In the world of role-playing games, few character classes divide opinions as much as wizards. Weak of body but strong of mind, they don't do well in close-quarters combat, when the situation calls for someone to swing a big stick around - but from a distance, it's another story. Often starting out with the constitution of a particularly fragile butterfly and enough magic juice/spell uses to cast about three magic missiles before they need to rest, it's a fairly slow burning character type that requires a fair amount of patience to grow - but put in the time and you'll likely go from the runt of the pack to an overpowered beast of destruction, capable of opening a fissure to hell itself with naught but your mind. Ally about to die from loss of blood? There's a spell for that. Struggling to kill a ghost or some undead zombie thing? There's a spell for that too. You died? Let me help you with that as well. Basically, mages are awesome, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
One game which celebrates the glory of magic users is Magicka 2, coming to a Playstation 4 near you next week. Stuff all those warriors, rogues and rangers - the only class you need for Magicka 2 is a wizard. Which is just as well really, seeing as that's all the choice you and your friends will have. Still unconvinced about the mastery of the magical race? How about if we told you that Magicka 2 lets you create your own spells, messing with the elements however you see fit and generally being a rather irresponsible spell-caster, in a four player, split screen role playing game?
Fire, fire everywhere...
The game is built around eight different elements - fire, water, lightning, life, cold, earth, shield and arcane. Up to five of these elements can be mixed and match at once in your attacks to create some rather interesting combos and effects in battle. For example, a combo of water and fire magic creates a scalding steam for boiling your enemies on the spot, whilst a mix of water and cold will give you some rather deadly ice shards to play with - for fun, you could even try a mix of life and shield elements to lay down some landmines that restore health when they explode. The possibilities are almost endless, and at least some of them might come in handy. Hopefully.
Being an all powerful wizard can be a lot of fun - but it can also be a tad lonely, and you'll probably find that by the end of the night those friends you set off with are your friends no more, whether they're sitting next to you on the sofa or playing over the internet (or a mixture of the two!). Whether you accidentally squashed Jeff under a big-ass boulder or shocked Doris with a rather large bolt of lightning - and lets not forget poor Burt who met his demise at the hands of some rather explosive arcane mines (at least it looked cool though!) - spells don't discriminate between friend or foe, so a wizard with rather bad aim becomes a lone wolf all too quickly, killing all his companions with a badly placed spell or three - sure, if you're quick enough, and your magic spells are potent enough, you might be able to save them but... well... he never did pay you back that fiver he borrowed, did he?
Fallen allies will drop their items when they die - including that rather sweet staff your friend Dave just nabbed from right under your nose...
After you've suitably yelled at the so-called mate that took your head off with a spiky ice boulder, you might want something funny to clear the air a bit - which is where Magicka 2's Artefacts come in. These secrets can be turned on and off once found to change how the game looks and plays - whether it's making your wizards morbidly obese ball-people, giving everyone 50% more health or turning the fire damage up to 300%. You can even set your adventures to a 'sitcom' soundtrack, and have an audience laugh, cheer and applaud at your every move - and if you're feeling REALLY crazy you could turn on up to six artefacts at once to create your own insane game modes.
Magicka 2 brings its special brand of magical mayhem to the Playstation 4 next Tuesday, the 26th May - so get polishing your wands, dusting off your robes and roping in a few friends! In the meantime, why not check out this rather bizarre sing-a-long trailer to get yourself in the mood:
