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It was a while before I discovered proper wizards. When I was young, magic was a benign thing: lighthearted entertainment for early evening television. The magicians made things disappear or convinced you that the card you were holding wasn't what you thought. In Magicka: Wizard Wars, you can cast spells that will make people explode into chunks of bloody meat. You can also drop rocks on their heads, scald them, set them on fire and even have the grim reaper chase them down, surgically removing their soul with one swift swing of a scythe. This is more like the magic of my adolescence - less about tuxedos and tails, more about rage and brutality and burning brimstone.The difference between Magicka: Wizard Wars and the previous Magicka games is that now a team of four of you can inflict this suffering onto other teams of similarly hostile wizards who are trying to do the same back. If you're a co-ordinated team of wizards, one of you can concentrate on throwing up magical barriers, one of you might bless your comrades with healing spells and one of you might douse a burning friend with a much-needed cloudburst.
Sometimes that happens, but right now - the game is currently available in Early Access form - there aren't very many teams of co-ordinated wizards, and a lot of spellcasters are still trying to find their feet. Everything is fast and deadly and messy. Magicka: Wizard Wars is an action game where everybody is a hyper-caffeinated Gandalf. It's much quicker than its predecessor, but its chaotic lineage is still quite apparent.
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