The original Sanctum game was a really fun game, it was a great tower defense game which featured a twist giving you the ability to jump down onto the map and actually take down the enemies yourself. With plenty of different enemy types including tank-like enemies and flying enemies, you have to place your turrets strategically, upgrade them and kick some alien butt.

Not much is known about what Sanctum 2 will be bringing, but you can assume it will be more of the insane tower defense fun that the original featured. I’m glad that it will be available on Xbox Live, PSN and PC as the original was only out on PC which obviously limited the amount of gamers that were exposed to it, which was a shame as the game has some great co-op gameplay too.

Keep your eye out for more Sanctum 2 info on Platform Nation as it comes out.

This week’s XBLA Deal Of The Week is none other than the action Tower Defense game; Dungeon Defenders. The game is currently 33% off until Jan 10, 2012 which lowers the price to a mere 800 MS Points. If you haven’t given this hybrid RPG/Tower Defense a try, now is the perfect chance to get your hands on a game that provides hours of entertainment and challenging gameplay.

Dungeon Defenders is 33% Off as Xbox Live Arcade’s Deal of The Week

For those who’ve yet to experience the thrill that is Dungeon Defenders, one of the greatest genre mash-ups to date, the deal has gotten much sweeter on this tower defense/RPG hybrid. Dungeon Defenders is now 33% offfrom January 10 to January 17 as Xbox Live Arcade’s Deal of The Week – that’s just 800 MS Points for hundreds of hours’ worth of goblin-slaying, loot-raiding awesomeness! This deal is limited, so make sure to get your hands on this co-op madness while it lasts.

Dungeon Defenders brings together the best elements of tower defense and action-RPG progression in a fully 3D environment; spreading the four-player co-op mayhem out across 15 unique maps –  30 challenges,  four difficulty settings –  in all its loot-raiding, spell-casting, level-up stacking glory. Players control one of four distinct heroes – Squire, Apprentice, Huntress and Monk – in an epic bid to fight back an ancient evil. Each character comes with distinct functionalities, and players can create and customize an armory of weapons and equipment. The campaign, whether with friends or solo, has tons and tons of gameplay with hundreds of loot drops (all upgradeable and customizable) to make each character that much more distinct.

Dungeons Defenders is definitely worth the price tag and now more than ever is the right time to get in on the Tower Defense action. To get your juices flowing, here’s the gameplay trailer for Dungeon Defenders.

Greetings fellow Orc slayers and War Mages, I come bearing good tidings from the lands of DLC content: tomorrow will mark the release of the second batch of downloadable content for Robot Entertainment’s addictive tower defense game, Orcs Must Die! The DLC pack, entitled ‘Lost Adventures,’ will be adding new towers to defend, new monsters to conquer, plus other goodies, all for the modest price of $2.99. Each of the new towers will offer brutal new challenges for you attempt on various difficulties, so this pack should keep you entertained for at least an afternoon. If you are unfamiliar with Orcs Must Die then be sure to check out their website, along with my review for the 360 version (also available on PC). For a full run down on what to expect in the Lost Adventures DLC pack, look bellow:

 · Five New Fortresses – Repel the orc onslaught in four completely new fortresses plus a reverse version of The Tower where your enemies have the high ground! Each fortress can be played on Apprentice, War Mage, or Nightmare difficulty.
· Two New Enemies – Fear the icy breath of the Frost Bat, and beware the draining magical attack of the Cyclops Mage!
· New Leaderboards – Challenge your friends for the highest score on leaderboards for each of the five new levels.
· New skull rewards – Earn up to fifty additional skulls to further upgrade your arsenal of traps!
· A New Bonus Defense! - Place the Mana Well in strategic locations around a fortress for a burst of magical energy at just the right moment.

Be sure to pick it up!

Let the Orc slaughter continue...

]]> http://www.platformnation.com/2011/11/07/orcs-must-die-lost-adventures-dlc-available-tomorrow/feed/ 0 http://www.platformnation.com/2011/10/13/trendy-entertainment-releases-new-developer-diary-for-dungeon-defenders/ http://www.platformnation.com/2011/10/13/trendy-entertainment-releases-new-developer-diary-for-dungeon-defenders/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:19:03 +0000 Rich Montalvo (RJMontalvo) http://www.platformnation.com/?p=100233

Dungeon Defenders was first released on iOS and Android to great acclaim by both players and critics alike. With its PSN, XBLA, Steam, and PC release dates fast approaching, the folks over at Trendy Entertainment have released a brand new Developer Diary highlighting the RPG aspects of this Action Tower Defense game.

