Load The Ballista: A Review of CastleStorm
I love tower defense games, though truth be told they’re like match 3 games in that everyone does them but the amount of outstanding ones is comparatively rare. Still, they keep luring me in, and fortunately CasteStorm was worth being lured by.
CastleStorm by Zen Studios can be called a Tower Defense game, but in reality it’s really sort of the Serpentor of games: a fusion of best-ofs. It’s Tower Defense, RTS, Angry Birds, Brawling, and Construction. Yeah, that’s going to take a little explaining to do here, so let me get to it.
Basically, you’re Sir Gareth, Protector of the Realm of a peaceful Kingdom who was once at war with the Vikings to the North. Fortunately, peace came about via two magical gems, tears shed by a caring goddess. Unfortunately, the Vikings just stole yours, and it’s time to forget that whole peace thing and go and get it back before it’s magic gets misused.
Now it’s a standard plot, enhanced by a definite sense of story and comedy. But the gameplay gets interesting as it’s several styles merged together very well.
- First, you have a castle that you defend with a ballista and troops – and a wide variety of ammunitions and personnel is available to you. This operates in a 2D environment where troops and projectiles travel across the Battlefield to wreak havoc . . .
- . . . on other troops and a castle. So you’re flinging stones and projectiles at another castle trying to knock it down and damage its installations in a way that, frankly, is rather reminiscent of Angry birds.
- Of course that castle and set of troops you have to design and call out and organize. So it’s an RTS.
- You can send your heroes onto the battlefield (and in some levels you only use them) to wreak havoc personally.
- Finally, you get to design your own castle – and people are going to attack it and throw stuff at it, so plan well. When you loose an important room, you loose its function in the game.
As you play, you get gold, new troops, new opportunities. There’s also plenty of challenges, side missions, endurance runs, and of course multiplayer.
Now the question comes up, yes you can design castles and throw sheep at the enemy (really), but is it good?
Actually, it is. Very good.
The game manages to fuse the genres pretty well and there are several ways to overcome various challenges depending on your inclinations and opportunities. It leads to an almost puzzle like quality as you try and determine which projectiles, troops, equipment, spells, and designs will help you out.
There’s also a real sense of ownership and customization. From leveling up equipment and rooms, to designing a castle, the game feels very personal. You really end up playing it your way.
Finally there’s the sense of humor, which is really welcome, and is definitely wacky. It adds a load of personality to the game, from the character designs to the various comments made in game. The sense of humor enhances the fun, and is part of an overall well-designed aesthetic.
The game is fun. The people designing the game clearly know games, love games, play games, and wanted to make it entertaining.
Is it perfect? Well, no. Sometimes some of the controls and pacing feel a tad off. The story had a few disappointments in it. I’ve found occasional short-term freezes in the menus. But this is a minor set of complaints – especially when the game is $9.99 on Steam.
So for about ten bucks you’re storming castles, beating up trolls, and building the ultimate fortress. It’s hard to go wrong.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
