➤ Orcs Must Die! 3, the review 🎮

Nine years after the release of the second chapter and four from the not very fortunate free-to-play experiment Unchained, Robot Entertainment thought it was time to brush up on its tower defense-style series based on traps, orcs and third person shooter mechanics looking for this time to stay in the tradition, as we will explain in this one review of Orcs Must Die! 3.

Published exclusively on Google Stadia in 2020, the game has recently landed on PC, PS4, Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One, to the delight of those who couldn't wait to try their hand again with the tantalizing experience. developed by the Texan studio, which has more than one element in common with the blockbuster that responds to the name of Fortnite.

Orcs Must Die! 3, the review — Orcs Must Die! 3, a rather excited fight sequence.

We know what you're thinking, but Epic Games' battle royale made its debut in 2017, five years after Orcs Must Die! 2. In short, it's really true: good ideas can be extremely successful, as long as you present them in the right way and have a bit of luck.

Of course, we must also recognize that Fortnite has turned, transforming itself into a phenomenon of costume, only when it has become a competitive free-to-play, setting aside the cooperative formula of the origins.

Gameplay

We said about staying in the tradition: the gameplay by Orcs Must Die! 3 introduces some new features in the campaign, the War Scenarios, that is missions set in the past and characterized by an emphasis both of the powers at our disposal and of the enemy units that will pour onto the map, in the order of thousands.

Beyond that, however, the mechanics are ones that fans of the series already know well and that Fortnite fans will quickly find extremely familiar: a horde-style third-person shooter, with a strategic phase that takes place before each. wave and in which we will be able to spend the points earned to buy and place traps more and more effective and weird.

The game shows us from time to time the paths it takes orc will follow to try to enter our breach, and it is therefore along those routes that we will have to install spikes, walls that shoot arrows, anti-gravity mechanisms, barricades also useful for channeling "traffic", surfaces that slow down the movement, deadly spring mechanisms, but also platforms that project orcs into the air, archers of various types, different positions and huge catapults.

Once we have placed all the pitfalls we deem appropriate, or when we have run out of points to buy them, we can start the wave and manage the matter directly. Unlike traditional tower defense, where you basically stand still and wait, perhaps adding a few more devices in the running, in Orcs Must Die! 3 our character will in fact be free to move and use his weapons to eliminate the orcs that advance.

The formula adopted by Robot Entertainment, as mentioned, does not upset what we saw in the second chapter of 2012, but it is still a lot of fun and above all challenging: you will often have to repeat a mission after seeing the way in which the orcs move or which ones Special units are sent out at one point, disrupting what seemed like a perfect plan.

Obviously i upgrades that become available between one level and another, based on the skulls earned up to that moment, which allow us to improve the effectiveness of our character's weapons (initially we will be able to choose between two different wizards, but additional fighters will be added along the way ) and traps.

Structure

The effective concept behind Orcs Must Die! 3 applies to the eighteen levels that make up the main campaign, playable alone or in online co-op, for a duration of approximately nine hours; but also to expansion Drastic Measures, which the development team has seen fit to integrate into this new edition of the game and which, with its five missions, undoubtedly enriches the package.

The contents of this new chapter do not end here, however: you can try your hand, for example, with the obstacle mode Remix, in which you have to complete five scenarios relying on a single breach counter, or with the endless endless mode, in which you fight to the death trying to last as long as possible. Finally, there are the Weekly Challenges, which are renewed cyclically.

Technical realization

La graphics cartoonish and captivating by Orcs Must Die! 3 is another aspect that unites the title of Robot Entertainment and the aforementioned Fortnite, so much so that the doubt that some designers have passed over the years to Epic Games comes immediately, becoming almost a certainty when you notice the system placing the traps on the ground.

Unfortunately, most of the levels are set inside fortresses that seem a bit all the same, united by often generic assets that contribute to feeding a general feeling of repetitiveness, perhaps the greatest limitation of this production. However, the animations of the characters are well done and the types of orcs that we will have to face quite numerous.

The plot certainly arises as a secondary aspect of the game and you will find yourself following it only casually, also due to pleasant but somewhat dated interlude sequences, although the discreet dubbing in Spanish it will certainly help you not to lose the thread of the events of the magicians protagonists of the adventure, which takes place twenty years after the events of Orcs Must Die! 2.

On PC everything moves great, a 4K e 60 fps with the presets on Ultra, and the relative simplicity of the graphics could not have been otherwise considered, which puts aside the most sophisticated effects in favor of performance and focuses heavily on the numbers, managing literally thousands of orcs simultaneously on the map. We found the controls to be perfect, both with mouse and keyboard and with the controller.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Processor: Intel Core i5 10400
Video card: NVIDIA RTX 3070
Memory: 16 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 10 64 bit

Minimum requirements

Processor: Intel Core i5 2300, AMD Ryzen 3 1200
Scheda video: NVIDIA GTX 660, AMD HD 7870
Memory: 6 GB of RAM
Storage: 12 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 7 64 bit

Recommended Requirements

Processor: Intel Core i5 9600K, AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Scheda video: NVIDIA GTX 1060, AMD RX Vega 64
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Storage: 12 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 10 64 bit

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store Price 24,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.8

Readers (5)

8.3

Your vote

Orcs Must Die! 3 does not in any way revolutionize the characteristic elements of the Robot Entertainment series, but it can undoubtedly count on an action-style tower defense formula that is still relatively fresh and exciting today. Placing traps and fighting in real time the hordes of orcs willing to access our breach is undoubtedly something exciting, and the novelty of the War Scenarios puts us in front of even more exaggerated and spectacular situations. Finally, the integration of the Drastic Measures expansion is excellent, which enriches an already quite full-bodied package by increasing the duration of the experience together with the outline modes.