XBOX REVIEW | Tap Wizard 2

Tap Wizard 2 is an idle RPG with action-packed combat elements. The game combines the relaxing progression of idle games with the strategic depth of action RPGs and the thrill of twin-stick shooters. You play as a powerful wizard on a quest to secure the Chronosphere, a powerful artifact. After a surprise attack by the Dark Forces, the Chronosphere rewinds time, giving you a second chance to prepare for the onslaught. You can choose from a variety of magical skills, spells, and character builds to defeat waves of enemies. Play actively or let the Mage do all the work—the choice is yours! Utilize spells of Ice, Fire, Lightning, and Poison to crush hordes of monsters and demons! There are tons of ways to progress, including Power, Research, Enchanting, XP, Awakenings, Eras, and Totems! Awaken the wizard to unlock game-changing abilities such as Retribution, Golden Envy, or Arcane Surge!

Things I liked!

• Gameplay | Tap Wizard 2 is really easy to pick up and play. You control a cursor on screen, and where you place your cursor, the wizard will move to and also shoot spells that you have equipped. In Tap Wizard 2, you also have the option to put the controller down. Doing so, the computer will instantly take control of your character and carry on playing. The only thing the computer will not do is select any upgrades or research options. Initially, you only have one spell that you can equip, but pretty soon after playing, you will unlock a fourth spell slot, which is the maximum you can have. As you play, you will face waves of enemies from monsters to demons. Each time you awaken, the number of waves increases for the next awakening level. At the bottom of the screen, you will have your management grid, where you can select which spells to have active, conduct research projects to gain various bonuses, choose which perks to have active, and select which runes to use, which provide a short-term boost such as 5% more damage for two waves. Each time you die in Tap Wizard 2, you will be given the option to rewind time, which will place you back a few waves, but you will not lose any of your items or abilities. So, you are pretty much invincible with no game over screen. While the gameplay in Tap Wizard 2 might not be for everyone, it does become addictive.

• Graphics | Tap Wizard 2 features pixel-art graphics that are very colorful. There is always a lot going happening on the screen, and I have never encountered any slowdown on screen.

Mixed & disliked!

• Music | The music consists of short loops of electronic music that, for me, after hearing the same track over and over, really started to irritate me. Luckily, there is an option to disable the music or switch to shuffle, which I would recommend.

• Progression | The progression in Tap Wizard 2 is painfully slow. As you play, your character, the wizard, will whiz about the screen slaying monsters and foes. After a certain number of waves, you will unlock the option to awaken, which is your main goal for each run. Each time you awaken, you will unlock game-changing abilities such as Retribution, Golden Envy, or Arcane Surge! Level up and unlock spell perks, turning your spells into the ultimate tools of destruction! But you also must choose a new character, losing all your current research, enhancements, and some other currency forms. After playing for over 20 hours in a week in offline play (the game continues playing when you turn it off), I have only just reached awakening level 4! In total, there are 60 awakening levels, so you could be looking at around 300 hours to hit max level.
  

How long did I play the review before publishing? 20 Hours
How long to beat the story? 250 + Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 2/33 or 20/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | 300 + Hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Idle Champions, Clicker Heroes and Vampire Survivors

CONCLUSION

Score: 70/100 –

As I began playing Tap Wizard 2, I found it really fun with lots to experiment with, like which spells are more powerful and will kill enemies the fastest, along with researching passive abilities such as more damage, health, and XP gains. The more I played, the more I noticed how slow the progression is. It’s very slow. Gameplay can also start to feel repetitive if you play for too long in one session. I wish the developers had added more depth to gameplay, such as the option to combine spells.

As your wizard will carry on playing even after you have turned Tap Wizard 2 off, I find myself checking in on how my wizard is progressing every now and then to select upgrades and research options, which I can see myself doing going forward, maybe every other day, until I lose interest.