Strategy games have for a long period of time been one of the main stalwarts of the PC diet sheet. Along with being the original FPS platform, our love for the keyboard and mouse as an instrument to inflict carnage and fear into the virtual masses has been unconditional, with many still saying it’s a far better layout than the joypad when it comes to dishing out frags on a daily basis.
For the lateral thinkers this has also been their opinion, so with that the way we play the brain game has changed and we’re now starting to see a selection of Tower Defence games hit the 360, with Square Enix’s cartoon styled Crystal Defenders and the new South Park title allowing some famous names to bask in the limelight for a brief spell, but none of that matters when you begin to get to grips with Hidden Path’s Defense Grid: The Awakening.
The main difference is in this game’s origins, compared to most of the other Tower games on Live. Where most of the rest in this genre have been released primarily for the console, this has been out on PC for a good 9 months or so and has received fair praise since arriving in December 2008. Using the Gamebryo engine, which has powered the Bethesda classics Oblivion and Fallout 3, as well as being created by the lead designer of the cult classic Age of Empires II, Mark Terrano you can’t help but feel optimistic about it’s appearance on the 360. So just how does it fare?
For those of you who are a little unfamiliar to this style of game, here is a brief run-down of what you do. To start off with you must place towers or whatever your defences may be, varying from game to game of course, strategically to provide maximum cover from the onslaught of enemies, who are hell-bent on taking whatever precious commodity you have for them to steal. If you still have anything left after the waves of evil have passed then you’re deemed the victor.
Between you and total domination in Defense Grid are 20 levels of thought out placement and protection of your energy core, which your alien chums wish to take for themselves. These stages make up the Awakening part of the game, with a 4 level Borderlands section waiting for those who actually make it that far. To guide you on your way you have the computer mainframe, who sounds remarkably like a cybernetic version of Alfred from the original Tim Burton Batman movies. His dulcet tones help you get ready for the task at hand, as well as give out some handy tips from time to time, but then any game that can get away with using the word “buggers” has to be good in anyone’s book.
Your arsenal consists of a wide range of tower armaments, with each of them upgradeable by 3 stages. Each of the ten different turrets is varied and purposeful, not to mention needed rather badly as things get a bit tough. Standard guns are your basic fare, but soon enough you get napalm cannons, sniper guns and even a pulse generator to slow down the opposition, so as to get more shots in. The potential combinations once you add the upgrades into the equation are mind-boggling. Placement is key here; and a keen eye for shot range as well as maintaining clear sight between hunter and hunted is vital to gain success and from experience I can safely say you’ll be doing a few of these missions a couple of times. Thing is though, sometimes it won’t be because you failed, but for something more resembling an ego trip with a newly found vigour to pass your buddy on the leaderboard.
Having score tables in games like Defense Grid can be just as deadly as the weapons, mainly because the bragging rights seem to multiply when it comes to the grey cell thumpers in the gaming world. There isn’t an actual multiplayer, but when you take the leaderboard into account, as well as the huge number of different scenarios you can play each level in (including a 99 wave constant barrage nicknamed the ‘Grinder‘, should you be that way inclined) then you can see why you probably don’t need to have that here. Besides, it would only do what other competitive online modes have done to titles in the past; detract from what is already good and labelling it an afterthought or, as the magazines so often use “something that was bolted on at the last minute.”
The Gamebryo Engine does help to make this look good. Everything is solid and crisp and when viewed up close it loses none of its beauty or sharpness. There’s a feeling of versatility and functionality, with all the levels serving their purpose well and allowing for great access. The levels are nicely varied and don’t strain the eyes even after you’ve failed a mission AGAIN and have to go through the whole level for the umpteenth time. Cosmetically it delivers that fine balance between giving the graphic lovers and the strategy people what they want in equal measure, which can be a difficult thing to achieve, with the bar on both sides set so high.
The sound and music for Defense is adequate enough and never gets in the way of your thinking time by becoming distracting. As already mentioned, the computer vocal never gets too tired, which again is a good thing. Other than that you have your standard FX for weapons and the like, but you’re not really looking for one of Mozart’s classics when you’re planning the annihilation of a nasty alien race (unless you’ve been watching Apocalypse Now or something and you have that “Ride of the Valkyries” vibe going through your head.)
As strategy games go this is as good as anything the 360 has to offer, which seeing the competition out there really isn’t that much. Don’t let that take away from Defense Grid though. There’s loads of time just waiting to be spent on it and the many missions and variants lying within. The leaderboard is as much of an online mode as you’ll need and keeps things nicely contained while at the same time providing just enough constant competition to have “one more go” to beat your rival and that annoying high score of theirs.
I think this next sentence gives this game as much praise as any. I don’t normally like strategy games, but I find myself becoming hooked on it. A piece of software that allows newcomers and veterans to play it and feel equally pleased is one thing, but a game which can bring people who feel alienated by certain genres to actually play and ENJOY those foreign styles can only be a good thing. This is an essential for console strategists, but I suspect some who are not of the Tower Defence world could do worse than to at least try this, as you’d be surprised at just how much fun these can be when done right.
VideogameUK verdict: 8.5/10
