Wand Wars

Aesthetically this game is fantastic! It has it's own unique and compelling art style, easy to understand and fun gameplay and of course, a great music to tie it all together while you are swearing at your friend! Each time you complete a level or game with our friend, you gain exp and the ability to unlock characters, levels etc. Which will soon get you hooked! It's a great party game, I played it with only one other friend but I can imagine the chaos of trying to hold my own in a 4 player game (the good kind of chaos, of course!) I would definitely recommend this game, especially if you and your friends enjoy screaming at each other.

A really polished game, and probably the best party game I've ever played. It resembles Lethal League, but without the complex, fighting game-like aspect. It sticks to a simple, very efficient formula, and is consequently way more approachable. No matter how much time you've sunk into it, it will always be possible to have a fair match with your friends. Wand Wars is a rich, well-designed, nervous game, that's always epic to play on a couch. It also comes with a variety of fun game modes, and a lovely artistic direction. A big yes in my book.

Wand Wars is an frantic arena-brawling game for both single and multiplayer, where you have to catch and toss a killer orb at your opponents while trying not to get turned into a chicken. The orb mechanism is easy to grasp and you'll be an expert in no time. Press a button when the orb is close and you capture it for a short time, giving you just enough time to aim and fire it at the nearest opponent. Once fired, the orb just keeps going, bouncing off walls. As the match proceeds, the orb gets larger and faster. It's about timing, basically - hitting the button just before you get smashed in the face, then turning the tables on whoever threw it. With the full 4 players, it's pure twitch gaming. Wand Wars gameplay review video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrBZzu1F23o On its own, that would be a decent but limited game. But your second ability is to fire black arrows. If you hit an opponent, they briefly turn into a chicken, whose only ability is to run away. The arrow can also be used to neutralise the orb, making it slow and harmless until next caught. Together, these two things add an element of strategy to your attacks, although nothing complex or clever. The only way to really add strategy to the game is to play in teams, 2 vs 2. So perhaps one player would be on chicken duty, the other orb. Or you could pass the orb between you (you can only harm enemies when firing the orb), and only strike when the time is right. Powerups are sometimes added to the arena (and you can optionally start with some in Versus). They're massively powered deadly attacks of different kind, and can turn the game into chaos as everyone tries to fire them off at once. When you fire them, the game pauses for a couple of second for an animation, which can get tiring! The singleplayer Story Mode is split into the stories of six unlockable characters, each consisting of several matches. Each match has something unique about it - number of players, teams, weird levels with moving walls, different game types etc - so it never gets dull. Versus Mode consists of single, customisable 1-4 player matches (including however many bots), with a choice of 5 game types. This includes the basic battle type, a type where your team has to get the orb into the opponent's goal, and more. Pleasingly, Wand Wars works well in singleplayer. The bots are well programmed in the basics (with multiple difficulty levels), so it doesn't feel like you're not really playing the game properly. They're not so clever at guarding the goal in that game type, but that's a team-focused game and should really be saved for humans. Wand Wars feels slick, it's easy to learn and not difficult to master. Pulling off a good move is very satisfying - stuff like turning an opponent into a chicken just as you're about to grab the orb, then bouncing it off the wall into their stupid clucking face. The limited strategic potential means this game will have an exciting but fairly brief life in your library, but if you have a good local multiplayer scene going, it'll fit happily into the rotation. And if you play it singleplayer, the Story Mode keeps changing things up enough for you to want to keep going. * Version reviewed: 13 April 2016 build * [url=https://youtube.com/user/randomiseuser]More indie gaming videos by Randomise User[/url]

Kinda similar to Lethal league but the graphics and stories of the different characters make this game so special to me. Very fun, even by yourself with some bots.

Absurdly tight game play. Difficult single player campaign. Absolutly brilliant multiplayer. Just a killer game for $10.

Seriously, seriously fun with friends. Easy for people to pick up and learn, and it gets so fast and intense! Playing with friends collectively earns experience points to unlock new characters, maps, and items, which is how you do multiplayer unlocks [i]right.[/i] I love that feeling of everyone contributing to earning new stuff to play with. I've got over 50 local multiplayer games and this is easily in the top 5, I highly recommend it.

This game is super addictive. They've done a lot with it over the years which is awesome. Great to play with friends too, there aren't enough games with same screen co-op (and vs).

It is... functional? That is actually something to praise considering i have many games like this in my library and the common denominator is that multiplayer is a must and there is no multiplayer scene to support the game or the single player part is quite basic and added on top just to get a 'Single player' support tag for it. But for this one it seems there is a proper single player campaign and it is quite difficult. Apprentice levels are a breeze but then it gets interesting. And it's pretty much skill based. When you get whacked you mostly consider it was your own fault. Mostly. I can only imagine how the insults will fly if played as couch game.

Underrated gem

One of the best local party games I've played so far. Sadly I had to move and now that my friends are way I don't really have anyone to play with, I wish there was Multiplayer that would be awesome! *I tried remote play and it's still kinda ♥♥♥♥*