Defense Grid 2 review – Serious tower defense for Xbox One

Defence force Grid 2 is the sequel to Hidden Path Entertainment's 2009 critically-acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade tower defense force strategy game. Having achieved and then much with the kickoff entry, Hidden Path withal felt like they could outdo themselves with a next-gen version. And indeed Defense Grid 2 is hands the best tower defense force game on Xbox One right now.

If you're someone that likes tower defense games, just experience as if most of them are as well piece of cake, perhaps this is the game you need to play. Defence Grid 2 has layers and layers of complexity. This isn't just "put down the towers at the starting time of the wave and scout information technology defeat your enemies." This is more of a scramble fast to build your towers and put them in the correct spots early, or watch your enemy hands selection you autonomously. Check out our detailed review to learn how information technology all works.

Protect your cores

Defense Grid 2'southward story is relatively straight to the indicate. Humanity has long left globe and has spread itself over the vast universe while settling on exotic planets. Withal, we are not alone. Aliens take begun to attack usa with hopes of stealing our power cores to cripple humanity. Now information technology's upward to you lot to stop the aliens by taking on the office of Commander to lead humanity to still some other victory.

The story doesn't have beautiful cutting-scenes, or a deep grapheme-driven narrative. Instead, the story is told by short stories on loading screens and witty satirical exchanges from your AI allies. Afterward a while, I didn't even carp to read the cutting-scenes, and I often found myself ignoring the AI banter.

Tin you build it? Yes you lot can.

The gameplay of DG2 is simple, yet deep. As you progress, it becomes insanely difficult. Aliens enter the map in waves, taking the shortest route available to your base's cores. Your job is to choose where you lot want to place your towers on the highlighted grid to protect your cores from the alien scum. That'south where things commencement to become circuitous.

Most levels already have a called path for the aliens to follow, while some permit you to place a tower on the path and make aliens cull a slightly longer one. Some of the more challenging and rewarding levels have a completely open grid for you to place your towers on. This essentially forces you on a mad scramble in the early on waves to go the right path going before the aliens takeover your cores.

Here'southward the challenging bit. In order to build towers, yous need currency. To earn this then-called currency, y'all must kill aliens. What makes it even more challenging though is that if you desire to survive the subsequently waves on a level you're going to accept to upgrade these towers. Once upgraded these towers output more than damage and some fifty-fifty extend their range. Then, not only are you trying to destroy your foe, you lot're trying to build the well-nigh cocky-efficient filigree possible to farm your currency.

Alien versus belfry

Your towers are your arsenal in DG2, but this is no firing squad. Each tower must be methodically placed every bit they all have their own unique range and ability. The Inferno tower smothers your enemies in flames when in range and is relatively cheap to upgrade. The Meteor is like an artillery that has the biggest range in the game, only is costs an arm and a leg to upgrade. There are seven other towers in the game for you lot to choose from, but you have to advance through the game a bit to unlock them all.

To make your towers efficient killing machines, not but can you upgrade them, you can besides earn alternate special abilities selected before the level begins. These special abilities can merely be activated if the tower is placed on a heave. The boost allows you lot to place a tower college than others then that it tin can fire over them instead of holding its fire when another tower blocks its shot.

As many every bit there are towers, there are aliens. Each alien comes in different varieties, so you lot never know what's going to come up at y'all next. For case, they have speedy aliens that can just zoom past your defenses. However, sometimes the little speedy guys besides take shields on them which make them even harder to set on. Equally yous progress through the game, they start introducing more and more aliens which is awesome for replayability, and information technology constantly keeps you on your toes.

Two commanders are mostly ameliorate than ane

Unlike the first Defense Grid, this time around y'all are allowed to have a fellow friend join you in your fight against the aliens. Nonetheless, this doesn't make the game easier at all. That tin can be a pro to some and a con to others. The other multiplayer type is caput-to-head. In this game type, y'all and a friend play on dissever maps and keep the aliens from stealing your cores. There is a catch though. Whatsoever aliens you kill on your map will appear on your friend'south map and vice-versa, just with stronger abilities. As intense and engaging as information technology sounds, I notwithstanding adopt just playing the story co-op with a friend.

When playing co-op multiplayer in DG2, you share the currency that's gained, and yous can't resell towers to put a new belfry in its place. This makes for constant communication and negotiation to decide as a team what goes where and what's spent on what. This bugged me for a bit because information technology wasn't explained before the game started, but overall I do understand why they chose to get in similar this.

Less understandably, you have to recreate your co-op game every time you beat a level. You can't only progress through the whole game with a friend in a unmarried session. Likewise, there's no reason this game couldn't support local co-op.

Achievements

If you're an Achievement hunter, this game is for you! Defense Grid 2 has a whopping 65 achievements for yous to chase downwardly for the usual 1,000 gamerscore. During the first couple of levels, you lot'll detect that achievements are handed out almost as if they don't mean anything. Don't recollect you lot become them all for gratuitous though.

There are some crazy hard achievements in at that place for you to nab. For case, the Untouchable Accomplishment nets you 30 Gamerscore for chirapsia a chapter 4 mission with zero cores captured. The Gun Crazy achievement unlocks once you beat a chapter 4 mission using only guns. Yes, guns are the cheapest weapon in the game, but these things are inexpensive for a reason. It's a existent claiming, merely I'chiliad sure the Achievement community will somewhen work out strategies for everyone else to follow.

Overall Impression

Defense Grid two is the best belfry defense game I've ever played. In that location are just and so many layers to this game that it is hard to put down. The irony of information technology, nonetheless, is that some of the about fun in DG2 was when the controller wasn't in my manus. I would just but watch, my towers destroy the enemies in a perfectly built corner or only before they reached my cores on the terminal moving ridge. The game does a great task at pacing while at the same time not letting you get likewise comfortable. It really challenges you in afterward waves by unleashing stronger enemies that tin only be taken intendance of by fully upgraded towers.

That existence said, the clumsy multiplayer setup and lack of multiplayer-specific tutorial data got on my nerves. Also, I establish the AI allies to exist rather overkill compared to the first Defense Grid'southward more laid-dorsum narrator. Withal, I thoroughly enjoyed Defense Grid 2, and I strongly believe that other belfry defense fans volition as well. And so if you're a fan of the genre or strategy in general, I highly recommend y'all get this game now.

• Defence force Filigree 2 – Xbox 1 – ane.44 GB – $24.99 – Xbox.com Link

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