14 DAY TRIAL // Defenders of Ardania seems to be a classic tower defense game with a twist: the player needs to both erect structures in patterns in order to stop advancing forces and to create his own forces and march them off against the base of his enemy.
It’s somewhat surprising that the model of combining straight and reverse mechanics for the genre has not become more popular sooner and the developers at Most Wanted Entertainment have managed to create a simple to pick up and play experience that can be both very satisfying and very heart breaking.
At first, players need to use constantly replenishing resources to create towers, choosing from a variety of designs with different abilities and effects, and place them in such a way that the enemy waves of soldiers are not able to take down their own castle.
Once the situation is stabilized on the defensive front, the focus of Defenders of Ardania switches to offensive action and to a set of objectives that depend on the map.
Players need to create waves of troops, again based on the enemy towers they are facing and their immediate aims, and take the battle to the enemy, taking down his towers and his resource nods and then aiming directly for his castle.
Switching from defensive tower placement to the offensive and army composition and balance is a satisfying experience and gives the game more punch that a simple hold-the-line effort like Unstoppable Gorg (although the moving towers from that game would be welcomed in Defenders of Ardania).
The one problem the game has is the long middle of the battle slog, when both sides have their towers up and are able to send significant waves of enemies, when it’s very easy to lose by making a small stupid tower move or by sending too many disposable waves one after another.