Great ideas, but too repetitive with tough controls
I'll be honest, I didn't make it more than halfway through this game's campaign. I just... couldn't. Quite simply, this game is 95% combat (I checked to make sure the rest of the game was the same, and it is) and the combat was not satisfying.
The introduction to the game (as seen in the Quick Look) is entirely misleading. In the beginning, the player must solve puzzles by combining his magic or using it in interesting ways. For instance, a generator that is beyond a gap must be powered by combining the arcane and lightning elements to create a longer-reaching lightning bolt. In addition, the player rapidly gains new abilities, such as new elements, area of effect attacks, and the ability to enchant his sword, all of which makes for some very fun experimenting of combinations.
Unfortunately, the moment the player finishes the introduction, he now has almost all of the available spells. Progressing through the game will yield books, swords, and staffs, each of which grant a new spell of sorts, but most of these are support or utility spells that won't be used much in actual combat, which is the entirety of the rest of the game. Also, there's no progression with gear, stats, or anything.
Finding out which spells work best in what situations makes the first part of the game pretty fun. However, a player will quickly realize that the spell combinations fall into 1 of about 15 spell types; for instance, there are projectiles (fireballs, icebolts, earthbolts), rays (arcane ray, lightning bolt), spread attacks (steam, water, fire), land mines, etc. Combining elements typically creates one of these types of spells, then simply deals damage (or heals) based on the elements chosen. AKA a fire/arcane/lightning ray doesn't combine into some new super spell, it simply is just a fire ray inside a lightning ray inside an arcane ray. Almost all of the 4x or 5x combinations end up like this. The two exceptions are that water+fire=steam and water+cold=frost, and these two combinations act as their own elements, bringing the total to 10.
The combat makes up most of the game, so it's a shame that it just wasn't fun. The single biggest flaw is that it often takes 6 or 7 clicks to cast 1 spell, which both slows you in combat and is not enjoyable to do. For instance, a top tier spell uses 5 elements, so a top tier fireball would require fire-earth-earth-earth-earth-rightclick, leaving you vulnerable in the meantime. This would be OK if enemies didn't knock you down, stun you, and basically just incapacitate you, but they do all these things, and it often takes dozens of casts to kill a set of enemies. This does create decent strategy opportunities for using your shields, but those block your own movement/spells just as much as the enemy, which is as annoying as it sounds.
Multiplayer is crazier and less difficult. Allies can revive and help stun enemies, which is great, but they'll hurt you quite often. Its certainly more fun than single player, but then you'll miss all the hidden extras and much of the dialogue due to the faster pace. I recommend doing the first level on SP then switching to co-op. Local multiplayer would be best, since you could setup some good spell combo's and such.
At $10, its not a huge commitment, plus there's a demo out there if you want a taste. It'll probably be fun for those who love to kill tons of monsters over and over, or for those who like crazy multiplayer, but that's really the only two draws. There's also jokes, dialogue, hidden extras that certainly add to the game... but most of the game is just the combat.
PROS:
Fun element combination trial-and-error
Some strategy possibilities with shields, spell types, and sword enchantments
Chaotic Multiplayer (friendly fire is ON)
Cheap
CONS:
Mostly the same spells the entire game
Combat locks down your character after getting hit once
6 clicks for one decent spell
Cannot save and quit mid-level (levels are about 50 minutes long)
