First things first, there's a demo for Magicka on Steam. If you're at all considering picking up this game, the tiny download and first few levels will do more to convince you than anything in the following paragraphs.

Now, I hadn't intended to buy Magicka myself; a simple $10 Steam indie game wasn't exactly what I had in mind to fill the gap between Battlefield Vietnam and Crysis 2, but after seeing it played for fifteen minutes on one bored weekend, I had to physically restrain my soon-to-be co-op partner from playing any more until my copy was done downloading on Steam.

The campaign alone is pretty good, most of the gameplay revolving around the top eight keys on the left hand side of the keyboard. Each key is assigned to a magicka element, like fire, earth, water, arcane, heal, shield, etc.
You combine magicka elements by selecting them in a particular pattern, which can go from the obvious like electric lightening beams and firey boulder projectiles, to snow storms, lightening, and meteor showers.

The game is simple to learn but hard to master - the narrative has a heavy comedic element which can make you let your guard down, usually just in time for an intense battle and resulting serious ass kicking.

In co-op you can either play challenge levels or resume your campaign game from where you left off, with the most important feature being that you can revive your buddy when they die. This simple tool gives you a much greater chance of making it through the levels, as you each take your turn frantically running in circles like headless chickens trying to revive each other. Despite revive, it's still hard, a bit of a clusterfuck, and it's hillariously easy to get yourself and your buddy killed.

Apart from actually succeeding at the game, some of our more entertaining cockup highlights have come from summoning lightening from the heavens; rather than it hitting the armour-clad two-storey orc bearing down on you, it indiscriminately strikes down the other player, dealing enough damage for a short trip in a time machine.

Honestly you can have just as much if not more fun in Magicka dying in an accidental cloud of fire than completing the levels. You end up cringing as your panicked fingers accidentally add "heal" to a spell for area-affect explosive mines, the once devastating minefield now restoring the health of the entire enemy attack squad. Oh, and let's not forget casting elecricity beam inside a shield bubble, only for it to bounce all the way around inside and nail the caster in the back of the head.

If you've got ten bucks, a PC and some spare time, you'll probably enjoy Magicka to at least that value. If you can convince a buddy or three to play - which should be easy - you'll probably get way, way more.

9/10