If you ever need to defend a castle from a seemingly endless swarm of angry ginger Vikings, you better make sure you have plenty of tools with which to defeat the bearded buggers. Thankfully, in Castlestorm, the new downloadable tower defence title from Zen Studios, you get all the goodies you could wish for.

 

The idea is simple, and one that has been done plenty of times before, defend your own castle from onrushing attackers whilst you simultaneously try to strategically dismember your opponents castle. Where Castlestorm shines however, it in the sheer variety of tools it gives you to this and in the quirky, comical nature in which the game is laid out.

The game stars you as Sir Gareth, defender of the castle and all around stud. Presentation wise the game is spot on, with lavish hand drawn 2D backgrounds giving way to the comically disproportioned figures who you will be slaying. Each back ground is visually unique, giving each area its own personality. The soundtrack is great as well, with a rasping string based score that swells at all the right moments in the heat of battle. The game also has numerous nods to cultural game references if you look hard enough, from Skyrim to the giant sheep you can launch from your ballista which is a clever nod to the infamous weapon used in the Worms franchise. My only slight gripe in this area is that there is no voice acting what so ever, just subtitles and slight grunts from each character, which is a real shame as some talented voice actors could have really added a touch of hilarity to the game that can not really be conveyed when reading words flashing across a screen.

 

As Sir Gareth, it is your job to defend the castle from whatever the game throws at you. To keep the enemy forces at bay you will primarily use your ballista, alongside marching out your own troops to meet theirs head on. Occasionally you can also transport Gareth himself to the frontlines, allowing you to control his actions directly. It is this variety that keeps the game from getting stale. Trying to manage all of your resources at once initially feels daunting, but the game does a great job of drip feeding each new addition to you and giving you time to learn each mechanic and upgrade individually. By the end of the games campaign you will be an upstoppable force, effortlessly switching between troops and your ballista at will.

As touched upon above, the game has a vast amount of upgrades for each aspect of your tactical combat. The ballista starts off with basic arrows, but you soon acquire triple bolt shots, Morningstars and giant boulders with which you can level the enemies castle. The troop units are just a varied, ranging from you more more basic soldiers and archers, to more mythical servants such as griffins and the expensive, but oh so powerful golems. Finally, we have the magic options which range from the aforementioned controlling of Gareth directly on the battlefield, to shield spells to protect your castle or spells to heal your troops. Each area is mapped to a different face button, making controlling everything beautifully simple on console, which is an area that tower defense games regularly struggle with, as they are traditionally a PC dominated genre. Each ballista, troop and magic type also have differing cooldowns as well, meaning you are forced to chop and change your tactics on the fly, and creates a satisfying risk/ reward mechanic. Do you risk most powerful ballista shot on a large group of smaller enemies, or wait for the larger trolls to appear? It is your call, and each battle feels unique and engaging because of the mechanics at play.

 

The game also does an excellent job of dragging you back in for one more play. It is perfect for those occasions where you just have half an hour to spare and want a quick blast of something rewarding. The campaign is surprisingly long, and once you complete it you can always go back and play on hard mode, and trust me, do not be fooled by the inviting visuals, the game is brutal on the hardest setting. It also is constantly rewarding you with gold with which to upgrade your troops and each mission gives a star rating out of five, meaning you will keep coming back seeking that elusive five star rank. Everything about the game is addictive, and designed to keep you popping back for just one more round. That isn’t to mention that when you complete the first campaign, you realise that Zen Studios have gone and given the Vikings their whole own campaign as well, the little blighters!

As engaging and rewarding as the single player campaign is, eventually you will want to test your skills against that of a real world competitor. The AI is convincing, do not get me wrong, but nothing beats the thrill of outthinking a human opponent. The game offers both splitscreen and online multiplayer, however I would strongly advise playing online if you want to go down the multiplayer route. As fun as it is to point and laugh as your mate in the same room as you after you have bested him in combat (virtually, hopefully not physically), the splitscreen play in Castlestorm leaves quite a bit to be desired. The simple fact of the matter is that half a screen is simply not big enough to get the most out of the game, when everything gets chaotic, and it will, you will struggle to make out anything that is going on, let along be able to line up those crucial ballista headshots. Online is much more manageable, as you can still lay the smackdown on your human foes without the worry of having to deal with less than half a screen. The game also offers a couple of co-op modes aswell, if you fancy working with, rather than against, a partner.

 

Castlestorm is a rare downloadable title, one that is as accessible as it is polished and refined. It would probably be worth double the asking price, at under £10 it is a nigh on essential purchase for any gamer that has even a passing interest in the genre. The depth of the mechanics are conveyed beautifully into an easy and rewarding system that just gets better every time you play. What are you waiting for? Go and download it.

 

Castlestorm is available now on the Xbox Marketplace for 800ms. You can check out the launch trailer below.

© 2013 – 2014, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post