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Delightful game.
I've never played the first one, so no comparisons with that from me. Apparently there was some grumbling over certain spell combos (water + fire = steam) not working in M2, but that's been fixed, and a new combo for poison was added to boot. The graphics are on the very pretty side of cartoony, and the whole game is clearly tongue-in-cheek. The humor didn't always have me slapping my knees, but it's very charming, from the pervasive nods to pop culture ("A massive cold front is coming," says John Frost) to the option of giving your character a voice set called "Arnold" that sounds a lot like Will Sasso spoofing Schwarzenegger on Mad TV, and, last but certainly not least, the hilarious gibberish spoken by the NPCs. It sounds a lot more spirited than Simlish, and I'm ashamed to admit that I briefly thought it was Swedish.
The main draw here is obviously the clever and addictive experimenting with sheer endless combinations of various elements, which you can then unleash on your enemies (and on yourself, for better or for worse) in a number of different ways: as good old-fashioned rays and sprays, branching charges, weapon enchantments, area blasts, mines, and more. Want a fiery death ray that arcs to several foes at once, like lightning? You got it.
If the game has a drawback, it's that it's pretty damn hard, at least in solo mode. Magicka 2 was intended as a multiplayer experience, of course, and although the single player difficulty has been dialed down a bit in recent patches, later enemies come in such overwhelming numbers, to say nothing of certain bosses, that even the most adroit keyboard wizard will be hard put to survive without some assistance. Fortunately, it's easy to call in other aspiring mages. And even though they can do each other as much harm as the swarming monsters (friendly fire is always on), frustration is kept at bay through the sheer zaniness of the chaotic battles. It's a rather unique game, and comes at a very decent price, too—definitely a winner in my book.
