Magicka 2 vs Overcooked 2

Magicka 2's spellcasting mayhem multiplies with each additional player, allowing up to four wizards to go on an adventure together. When you hit your stride, you'll feel unstoppable, blowing up every monster the instant they appear. You might even "accidentally" hit your allies, exploding them in the process, only to resurrect them afterwards.

It's full of jokes, recurring gags, pop-culture references, and even memes mixed within the story. For example, the level selection screen is a parody of the Game of Thrones intro sequence, there's a vampire that always denies being a vampire, and even references to Lovecraft's work with lines like: "R'lyeh Scuba Diving Tours. So good you'll grow gills!" It's very hard not to smile while playing Magicka 2.

Magicka 2 is a game all about casting spells to disintegrate various monsters such as goblins, orcs, demons, and many more. To cast a spell, you need to use on of the eight elements: earth, arcane, life, water, fire, lightning, frost, or shield. You can use up to five elements at a time, allowing you to create many different spell combinations.

For example, if you use one frost element, you'll cast an ice blade. If you use five frost elements, you'll cast a giant ice blade. If you use one frost and one fire element, you'll shoot out a wave of steam.

While this might seem difficult at first, you'll quickly get used to it, so you'll be having tons of fun shooting lasers and throwing giant boulders at enemies in no time.

Whether you played the first Overcooked or not, Overcooked 2 is easy to figure out right from the get-go. The recipes for each dish are familiar even if you're not much of a chef, so you can remember which raw ingredients you need as you make your way around the kitchen and work with your co-op partner(s). Once you play a few rounds, you should have a good handle on things, helping you focus on getting everything done as quickly as possible from there on out.

Playing Overcooked 2 with friends is the best. There's so much going on at once in the kitchen, with barriers moving in your way, hazards popping up like cars in the middle of the road separating the two halves of your area, and ingredients, dishes, and half-prepared dishes to move from one place to another. Working together and communicating with your friends through couch co-op or online play is a constant stream of laughter and excited shouting as you mess up, learn, and hopefully get things done. If you don't have anyone to play with, then you can hop online for matchmaking instead.

Overcooked 2 is really fast-paced and keeps you on your toes. You play as a chef in a crazy kitchen with a ton of things going on all at once, with you mixing, preparing, and cooking in between the chaos of moving platforms and environmental obstacles. There's a time limit constantly ticking down at the bottom of the screen; finishing your tasks on time or ahead of schedule earns you a better score in the end. Tossing ingredients to your teammates across the kitchen, or across the moving platforms or obstacles like bodies of water, is a fresh new addition in this game that wasn't in the first Overcooked, making things even faster this time around. It's such a manic yet well-done mix of many different genres and ideas that all come together in the best ways.