Orcs Must Die! is the best indie game I have played so far this year.  Developed by Robot Entertainment, Orcs Must Die! brings a unique twist to your typical tower defense games.  The title pretty much says it all, you are an arrogant battle mage set out to defend your realm from the onslaught of angry orcs.  After your master dies it's up to this less than likely hero to save mankind from the green skins.  The story is nothing to rave about, but highlight of this this game is the arsenal of traps and weapons they give you to take take down the orcs.


Armed to the teeth with traps, weaponry and magic gives you a verity of ways to play each level.  As you progress, you get more traps and items to use against the orcs.  In each level you are given a set number of slots to select which traps and items you want to use.  You also have a starting amount of currency to spend on your initial traps and talent points.  As you kill the oncoming orcs you gain more currency and can place down traps during or in between each wave.  Later in the game Weavers are introduced to give you talent trees for either upgrading traps, magic or melee combat.

If it doesn't sound very complex, that's because it isn't.  The game is pretty straight forward and adds enough options during gameplay to keep it fun and addicting.  You are guaranteed to find the most brutal and hilarious ways to slaughter thousands of orcs.  There are also leader boards to compete with your friends and others online.  The only thing that would have put this game over the top is a co-op mode. 


Presentation - 9 (Menus are easy to navigate, graphics and level design are fantastic)

Graphics - 9 (Very colorful and vibrant, trap effects and magic look great!)

Sound - 7 (This game is full of cheesy one liners and it sounds like one of the developers might have intoxicated when doing the script.  The power metal saves it all!)

Gameplay - 10 (With so many options in fighting and the simplicity of setting up traps, this game is very user friendly)

Violent Score - 9 (out of 10)