Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle

Check out this YouTube video made by talented Magicka fan PulpitPower: It is probably funnier if you have actually played the game but even if you haven't (Why Not?) all you need to know is that new magicians in the game are more likely to kill themselves and their team mates than the enemy.

SPOILER ALERT If you are starting Magicka I strongly advise you not to read this post and also to avoid google and try to figure stuff out for yourself. Figuring out new spell combinations really is a very enjoyable part of the game. With that out of the way I do want to share some of my discoveries before I dive into google myself and realise that everything I have used is pants. Most useful spell: Probably have to say the Rock Shield (D+E cast on self) . This absorbs a whole lot of damage, can be cast very quickly and can be recast endlessly. It is a real life saver. The one disadvantage is that casting any spell or magick will break the shield but you can very quickly drop a new one on yourself after you cast. So you can drop a rock shield on yourself, set up a powerful beam or aoe spell, unleash it and then drop a new shield. Rinse and repeat until all mobs are dead. Favourite Beam Spell: Any combination of Steam (Fire+Water), Lightning and Arcane gives a deadly beam but ...

I finished Magicka's single player campaign last night. What a great great game. It is innovative and funny and challenging and chaotic. Most of all it is tremendous fun. The game really does need a mid level save facility though. The single player game is very challenging particularly when you start out. Having just finished I also really wish I could select a chapter to replay without having to start again from the very beginning. Happily I didn't encounter any serious bugs in the single player adventure but I did have two serious crashes in only an hour of multilayer. Apart from the crashes my brief foray into multiplayer was enjoyable. Pressing the instant game button, I joined a random group for two of the middle chapters. Even with an uncoordinated group of strangers the multiplayer game is a good bit easier than single player as long as every one remembers to use the spammable resurrect skill regularly. You can just nuke everything and rezz everyone after the inevita...

There are literally thousands of spell combinations in Magicka and once you get out of the tutorial you are left to discover most of them by trial and error. No doubt within a week or so there will be there are already  comprehensive lists of spells and equipment available on the web . There is a strong temptation to dive into google and track down the details of successful combinations. This is not really a form of cheating. I actually find this type of meta gaming very enjoyable. I love forums,  faqs and wikis. I love reading others opinions of different abilities and I also enjoy posting my own observations. Indeed with a game as new as Magicka there is always the possibility of discovering something that other players don't know about. The problem is that the pleasure of participating in the online information flow about a game is incompatible with the other pleasure of working stuff out for yourself. Once you start to consult guides you cannot go back and unlearn the...