A fun little tower defence game with some amazing graphics

Note: throughout the review I will spell defence the British way, even though the game's official name is spelled the American way.

Before Defence Grid, I had only really played tower defence games on a mobile, or in-browser, so maybe my perception of what constitutes good graphics for a TD game is a little skewed. But that does not detract from what is a very pretty game, which has a lot of potential.

As you can see, I haven't played this game much. However, there's still many more levels in it's campaign mode that I have to complete, along with all the challenges that can be found in game. Then there's the workshop maps, which I haven't even looked at.

A new perspective on the TD genre

As mentioned, I have very little experience with the TD genre. I had only really played Bloons Tower Defence before Defence Grid, so when I went into this, I was quite impressed with how different it was.

As a whole, the game is really good, and I'm sure anyone who enjoys tower defence games will enjoy Defence Grid. However, the scores aren't the highest, so let's look a little into why they are what they are.

Studio:

Hidden Path Entertainment

Hours Played:
7
See All Steam Information:

£6.99 (GBP)

€7.99 (EUR)

$9.99 (USD)

Posted on:

05/Aug/2018 at 10:59

Let's start with the story

This is the first game I have reviewed which actually has a score for the story, so why is it a 4?

The story of the game revolves around you coming across a computer and awakening it as aliens start to invade your planet. It teaches you how to defend the power cores which it needs to keep running. 

As you go through the levels, you learn a little bit of information from the past, when the computer first needed to defend the planet from aliens, but beyond that, there isn't much story to the game. 

The way the story is told, both through the computer's narration, and through the levels themselves, does warrant a 4... at least based on the initial set of levels in the base game. 
*I have started the levels of the first DLC, but I may be a little stuck on The Forge, I keep losing 1 core, then resetting.

The immersion score goes hand-in-hand with the story, I feel

The computer's narration does a great job of setting the scene, and getting you immersed in what you are doing. However, sometimes it feels too human. The voice actor does a very good job, and kind of reminds me a little of Wheatley from Portal 2 (in terms of how he portrays himself, not his personality). However, this is meant to be a computer built for planetary defence, I feel it showing the emotions it does (you get a strong sense of it wanting revenge) detracts from it being a computer, and more akin to a human/computer hybrid... kind of like GLaDOS.

As for the gameplay immersion, it is more of a fun waste of time, compared to something you would start playing in the morning, and when you finally finish your session, you realise it's almost bed time.

The sound also plays a big role in the immersion of this game. The turrets sound pretty good, not the best, but they aren't bad in any sense. The aliens make little to no sound, at least I couldn't hear them. But the main sound you'll notice in the game is the computer's voice. The voice of the computer is quite strong, and you feel like it is someone of power, who has seen what the aliens are capable of, and is definitely doing whatever it can to save the planet; think a strong-willed general in a war movie, when they are having to make a tough choice.