I post links on twitter a lot to various short indie games that I like, but I’m trying to get into the habit of making more thoughtful journal entries on them (like I did for Continuity).
Today’s game of choice is Defend Your Honor, a Flash fantasy-themed tower defense game. I went into this one cautiously, because I’m generally not a huge fan of tower defense games.
This one, however, was great! It has a silly story and a rudimentary but appealing art style, and the music is quite enjoyable (the theme that plays when you’re out in the dungeon picking out which door to go to is delightful and addictive).
I think the theme wrapper of the game as a sort of classic, D&D-style dungeon fantasy adventure helped hook me in. The units you control are quite simple, and the battles themselves are relatively short. I never failed a battle more than twice, but there were plenty of close calls that made me feel clever and kept things interesting.
Having the meta-game of getting the keys and statues to progress through dungeon rooms really helped to break up the pacing, as tower defense games I’ve played in the past have exhausted me with their format. Plus, having the units be introduced to you as characters is a nice little tie-in, but they didn’t overdo it by trying to over-explain things (like how you can buy multiple units of what appears to be a single character). The lightness and crudeness of the story makes this tactic acceptable.
I played through the whole thing in an evening, but it does save your progress. So, if you’ve been “meh” about tower defense games in the past, give this one a try. It’s quick and fun!
I felt the exact same way! I’m normally not a huge friend of tower games, but I greatly enjoyed this one. For me though, it wasn’t the story that sold it (although that was a huge part), but actually more about the slight change of mechanics.
Rather than starting with X money, and needing to gradually build up my forces during the duration of a single level, I built up my forces through the entire scope of a game. I really enjoyed strategically placing all my units at the very start of a level, and then needing to think carefully in regard to how to upgrade them throughout the battle.
Did you find it challenging? I really found it a bit of a cake walk until the final levels where character placement suddenly became crucial (and a lot more difficult).
I don’t think it was particularly challenging (though I did play it on Normal). Like, every time I lost to a wave, I knew exactly the mistake I’d made, and 9 times out of 10 was able to correct it.
I did enjoy the final levels where I had to be much more careful (overlaying cleric ranges for the win!)
That was surprisingly entertaining! I played in my normal OCD way, making sure that I could max out my unit cap by re-playing a few of the earlier levels to get $$$ fast
But I agree! Good pacing, slightly funny, and *just* the right amount of gameplay before it would have gotten boring.