Magicka: Vietnam Impressions - “I put on my wizard robe and helmet”

Magicka: Vietnam, was almost written off as an April Fool's joke (despite the fact it was announced a full month before) when they dropped a trailer on that day. It continues Arrowhead's tradition of trying to squeeze as many parodies and game references as possible, while trying to remain somewhat fantasy related. From the trailer, it's pretty obvious which was the priority for this DLC.

Coming in at USD$4.99, the DLC consists of one Vietnam Mission, one Vietnam challenge map, one new Magick (It can only be the Napalm Strike of course) and a new Wizard outfit. Considering how for half the price of the original, you're getting definitely less than half of what was in the original. So why bother?


Simple answer is: Guns

Cover mechanics... Arrowhead have sold out

Vietnam swaps out fantasy-esque swords and bows for guns and er, rockets. The game has quite a number of guns and even a rocket launcher(RPG). The inclusion of ballistic weapons drastically changes the way the game plays.

The change in weaponry is intriguing to say the least. Guns have practically unlimited range and have no reloads, leading to insane gun battles between your GI wizards and those sniveling goblins.

Sure, for the first few minutes in co-op, you'll be firing away blindly in all directions (Delivering lead poisoning to friend and foe alike), but the original spells still have a role to play when some of the meatier opponents start showing up. The frantic bonanza of elements and spell firing is missed here, and as a result the game feels a bit like a simpler version Alien Swarm. Not that that's a bad thing.

Anyway, the story is that you're there to rescue some POWs and blow up some crap before you leave. The enemies? The dastardly Goblin-Congs of course together with the bigger Commi-Orcs and scary Terror-Yetis. Okay, the last two were made up but what they've done is essentially taken those enemies from the original and gave them army fatigues and straw hats. Despite that, there's still a healthy those of pop culture parodies with homages to other war-based games. So, to those of you that felt this was a cheap cash-in, keep the pessimism in the closet.

That'd be Napalm if the searing flames and bright flash weren't obvious enough

Is it worth 5 of Uncle Sam's greenback? Personally, I'm not so sure. The long mission takes about 20 minutes or so, give or take, depending on how many times you set your friends on fire.

The Napalm Strike is lovely, but sadly can't be used outside of 'Nam in the regular single player/coop campaign(however, it & can be used in all the challenge levels in Magicka). The GI Wizard outfit can be used in Magicka levels as well. I wouldn't say I wasted my money on this, but it's got the added bonus of allowing non-owners of this DLC to play it as long as the host has a copy, With the only downside being they can't use the GI outfit, which is no big loss... Cheapos don't deserve head protection.

I don't see a need to get 4 copies each with your buds when all you need is one. At that price, then it's a real steal. If you don't have Magicka at all however, now would be a great time to buy them all at half the price and that is dirt cheap for this.