Dealspwn writes: "Every game and their mum seems hell-bent on becoming a MOBA these days, and I must admit to loosing an exasperated howl when I heard that Magicka was headed down the same road. "Oh not again," I said to no-one in particular, vaguely in the direction of my cat. "We've already got League Of Legends and DOTA 2. Why does it actually need to be a genre?!" My cat seemed even less interested than I was.
However, now I've played Magicka: Wizard Wars, I can report that it's shaping up to be surprisingly brilliant."
Curse states, "Curse Inc., a leading video game media and technology company, announced today the availability of a new integration between Curse Inc.’s VoIP communication platform, Curse Voice, and Magicka: Wizard Wars. With the click of a button, players will be able to create and enter voice sessions magically while in-game."
Magicka: Wizard Wars is a game which struggles to fit within its own genre. This confusion is created because of the assumption of what a MOBA is; we are now led to believe that a MOBA is a five-on-five battle with characters each having a skillset of four abilities trying to destroy the enemy’s base. While most MOBA titles fit comfortably within this description, the likes of DotA and Heroes of Newerth being two of the first to stabilize these rules, there can be much more brawling and battling action within this type of title.
Gamespot:
Cowled craziness. That’s on tap with Magicka: Wizard Wars, a free-to-play multiplayer take on the action-first franchise that features those iconic wizards who have always reminded me of Star Wars' Jawas--only fancier. Despite this frenzied focus, much of the appeal of the core series has been maintained, due to the continued emphasis on slick player skill over gimmicks, and a genial, if bloody, sense of humor. There are a few rough edges here, however, thanks to some design miscues, a slightly buggy client, and a level grind that kicks in long before you get bored with incinerating enemy Gandalfs. Yet even with these issues, the game’s pace and light-hearted take on everything (how could I stay mad at a game that uses a corny Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator to call the action?) keep you coming back for more, even while the flaws try to nudge you away.
The original Magicka was barely playable in coop with only two people due to lag. The game used up stupid amounts of bandwidth and choked up most consumer-level connection.
It's pretty much the same case with Wizard Wars, unfortunately. The game is unplayable due to terrible lag; everyone's just sliding and teleporting around the map like crazy. I'm not holding my breath for a fix considering they've never managed to fix the original game's MP mode despite releasing like a billion patches for the game (during the first weeks of Magicka's release there were like 2-3 patches a day for it).
The actual gameplay is actually a lot of fun when it doesn't lag, but even if they did fix the lag, the game is as good as dead, because the gameplay and the element-mixing mechanic is just too complex and too demanding for the MOBA playing crowd. Any game that is a MOBA but doesn't strictly follow the DOTA model has as much chance of succeeding as another Quake game in the FPS genre nowadays. Just look at the first comment on the linked website:
"Seemed pointless, got owned by a team of players who clearly had played the game before no idea what is going on. The tutorial doesn't give you anything other than 1 or 2 basic spells."
If you don't serve them their win on a platter with congratulatory fireworks and a couple of achievement badges, gamers these days just ain't gonna bother. Actual competition where you have to watch your opponents, do your own research and try really hard to get better? Screw that, too much work.