Trendy Entertainment has released the fourth developer diary for its upcoming co-op/action-RPG/tower-defense game, Dungeon Defenders! The video features an in-depth look at the RPG mechanics of Dungeon Defenders. The devs show off how players can level the four different character classes, find tons of loot, raise and collect a variety of pets with different abilities, and forge and trade equipment.

Dungeon Defenders will be available on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PC on Oct. 19 and on PlayStation Network Oct. 18. You can also pre-order Dungeon Defenders right now on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/65800

 

Listen up PC gamers and 360 owners, the Orc genocide has begun! Robot Entertainment has brought us, Orcs Must Die!, an addictive and over the top tower defense game that sets players on the task of single handedly fending off an army of smelly, stupid Orcs. Aside from your trusty crossbow and sword-staff, you will also have a wide variety of brutally ingenious traps at your disposal to help you crush, skewer, smash, and blow up the savage green skins. Not only is this game loaded with content and variety, but it’s also one of those titles that is easy to pick up and start having fun with right away. The game makes a great impression, but is it really worth your hard earned cash? Well, pull out the shovel, and we will dig a little deeper.

In Orcs Must Die, you take on the role of a young and nameless ‘Warmage,’ trying to keep the legions of Orcs from entering the rifts (big glowing portals) that leads to your homeland. Story isn’t too terribly important, but basically, some rifts/gateways opened up between the world of monsters (Orcs, Ogres, Kobolds, ect.) and the lands of humans, dwarves, and elves, and that’s bad. An order of soldiers, known as the Warmages, bravely stepped through the rifts and swore to push back the monsters seeking to destroy their homes on their own ground. And, of course, you are one of the last Warmages still left standing to defend the rift towers.

Not your typical fantasy hero.

The gameplay itself is both fun and fast paced, and you will have to think quickly as you sprint at full speed across the game’s twenty four towers, setting up last second traps, or hacking down baddies that might have made it past your assembly line of death. With the start of each level you will be prompted to choose which traps, weapons or spells you want to put on your action bar to use on this level. At first the choice is easy, but with every tower you successfully defend, you unlock a new trap, guardian (elf archers or paladins), spell, or other goodie to add to your spellbook, and you will soon have to pick and choose which would best suit your current strategy. You will then have as much time as you need to look about the tower, see where the enemies will be coming from, and set traps up accordingly.

Once you are ready, you press a button to ‘unleash the horde,’ and large groups of baddies start charging toward you and the rifts -often from multiple directions and locations- in three waves. Between each of the three waves you will have a short break (12 seconds I believe) to try and set up more traps with the money you earned from your glorious Orc slaughter. After the third wave, you are gracefully given another self regulated intermission to catch your breath (and trust me, you will need to, this game gets intense) and bolster the tower’s defenses before unleashing the next horde. Later in the game you will unlock ‘Weavers,’ who can give you some awesome buffs and help you specialize toward making your traps and guardians stronger, or buffing yourself with better spells and weapons. Each tower then ends with our young and comedic protagonist performing a victory dance to the beat of a rap inspired tune played with fantasy/medieval instruments that I can’t seem to get out of my head.

Kill streaks can be very satisfying.

The thing I love most about this title, is its ability to blend the fun and strategy of tower defense and traps with fast paced hack and shoot em’ up gameplay into one seamlessly addictive experience. Just like in real time strategy games such as Starcraft, you really get the feeling that you are taking on an army all on your own, but you are also right down in the thick of things, personally delivering the pain to the masses and watching your cleverly placed traps spring into action and slaughter the poor bastards. The difficulty scaling is great, and I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun challenge. There is also an impressive number of traps and abilities, plus you have an upgrade system that adds some great effects, and don’t forget the Weavers. Conquering a tower that has given you some trouble by changing up your strategy can be incredibly satisfying, and it has made me smile and laugh with glee on multiple occasions.

My only real complaints with this game are really just a desire for more, because the core game itself is so good. Aside from the awesome, and albeit lengthy, single player campaign mode, there really isn’t much else to do in the game. I would have loved to see a two player co-op mode of some kind, or perhaps the ability to construct my own towers and levels to share with other people in the Orcs community. But, these are features rarely seen in XBLA games. Cycling through the different spells and traps on your action bar with the use of the 360 controller’s left and right bumpers never seemed to slow me down once I began to carefully plan their placement, but some gamers might find it to be problematic; but if this is the case, there is always the PC version available as well. Aside from that, I could have stood to see some more story videos at the start of each level, although some players might have found it annoying. But there is always the skip feature…

I love taking down the Ogres.

This is an awesome game, and easily takes the cake for being my favorite title available on the XBLA (not counting the retail titles). I normally don’t get into strategy games, but this one caught my interest from the beginning and has me coming back for more on the fearsome hardcore mode. This is by far the greatest bang for your buck that you are likely to find on the game market today. I just hope they start working in Zombies Must Die next, because this formula is fantastic.

