OK, maybe the problem is me. Maybe I had set my expectations too high for the first Orcs Must Die! 2 booster pack last month. Maybe, if I reel back my expectations a bit, this one will feel better. Or maybe Robot Entertainment was just warming up with Fire and Water, and Family Ties is going to be the real deal! That has to be it! Right…?
Family Ties is the latest booster pack to come out for Orcs Must Die! 2, and much like the previously released Fire and Water pack, there’s really not a whole lot being offered. Players will find three new story levels, three new Endless levels, three new traps, two new enemies and a bonus skull. There’s no word on whether the omission of the partridge in a pear tree was intentional.
I will credit Family Ties in the weapon department. Whereas the traps found in Fire and Water were bordering on useless, the newest additions all add something different to the mix. The Stone Staff gives you a great chance to stop any enemy in their tracks, which came in handy when some larger enemies would break through the front line and start marching towards the exit.
The Jar of Ghosts trinket quickly made its way into my go-to build and may be my new favorite toy in the game. When you have the Jar of Ghost equipped, any enemies who attack you be hit with a momentary fear effect, or you can use the alt fire which puts down a totem of sorts that does essentially the same thing but on a larger scale. It’s a great crowd control item and, if you have a play style that thrusts you into the heart of battle, it’s a great little toy to have with you.
Lastly, the Teleportation Ring does precisely what you would expect it would. You can set a marker anywhere on the map and, by using the alt fire, instantly teleport back for a small amount of mana. It wasn’t the most useful tool for me, but some players will certainly appreciate the ability to magically get to the end of a map and stop a few orcs from entering the rift.
Rush Hour, Breakneck Triad and Triple Threat all debut as new maps in Family Ties. They’re better than what was offered in the Fire and Water Booster Pack, but only barely. There simply isn’t any magic to be found here for the most part. They’re not bad maps, and I admit I did really enjoy Rush Hour, but there’s nothing here that carries that same feeling of grandeur I’ve come to expect from an Orcs Must Die! 2 map.
Much like the Fire and Water Booster Pack, there simply isn’t enough here to justify a purchase to anyone outside of the most hardcore of fans. Here at We Got This Covered, we try to review everything in a vacuum, but price does become an issue here. When Orcs Must Die! 2 is $15 on its own, it’s extremely hard for me to justify a $4 dollar booster that doesn’t add much to the title. Unless this is a title you play every day, pick this up when it inevitably goes on sale around the holidays.
This article is based on a copy of the add-on that was provided to us for review purposes.
Fair
Unless you religiously play Orcs Must Die! 2, it’s very hard to justify this purchase. There's nothing particularly bad about this booster, but it doesn't contain anything that a casual fan would need.
Orcs Must Die! 2: Family Ties Booster Pack Review