14 DAY TRIAL // The tower defense mode has been long seen as a sort of pariah of gaming, just a step above the casual genre, something that serious players would never attempt to play for a prolonged period.
Sanctum 2 might be the game to prove that theory wrong entirely because the team at Coffee Stain Studios manages to seamlessly blend first-person shooter and tower defense in order to create a game with a solid foundation and cooperative focus.
The idea is simple: the player has a core that he needs to protect from waves of enemy alien creatures.
The first phase of each assault includes wall and tower deployment, with the player able to use resources in order to place obstacles that will slow enemy advance and give him and his towers time to take them out.
The second phase uses classic first-person shooter mechanics, with the player able to deploy two weapons in order to shoot enemies, make sure that they don’t pass the towers and eliminate any that get close to the core.
Sanctum 2 is a clever game because it first lures players to the idea that shooting can be used to supplement failings in the construction phase only to then deploy enemies in such a way as to disprove the idea.
I have often spent too much time thinking about tower layout (the game has a time limit for building) and I have then failed to adequately protect choke points, which resulted in the premature destruction of my core.
But Sanctum 2 allows players to learn from their mistakes and tweak their tactics and their approach for each new challenge.
I have found that success involves making the approach to the core as labyrinthine as possible, with a variety of towers placed in the corners as much as possible.
Players then need to defend as far out as possible, retreating when needed and standing their ground when the enemies are forced to change direction.
There are four characters to choose from and the game delivers quite a bit of variety when it comes to towers and weapons, allowing each gamer to use a personalized approach to the levels.
There are times when Sanctum 2 seems repetitive, but the game, at this stage, looks like a solid mix of two genres that can appeal to fans of both.
Take a look at the attached video in order to get a sense of how Sanctum 2 feels in action.
The game will be launched on the PC and the Xbox 360 in 2013.
