

Name	Release date	Description
Magicka: Mega Villain Robes	24 Jul 2012	Three extra robes
Magicka: Aspiring Musician Robes	24 Jul 2012	Three extra robes
Magicka: Peculiar Gadgets Item Pack	24 Jul 2012	10 new items
Magicka: Heirlooms Item Pack	24 Jul 2012	10 new items
Magicka: The Other Side of the Coin	19 Jun 2012	Take the role of Alucart the Vampire and his Necromancers to fight against the forces of good. Your mission is to thwart Vlad’s attempt to unite the humans, the dwarves and the elves.
Magicka: Lonely Island Cruise	16 Feb 2012	New PvP map with lots of water
Magicka: The Stars Are Left	30 Nov 2011	new adventure including several levels steeped in Lovecraftian lore including new robes, maps, items, achievements, bosses
Magicka: Holiday Spirit Item Pack	30 Nov 2011	Various items for use in multiplayer mode only
Magicka: Horror Props Item Pack	30 Nov 2011	12 items with a theme
Magicka: Vietnam	12 Apr 2011	First mission DLC in the Goblin-Cong jungle of Vietnam
Magicka: Wizard's Survival Kit	8 Mar 2011	4 items to equip your character
Magicka: Marshlands	26 Apr 2011	Slay hordes of undead in new challanges
Magicka: Nippon	1 Jun 2011	A new robe, a new katana and a new staff
Magicka: Final Frontier	21 Jun 2011	New Vulcanus Area map for multi player modes
Magicka: The Watchtower	21 Jun 2011	New map
Magicka: Frozen Lake	21 Jun 2011	New map with frozen water
Magicka: Party Robes	21 Jun 2011	A few new robes
Magicka: Gamer Bundle	18 Sep 2011	Three new robes

PC System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7 (32- or 64-bit)
Processor: Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or equivalent
RAM Memory: 1 GB
Graphics Card: GeForce 7800 or equivalent video card
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or better
Hard Drive Space: 1 GB
Sound Card: DirectX9-compatible sound card

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