For the last two years, the Magicka series of indie fantasy games have lit up the Steam charts. Their mix of traditional Diablo-style gameplay and tongue-in-cheek humor has made them a favorite, and enabled such nonsensical expansions as Magicka: Vietnam (where the four elemental mages put the hurt on pinko commies). Now publisher Paradox is bringing the series to mobile, with the typically self-referential subtitle Wizards of the Square Tablet. 

[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/FwvOO1UmxYQ

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The monster-fighting action takes on a slightly simplified air in this 2D, sprite-based version of the game. Your four mages fight on an XY plane with gesture and tap-based controls (a la Battleheart and its multitude of clones), using the globes at the bottom of the screen to combine elements for new spells. With quick combinations, thousands of results are possible, and you'll have to experiment on the various baddies to see which flashy techniques work best. Naturally you can upgrade your weapons and armor, including what I'm choosing to call the +3 Hammer of Nailing Mightily. There's at least one outfit that's inspired by the RIG armor from Dead Space.

Magicka claims the ability to play with both Android and iOS users in 4-player co-op (plus you can "accidentally" fry, electrocute, crush, freeze, drown, and otherwise assist your teammates), and the game is a reasonable $2.45. The only downside: Wizards of the Square Tablet is designed for tablets only, and at the time of writing, it's not available for smartphones on the Play Store. Curses.

P.S. Hey Paradox, how's about calling up your buddies at TaleWorlds for a mobile Mount & Blade game?

Update: It looks like Magicka is currently incompatible with the Nexus 7. It's showing as compatible with the Transformer Prime (TF201) and Nexus 10, among others.

[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.paradoxplaza.imagicka[/EMBED_APP]