Orcs Must Die! is a sweet little game that made its way, fairly quietly, onto XBL, Steam and Onlive last October. The game pits the hero, a warmage who is essentially Ash ( Evil Dead Ash not Pokemon Ash), against wave after wave of Orcs, Hellbats ,Gnolls, and Ogres. The hero is alone but his war chest threatens to burst at the seams with the weapons, traps and spells contained within.
Orcs Must Die! is, at its core, a tower defense game. There is a door (several doors in some cases) and a rift, beasties break through the door from their scorched world and try to make it through to our peaceful, unburned, still habitable planet. Your job as one of the only surviving warmages is to stop them from getting there. The main difference between Orcs and most other tower defense games is that Orcs is also a third person action game. When a level starts you have traps such as floor spikes, wall spikes, fire pits, and armed sentries to choose from. You also have weapons and spells like crossbows, swords, fireballs and ice bolts. Once you make your selections you have coins, and each trap costs a certain amount to place, when your traps are in place you release the horde. Like any other tower defense killing orcs nets you gold to place more traps and cast more spells. The main difference is while the orcs are plowing through your floor spikes you get to run around and kill them yourself with anything you have equipped. Having the third person aspect puts you more in control then just watching your traps do the work.
For me the most fun part is running around the levels before hand and planning my trap strategies. It is very satisfying to watch the horde make it through my hall of traps barely alive only to meet their doom at the tips of my arrows. With 24 levels and 2 dlc packs to expand your game play the $14.99 price tag is well worth it. If you like tower defense games or you just like fun pick this game up today.