Posted on: March 13, 2013
lowyhong
Verified ownerGames: 802 Reviews: 14
An excellent tower defense game!
Defender's Quest is one of the more impressive tower defense games I've ever played. I must admit I never much liked the genre, but I ended up playing this for 4-6 hours a day since buying it a few days ago, so hopefully that says something about its quality. First impressions are important, and admittedly DQ doesn't make a hard-hitting impact in that regard. The graphics are reminiscent of games you find on Newgrounds and Miniclip, and the first two levels don't really show much of the game's potential. Once you move on to later levels, however, the game quickly shows off some terrific gameplay. Billed as a hybrid game that combines Tower Defense and RPG, you follow the story of Azra (or whatever you want to name her), the Royal Librarian who has the Plague. The game starts off with her being carted off into the pits. From there, you will encounter unique characters - characters who lead others of their classes - who will join you on your journey. There are a total of 6 classes, including (but not limited to) Knight, Cleric and Ranger. Without going into spoilers, I only have this to add: the last character class is epic ;) (of course if you've seen GOG's screenshots, you probably already know what it is) So anyway, instead of towers, you place characters on the map. This is where DQ resembles a tower defense game the most. Enemies begin emerging from a number of exits varying with the difficulty level and map, as they try to get to Azra, and your people will be hammering them with swords, arrows and spells as they pass. As you progress through the game, you can recruit more followers with the scrap (money) you've earned, and purchase more weapons. You will also find more unique items that can be upgraded in New Game+ (the game mode that escalates the difficulty once you finish the normal game). Characters can also be leveled up over time, and this change will be carried over from one level to the next, unless you decide to respec them. My problem with the RPG aspect here is that character skill trees are too simple. There are passive and active skills that can be leveled, but there's not much in the way of choice early on. Certain skills work better in certain situations/levels, and it's not hard to figure out which skills are optimal. I would have liked to see more diverse skill trees. Regardless, as your characters level, some of their stats like health and attack speed also automatically increase. Azra herself cannot engage directly in combat the same way the other characters can, but she can use spells to hurt/push enemies at the cost of Psi (which is also directly related to upgrading and summoning your characters on to the map) or frenzy/heal characters. Combat can get really intense as enemies start flooding in, but at the same time it's never really unfair. You will die a lot, especially on harder difficulties, but the sense of satisfaction is tremendous once you get past the hurdle. Another point I have to give the developers credit for is the writing. The story is full of generic fantasy cliches, but it doesn't take itself seriously. At all. The writing is great, and I'm not just highlighting this because it's an indie effort. Character banters are hilarious and very appropriately timed and placed, and each unique character has a well-developed personality. It would be a gross discredit to the rest of the game to suggest the story is the reason to play on, but it does indeed hold up well alongside the solid, frantic gameplay. So yeah. Buy this. Now. Or at least give the demo a try. It doesn't matter if you like tower defense games or not. I have an inexplicable dislike for such games, yet I found myself drawn to this, hooked even. It's excellent, and more than worth the money it asks for.
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