Everyone loves tower defense games! Right!?

Well, for the sake of this review let’s assume that everyone does.

And for the most part, I actually do. Yes, they tend to get a little tedious and whatnot, but still fun casual play. But all tower defense games have one thing in common; it’s always about defense. What about the people trying to get through? This is where AWE comes in. It takes the angle of the people trying to get from A to B, all the while avoiding the defenses built up.

Yes, another indie game, but I’m telling you, that’s where all the interesting stuff is

In AWE, you’re in control of, what can only be called, a runner. He runs around, collecting things, and either changes the direction of your troops, heals/fixes them, and upgrades them. You get to plan your path(and adjust if needed) to get your troops from A to B. Your troops are ever moving forward, so you have to keep up with them, and collect, and change routes. It’s all very hectic.

However, you can kind of curb that. When you start your missions, there are three options; Casual, Normal and Hardcore. I chose Casual, because, well, I am. And even with that, I wasn’t able to pass the first mission the first time

In the demo, each level really goes through some basics. The first mission is just to keep your troops alive, so all you can do is change the path and do some healing.

Unlike most tower defense games, which are generally browser based, the graphics are just beautiful. Rendered really nicely with all sorts of fun texture effects. And as the runner, you can use the buildings to hide behind as you wait for your troops to catch up to you. I was playing on the PC, but I know it’s also available for the Android and IOS devices. And there’s some fun contrast to how you see the world(well call it normal graphics) and the enemy fire. At least on the first level, all enemy fire looked more like the original Asteroids game. I liked it.

Level 2 adds another level to the game. Instead of just A to B, you actually have to do something(fix a probe). While I guess this is kinda A to B, it has more of a purpose. And hey, there’s finally a fire fight going on. Little turrets pop out and start shooting. Again, the enemy stuff seems to be more vector graphics instead of the textured stuff, which is still a nice contrast.

It also introduces the buy option, where you can add/upgrade your troops. For each enemy you kill, you get money, and that can be spent at anytime. Like a tower defense game!

Overall, this is a really fun game that could appeal to the casual gamer as well as someone more active. The multiple checkpoints in each level are like mini-saves, so if you bugger it up(like I did on the first level) you can go back to that checkpoint and start there.

Would I buy it? Actually, I already did. It’s in the latest Humble Bundle and(at the time of this writing) is available for the next 11 days for whatever you want to pay.

I’d go get it if I were you

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Filed under: Games - @ February 3, 2012 2:16 pm