I don’t play all that many video games any more. It’s mainly a time thing. World of Warcraft has pretty much bored me to tears. Dragon Age is fun and pretty. But sometimes, I feel like playing a game that is about running around a blowing shit up.
Magicka is pretty much a Gauntlet style button masher. You play a Wizard. That’s pretty much your only choice but you do get to choose what color of robe you wear. There’s no economics. You just find better stuff and pick it up. You don’t have a real inventory. You just run around and blast waves of monsters.

This may sound easy. It’s not. The magic system is pretty neat. Every spell is a combo. Basically, you buttons for each of the elements. A couple of Earths mixed up with Fire gives you a Fireball. I have no idea of all the combinations but have the fun is just figuring out what happens when you try various combinations. Another good thing is that the game does not take itself seriously. Your mentor, Vlad, (who is definitely NOT a vampire) guides you along the way. There’s a little jokes through out the game. Now, the game is Swedish but you can end up with English text but the characters still speak in something. I’m not really sure if it’s supposed to be Swedish or not but half time they sound like extras from Team America.
There’s amusing physics in the game. Don’t cast electrical spells when your are wet (like from crossing a very shallow body of water). Like those old safety films said, “Water +Electricity is BAD”. Yeah, you zap yourself. But there’s a quick and easy way to dry yourself off. You set yourself on fire. Warning: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! And I mentioned shallow bodies of water. Yeah, that’s very important because everyone knows that wizards can’t swim.
I do have one complaint. By the default settings, you need a three button mouse. Really, who in the hell has a three button mouse? That middle button that is so lacking on my PC is very important to the game. It’s the cast on self button you like Healing. You kind of need that. But you can reset it to a hot key but only from the Settings Menu before you start playing not in the Settings Menu from inside the game. It was a pretty frustrating for a while.
For around $10, it’s a fun little game. And there’s plenty of little expansion packs and add on’s too. Check it out.