Orcs Must Die! Unchained is the latest series instalment from Robot Entertainment, and the first in the tower defense franchise to include PvP. Taking all that was good from its first and second iterations - a plethora of traps, weapons, and of course unrelenting orcs - Unchained essentially delivers two OMD games at once as two teams must now battle head-to-head for access to each other’s rift HQ. As was synonymous with its forerunners, Unchained plays out in bursts of timed strategy and hectic warfare, whilst players must now cover two and three lanes of streamlined, simultaneous attack and defense.
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| Burn orc, burn! |
A host of new characters - of which there are currently 13 in total - join series favourites War Mage and the Sorceress, each with unique special abilities which compliment their team’s - or their own - survival, such as Midnight’s lightening pace and stealth skillset, or the Master’s aforementioned death faking expertise (a subtle nod to those well versed in the series’ lore). Perhaps the most obvious shift from its predecessors however, aside from adopting the Unreal 3 engine, is Unchained’s payment model - now free-to-play. A divisive model at best and “a big risk”, according to Robot CEO Patrick Hudson, but one which he and his team feel suits the direction of the franchise and can be done fairly, despite the fact that other developers and publishers “have put a lot of abusive systems out there.”
One of the best things about Unchained’s approach to PvP is that recreating the familiar defense scenarios of OMD 2 comes as second nature. During one playthough, I chose to control Stinkeye, a mammalian orcish rogue: slow, yet incredibly powerful. Sitting just behind a choke in the map littered with traps, I set up totems - one of Stinkeye’s special powers - whereupon I could deflect beams shot from my staff in any direction. Few penetrated my multi-tiered setup, but any that did were so depleted that finishing them off with a supercharged RMB-powered plasma bomb was like water off an orc’s back.
The flipside, though, is that after massacring everything that crossed my path, it suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t even set foot in the attack lane. So comfortable in defense, I had completely forgotten about my team’s push on the other side of the map, penetrating the enemy’s bastion. Confidence had bred arrogance as I made my way into the opposing thoroughfare, ushering my minions towards the rival HQ. Suddenly, I was caught in a tar pit, my already limited movements slowed almost to a complete stop. Shocked, I franticly rattled the space bar, eventually bounding into the adjacent spike pit before its lances shaved almost a quarter of my health in one fell swoop. So cocky in defense - and complacent; too used to the native mechanics of OMD 1 and 2 - I had completely forgotten that traps could hurt me on this side of the fence. Within seconds, a player-controlled Bloodspike made lighter work of me than Sonny Liston of Floyd Patterson. The mighty had fallen.
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| The deck system is easy to grasp, but difficult to master |
But this is the beauty of Unchained - sheer strength and tactical trap laying can only get you so far this time around. Without taking risk in attack, something will eventually give, and thus a team of mixed abilities is essential in toppling your foe’s command post. An easy to grasp, difficult to master card system stands to further this central tenet of variety by allowing players to organise minions by level prior to battle. What this means is that each character can choose the type of soldier released from their rift in each wave, with each batch of fighters exploiting a strength/attack level; one through four.
In-game, leadership points accumulated via attack and defence can be used to strengthen the headquarters, which, after enough points secured, activates the next level of soldier strength. Another new addition, glyphs, allow hordes to harness special abilities such as greater strength or immunities to certain traps and attacks. That’s where the bloody level three armoured bears come into play.
Subsequent holds can be unlocked with leadership points, forcing ad hoc strategy adjustments upon the opposing side. Coin and skulls return and are used to purchase traps, but often acuminous trap buying and selling is required to deal with ever-multiplying attacks. At this stage in development barricades have been dropped, a familiar obstacle in OMD 2, but in their place are openable and closable gates. Breaching such handicaps should viewed as imperative in attack, whilst defending them is paramount in defense.
With the short time I spent playing Unchained, I was well aware that my understanding of the card deck system barely scratched the surface, but even within this limited timeframe, I began to appreciate its sophistication and potential depth. Sure, the Orcs Must Die series isn’t, and has never been, about layered, progressive narrative like those recounted by the BioShock’s of this world, but, for perspective, the possibilities and endless variety levied by the deck system far eclipses the diversity of the plasmid and vigor setups found within Irrational’s masterpiece, and could easily stand up against most MOBAs on the market.
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| Those bloody bears! |
The same still stands for the trap system in Unchained - arguably the series standout in the tower-defence-cum-MOBA genre, but suddenly this no longer quite feels like the game’s defining feature - which is of course a great thing. After speaking with some of Robot’s developers, they mentioned a fan-organised ensemble currently dominating the online servers named ‘Team Cake.’ Having spent just six weeks with the alpha - which the Robot team unconvincingly assured me was in fact a long time - Team Cake challenged the Robot guys to a 5v5. Having devised an intricate plan of attack, and having amassed a sound understanding of how best to manipulate the deck system, Cake came out on top, trouncing Robot in their wake. This goes to show the potential the deck system holds, and it will be interesting to see how Cake fair once the game’s full release hits stores later in the year.
Unchained looks to deliver enough fresh content, yet familiar scenarios to entertain casual players in search of more traps and mayhem, and at the same time satisfy those looking to really sink their teeth into a new to the scene MOBA. Whichever you are, watch out for them dastardly bears.
Bears Must Die, sorry, Orcs Must Die! Unchained is set for release Q4, 2014.
Most Anticipated Feature/Element: How the deck system expands/is expanded.