+ Addictive, fun, and strategic gameplay

+ Stylized graphics, good soundtrack, fun traps

+ Good length, high replay value

- No co-op or other modes aside from the campaign

Final Score: 9/10

After jumping through all the hoops with Microsoft, Robot Entertainment has finally settled upon a release date for their up-coming third person tower defense game, Orcs Must Die!. Originally aimed to launch exclusively on PC this Summer, as the picture below shows, we will now be seeing Orcs Must Die on the Xbox market place October 5^th; followed closely on PC, via Steam and other online retailers, October 12^th. I will personally be playing this game on PC, but after seeing and briefly playing the demo at PAX Prime, I can tell you that the Xbox version looks like a lot of fun as well. It really just boils down to a matter of preference in terms of the controls, but PC users are sure to have access to gamepads as well.

If you are unfamiliar with this title, you can take a glance at the bullets bellow, visit the official site,  or check out my write up from earlier this year.  Why not all three?!  This game looks like a lot of fun.

• Play as the War Mage and defend 24 fortresses from an enraged mob of orcs and 11 other villainous monsters.
• Choose from a selection of 6 weapons and magic spells and 17 traps that hack, launch, flatten, gibletize, and incinerate your enemies.
• Upgrade your traps, spells and weapons to cater the game to your personal play style.
• Cleverly combine traps and spells for higher scores on the leaderboards.
• Expertly wield your wits and your weapons through the story-driven campaign and unlock a brutal “Nightmare” campaign.
• Replay fortresses endlessly, combining different defenses and tactics every time!

Are you or any of your friends going to be attending PAX? If so, this is one game that you should really check out. Orcs Must Die! is a really fun action based, tower defense game that I thought was just so fun to play when I got my hands on it last March. Check out my preview coverage of it from the link before or you can also check out Tym’s preview here, he was lucky enough to play it at PAX East. It’s due to come out very soon so stay tuned for more information and if you are going to be at PAX, do yourself a favor and check out Orcs Must Die!

Robot Entertainment announced today that Orcs Must Die!™ will be playable on PC and Xbox 360 at the Robot Entertainment booth (Booth 940) during the 2011 PAX Prime Convention, which runs from August 26th to 28th in Seattle, Washington. This will be your last chance to get your hands on the game before release, so if you’ve been holding off, now’s the time to give in to your orc bloodlust.

Robot Entertainment will also be bringing plenty of extra surprises with them to the show. By visiting the booth and signing up for the Robot Forums, you can earn a free Steam code for an in-game War Mage costume based on the popular Penny Arcade character, the Cardboard Tube Samurai. If real world costumes are more to your liking, brand new Orcs Must Die! shirts, hats, and buttons will be available in the booth, along with the classic Orcs Must Die! and Robot Entertainment shirts. Robot Entertainment will also be giving away printed editions of the Orcs Must Die! prequel comic book to the first 200 people to play the game each day of the show.

Did you like what you read? If so, do us a favor and share it with your friends as well. Click any of the ShareThis links above or below. Thank you!

The popular tower defense game, Revenge of the Titans, is now available for Macintosh users!
Mac gamers will now be able to defend Earth’s bases in this tower defense/real-time strategy game brought to us by Puppygames.
The Titans are back to wreak havoc on Earth’s forces and its defense has been left in your hands. Battle through 50 levels using a variety of buildings and research technologies to defend your base from the vengeful Titans.
This title is available through the Steam service for both PC and Mac users for the cost of $14.99.
We haven’t had much coverage for Revenge of the Titans, so I have included some screenshots and the official release trailer for the game.
Enjoy!

Defenders of Ardania, the upcoming tower defense game currently in development for PC, consoles, and tablets, is slated for release Q3, and there is a new gameplay trailer for us to take a look at. As you will see when viewing the trailer below, this is a next-generation tower defense game with a twist.

Defenders of Ardania is set in the rich fantasy world of Majesty, and besides the addictive core mechanics of placing towers to stop advancing enemy units, Defenders of Ardania also allows players to take on the role of attacker and defender simultaneously, giving us a challenge we have never seen before.

Here are some of the features for the upcoming Defenders of Ardania:

Features:
- An intriguing new take on the massively popular tower defense genre: players lead both offensive and defensive operations
- Ardania: the world of Majesty with three playable races and their unique environments
- Defense: 24 different upgradeable towers to erect against the invading enemy
- Attack: 24 varied units with diverse attributes to assemble into an offensive force
- Strong multiplayer component with a variety of game modes for up to four players
- Interactive environment that affects gameplay
- A wide range of offensive and defensive spells

For more information be sure to check their web page, and don’t forget to follow Defenders of Ardania on Facebook and Twitter for up to the minute updates.

