Review: Defence Grid 2

Tower defence games seem to be few and far between these days. Back in 2008 Hidden Path Entertainment released Defence Grid: The Awakening to critical acclaim. The game was quirky, challenging and unique. However I found myself getting bored and frustrated with it after an hour or so with little incentive to draw me back. Defence Grid 2 unfortunately falls into the same boat.

Developer: Hidden Path Entertainment
Publisher: 505 Games
Reviewed on: Xbox One
Also Available On: PlayStation 4, PC
Release Date: Available Now

BRB-Score-3

Recently, Hidden Path Entertainment set up a Kickstarter to develop a sequel to the game. Ultimately they didn’t reach their goal, but were picked up by 505 Games to develop the sequel. Whilst it’s great to see developer find success, I couldn’t shake the horrible feeling that I was playing exactly the same game from 6 years ago when I started up Defence Grid 2 for the first time.

The premise of Defence Grid 2 is simple – and identical to its predecessor – in most regards. Enemies will run along a path towards your base where cores are kept and will attempt to steal them. You build a variety of towers with varying weaponry along the aforementioned path such as guns, flamethrowers, cannons and lasers – each with different damaging effects and ranges.

dg2 2

During some levels you can manipulate the path that enemies can take by building towers in the way and forcing the enemies to take a longer route to your base. As you rack up kills you gain more resources which can be used to build new towers and upgrade existing ones to do more damage.

It’s tower defence done right, there’s no denying that and there are a lot of levels to get through with a promise of more to come via DLC. There are multiple scenarios for each level where you might only have a certain amount of towers to place etc.  The game can get really challenging later on when the difficulty really ramps up – I might even go so far as to call it a bit too brutal and off-putting if you are new to the genre or series. There are online leaderboards in the mix too which can promote healthy competition with your friends.

Defense Grid 2_20140928182657

But the one thing that rubs me the wrong way about Defence Grid 2 – as its predecessor did as well – is that it didn’t ever try to make me feel immersed in the gameplay. More often than not I would set out my towers the way I’d want them, upgrade them a little bit, put the game into the fast forward mode, put down my controller and go and get a drink from my kitchen before coming back to find I’d successfully completed the level. The game didn’t need me there to do anything, it played itself and that disappointed me and left a lot to be desired.

Looking at it as a whole, Hidden Path Entertainment have played to their strengths without trying to push their series forward to any great degree. Defence Grid 2 ultimately feels like a re-tread of the original game in a number of ways, from the level design to the overall look and feel of the game.

Tower defence at its best
Lots of content
Almost identical to the original game
The game plays itself
Not very immersive

I could definitely recommend Defence Grid 2 if you’re a fan of the genre or if you enjoyed the original game and have a hankering for more of the same – because that’s what you’re getting. There’s a lot of content here that will keep you coming back. However, if you had some scepticism or weren’t too keen on the original game then you probably won’t find any enjoyment here.

Review copy provided by 505 Games

 

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