Defense Grid: The Awakening

Defense Grid: The Awakening $9.99
Total Time Before: 2.8 Hours
Total Time After Completion: 6.6 Hours

Review

Defense Grid is your prototypical tower defense game. Enemies come in swarms along a relatively set path, you build and upgrade towers and let them do the work. Resources flow into your coffers via kills along with it trickling in over time. Nothing in DG wowed me. I've played plenty of TD games over the years, some do things well, some do things horribly. DG just runs middle of the road, making it a forgettable experience.

You are defending a planet populated by humans from aliens. Doesn't sound cliche at all eh? With the help of your AI buddy, who constantly spouts off the same lines over and over, driving you insane, you build towers up and defend a central location. The location contains "cores", that will help power the defense grid. If the aliens take them, no defense grid. You go through each level, ruining these aliens plans and learning about how your AI buddy wasn't always an AI. Problem is, I don't care. It just doesn't do anything to make the story anything other than a after thought.

The game does look pretty for a TD game, I'll give it that. Explosions and gunfire light up the screen as your enemies crumble beneath you. Each map is modeled well, giving a different feel. From industrial to arctic, they really come alive.  Problem is, that really is all the game does particularly well.

The challenge that other TD games present are just not there. Sure, you can shoot for a high score, beat out your friends, but not once did I feel like I was being challenged to just finish the map. With the right assortment of a few towers, you can complete every map with no difficulty. I tried out every tower, attempted different variations, but by the end, found myself only using the same 3 or 4 towers every map. Most are weak and completely useless, so all my funds went into buying and upgrading the towers that actually produced results. And by produced results, I mean making every map impossible to lose even a single core, until the late levels. Some kind of balancing needed to happen, but never did.

The types of aliens were incredibly underwhelming. You're introduced to a "boss" type alien early in the levels, and he remains the only one throughout the game. Occasionally you're introduced to new species, but none of them actually offer any resistance. The problem is, I never dreaded to see a certain type on the screen. I was never thinking my tower build was wrong because of this one enemy.

Each map also includes challenge modes. I tried each of the variations, and just wasn't ever impressed. Some make enemies tougher, some don't allow upgrading, and some give you an allotted amount of resources that don't increase. They add some challenge to the maps the story never does, but not enough to make me want to beat everybody's high scores.

There are Map Packs that add to the game, but each seem to only carry 4 or 5 maps, and I'm glad I never bought most of them. They continue the dull, uninteresting gaming known as Defense Grid. I really was looking forward to a challenging TD game, that would change things up a bit. Alas, all I received were OK graphics and the same cut and paste TD game we've had for years. The creators do have a kickstarter that somehow raised enough funds to create a second game, so hopefully they somehow change the mold and make it worth playing for fans beyond TD games.

Final Verdict

Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Story: 3/10
Replay Value: 4/10 (Really only for beating high scores)

Overall: 6/10

A middle of the road TD game. If you enjoy them, you might have some fun beating your friends high scores and the challenge maps. If you haven't tried a TD game before, don't judge them all based on Defense Grid. It's just your average TD game with some better graphics. And being average is nothing to be excited about.
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In other news, Merry Xmas Eve or whatever you celebrate based upon your beliefs. I'm spinning again right now so that I can get a jump on my days off and hopefully have another game ready for Wednesday, if not, a progress post will be created.

And the winner is...

Victoria II! Finally a game I have never even installed. I actually think it was gifted to me randomly. Apparently a strategy game that plays throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. As boring as most of you probably think that sounds, it's right up my alley. I do have a bachelor's degree in history after all. Not sure what nation I'll be, but if there are any Nordic ones, I will be fighting for their supremacy. Long Live Odin! Depending on how much time I've got to play, I'll have a review or my progress for the game on Wednesday. Again, Merry whatever you celebrate and game on.