Game Review:

Plants Vs. Zombies has pollinated it’s seed on the PlayStation 3 this past month, and I am here to tell you whether it was a success or a bust. For those of you who have not heard of this game yet, shame on you. It’s a take on the Tower Defense genre that has been sweeping the nation. There are four common factors that make up a tower defense game; attackers (the enemy), defenders (you), something the attackers are after, and a set path that the attackers will follow and the defenders will be set-up on. In Plants Vs. Zombies, you are defending your house from swarm after swarm of attacking zombies. In order to protect it, you have to plant “zombie attacking plants” in your yard, which serves as the attacker’s path. You start off defending your front lawn, then ultimately end up on your roof.

Helping you throughout the Zombie siege is your neighbor, Crazy Dave. Even though he is a few nuts shy of a sundae, he is still capable of assisting you. At first he just gives you some helpful tips, but after finding the legendary treasure he is seeking (you’ll have to play to find out what it is), he will open up his car trunk store, Crazy Dave’s Twiddy Dinkies, and sell you very useful items to use in your lawn’s defense. He will also explain some of the extra special levels that you get to play as you progress. Oh and he wears an upside down saucepan on his head. Whacko!

You need two things to plant your Plants; seeds and sunlight. You will collect different seed packets as you progress through the game, and the sunlight is collected while you are playing. Some plants will produce sunlight (i.e. Sunflowers) while the rest of your sunlight collecting will come from the sun itself. Each plant costs a set amount of sunlight to plant; think of it as a form of currency.

Your house is on the left side of the screen while the hedgerow that the zombies pass through to start their attack is on the right. There are a set number of paths that they will walk across to get to your house. These paths are straight lines made up of squares and your plants can be planted just about anywhere on the path, only one plant per square allowed though. As the zombies make their way to your house, your plants will fight back if said zombie is on the same pathway that the plant is on. If a zombie makes it to a plant occupied square, it will start to eat the plant. It doesn’t take much for your plants to get totally eaten, so be careful. As the zombies forge forward taking down your plants, you do have one more line of defense before your brains become a tasty snack. A lawn mower sits in wait at the end of each path. If the zombie makes it to the mower, it will start up and mow down any zombie that is on the same path. Now you need to be extra cautious though. If one more zombie makes it through, it’s game over.

Once you get past the massive story mode, you’ll have a ton of mini games to play as well (whack-a-zombie, zombie bowling, etc..). There’s also co-op and a new versus multiplayer mode that doesn’t appear on the PC or iPhone version. Besides earning some trophies from playing these games, you can also help build up your money supply. You can gather money dropped from zombies during the story mode, but you can earn a lot more from playing the mini games. So what do you do with all of this money? Remember our buddy Crazy Dave? Yeah, you spend it at his store, Twiddy Dinkies. This is a great place to find some rare plants and a few other nifty gadgets to help you out in your fight against the undead.

PopCap does a great job of easing you into all of this through their early stages of the game. Even many levels in, you are still learning something new. There are a ton of different zombies and plants that each have a unique ability to help shape the course of the game. For example, sooner or later, you will come across “balloon zombies”. They will float across the yard, above the range of the flower’s attacks, well all except the Cactus which will shoot needles in the air to pop the balloons. Another example is at one point in the game, you will move to the backyard and have to deal with your pool. Well most plants can’t be planted on the water, but if you bring along a lilly pad, you can put that on a water square, then put any other non aquatic plant on top of it. This is one great feature of the game, it always presents you with a new plant type just when you will need it most.

Sadly though, this also brings up my one and only gripe that I have with Plants Vs. Zombies. Why am I only allowed to bring a set amount of seed packets along with me? I’ve played other Tower Defense games, and I have never been restricted to how many different types of “towers” I can tote along. I never seem to have enough space to bring the plants I want and this is disappointing. I would have liked to have seen this feature stricken out of the game all together. Otherwise, I love Plants Vs. Zombies.

Brian’s Final Say: Plants Vs. Zombies is a must buy. There’s no other way of saying it. The mega-addicting gameplay will have you playing “just one more level” every time. It has a fabulous presentation, colorful graphics that are pleasing to the eye, and tons of story levels, mini games, and other game modes to sink your teeth into. This game is for lovers of strategy, tower defense, goofy neighbors, horticulture, and of course, brains and zombies.

• + Great presentation and gameplay
• + tons of options, towers, and enemies to master
• + lots to do
• - Why can I only bring a few plants along to the battle?

Final Score: 9/10