Orcs Must Die! 2 Are We There Yeti DLC; Is it Worth It?
Robot Entertainment released another DLC pack for Orcs Must Die! 2 on October 31st. Being a fan of “worthy” DLC, I again wanted to review it for our readers. With so many games being released this holiday season, deciding on whether or not to purchase content for previously released titles can be tough. That’s where I come in…
This new pack, called Are We There Yeti, tasks our heroes with protecting the fortresses of the great white north. This of course, is much easier said than done. For one, the three new levels, all using a cool “ice cavern” theme (see what I did there), are some of the most difficult levels released yet. This was mainly due to the new enemy types and the positioning of the rifts; which is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with giving gamers a challenge especially if they’ve been playing since launch. On the other hand, the level designs were a bit iffy. I don’t know if it was me but I had a hard time finding my way around using the map. Take the first new level. It has a circular design, with breaks here and there to allow you to move up and down within the cavern via stairs. My issue was that, the map did a poor job of letting me know if enemies were on my level or not. To make things worse, because of the “icy” look, it’s hard to see where the breaks in the walls (leading up and/or down) were.
Once I got the hang of things, I managed to get around without getting completely lost. This allowed me to better deal with another aspect of this challenging add-on; the new enemies. Let me make this clear, the Yeti’s aren’t to be taken lightly. They are able to climb over barricades, throw ice shards that slow you down on impact, and can take a lot of damage before going down. After taking a significant amount of damage, they’ll become enraged and charge at you. At this point they are even more dangerous as their hits hurt more than the ice shards and they can leap over obstacles to get at you. That said, I had a fun time taking them on; they required a more of strategic approach than the Orcs. Once enraged I was able to run away, luring them to run into the more deadly traps, of which they would have just bypassed normally.
The second new enemy proved to be more of a nuisance than anything else. The Goblin Sappers are creatures that run through the levels looking for traps. Once they find one they like (usually the ones being used as my last line of defense) they’d explode, disabling the trap for a brief time period. They can easily turn the tide of battle, making it much harder to fend off the Orcs.
Robot Entertainment wouldn’t add new enemies without giving fans new items to be used in their demise. One of my favorite traps in the whole game happens to be the new Spike Wall. When enemies get too close the trap springs forward and slaps them with the spikes (like a door slamming into someone). Not only does it do a lot of damage but it also knocks the surviving Orcs back a few feet. Placing two on both sides of a narrow hallway is a hilarious way of keeping enemies at bay.
Another featured item is the Dwarven Missile Launcher. That’s right; a Missile Launcher! This baby fires mana missiles that explode, knocking enemies around while dealing out a nice amount of damage. The secondary fire shoots what looks like sparks, great for taking out flying enemies. The best part, it doesn’t cost that much mana to use. Next up is the Guardian Trinket. This trinket has the ability to passively heal your guardians (Paladins, Archers, etc.). If they fall in battle, instead of waiting for the next wave to start, you can use the active ability to review them. This comes in handy when you need help defending rifts but are all out of traps.
Outside of the new weapons and monsters are the normal additions. There are three new endless mode conversions including fan favorite The Tower. Robot also threw in some new costumes for good measure; the “Skull Ninja” Sorceress costume is awesome! As a whole, I feel that this DLC, like the other packs, are definitely worth your time. And the low price of $4.99 screams “buy me”. I would recommend playing through the game a few times to rack up some skulls though. Due to the level of difficulty, having normal versions of traps and weapons won’t cut it.
