Defense Grid 2 | Tower Defense Review | TD Gaming

If I try to guess exactly how many tower defense games I’ve played in my life I don’t really think I’d be able to figure it out. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out games that I play that have TD elements in them, but I doubt I could really take into account all of the flash games I played as well. That being said, one of my favorite TD games is obviously Defense Grid. It might be the best tower defense game ever made.

And if you like me and you like turret defense, guess what? The sequel to Defense Grid is basically just more Defense Grid part 1. It’s extremely tightly knit, and it’s absolutely beautiful. You have your science fiction backdrop where you’re constantly just slaughtering hordes of alien bad guys in order to protect your base. It’s really really really good. I think about TD elements and it’s basically just more of the same thing I was in the first game. And I know that sounds like a complaint, but I’m not really sure that it is.

If you worried about the amount of content that’s in the game, let me assuage your fears. There’s more than enough content in this game to accurately be a standalone game on its own.
The story itself plays out like a old school radio drama like you would hear on the radio in the 30s or 50s. It basically just plays in the background while the campaign runs. It’s all audio so it’s kind of hard to keep characters straight. You just have to keep listening to it and enjoy the quick dialogue. It’s fun enough that it really doesn’t matter if you’re keeping accurate track of the story itself or not.

That being said, the story itself is a nice addition in an entire turret defense game so that you have something to listen to while you’re playing. Picture if you were just listening to something on the radio or an audiobook while you’re playing the game, that’s sort of the same idea- except it actually coincides with the game that you’re playing itself.

The game itself feels like an expansion on the original Defense Grid. You have to admit there’s only so much you can really do with TD. The credit due here is so surprising because they manage to do something new with the genre.

The thing that really set the original part was the ability to construct a new path to force your enemies into longer and longer and more secure circuitous routes. That was the thing that really set it apart. That ability to build a labyrinth for the enemies to go through, like building a long death trap was the whole fun of the game.

This game introduces a new element as well. It’s basically just a box that you put your towers on top of. So basically it’s just a way to control the maze in a way that’s an expensive and you don’t actually have to build a tower there until later if you’re not ready yet. You can build guns on top of the post towers later on of course, and I think they even have a little bit more range if you do so.

Other than that, there really aren’t too many other big additions to the TD game. Just those  boxes and the new campaign, and the multiplayer mode as well. It’s pretty cool as long as your fine with not having a whole lotta new elements in the game itself.

The one bad part of the game is that it’s not very good at conveying information to the person that’s playing it. But different types of towers are actually kind of hard to tell from each other. Alien types, the bad guys in the game to come in waves, I had a hard to tell apart as well. So if you’re looking at a bunch of incoming baddies trying to figure out what types they are then it’s really hard to tell what’s going on. That’s in immediately apparent problem with the game itself. You don’t know what types of towers are which. And you don’t know what types of enemies are which. That really throws a monkey wrench into the game, despite all of its other more superior elements.

That being said, the has a few small issues. But still an excellent tower defense game