Sanctum 2 brings more FPS to tower defense

sanctum 2 armored heavy

Sanctum 2 is the next installment of the most challenging tower defense/FPS hybrid game I have ever played.

Sanctum 2 is a sequel to a incredibly well-known first person tower defense game known as Sanctum. Both games have been developed and published by a popular company named Coffee Stain Studios. You represent the last defenders that can save the planet from hordes of deadly aliens. You can attempt this as single player or in co-op multiplayer.

sanctum 2 core

This is a first person shooter game where the player also has the power to make a maze filled with defense towers that help him protect the oxygen-producing Cores from an increasing number of aliens that are out to destroy them. There are a variety of distinctive weapons, towers and enemies in Sanctum 2, each one of them having distinct strengths and weaknesses. Also each character has his / her own specific primary weapon. One has shotgun, one has sniper rifle, one has rocket launcher, one assault rifle and the newest character has a special crossbow. Now each weapon has its own style of play. The shotgun character is good towards larger enemies that come running at him. Rocket launcher is sweet versus swarms of enemies since his damage applies to an area. Sniper and Crossbow characters are most effective versus game bosses, since they deal largest amount of damage in a single hit. And assault rifle is okay versus just about anything.

sanctum 2 maze

Each character can also have a secondary weapon. There are many different secondary weapons so the player can match precisely what they need to complement their primary weapon. There are additionally diverse perks in this game which help out with bonuses to your character. You might choose a perk that turns slow but strong weapons into very fast, even more potent weapons. Or maybe a perk that slows down every alien you shoot. There are dozens to choose from and that makes for a varied game play experience. Of course, don’t forget there are a lot of towers that assist you in fighting off the alien horde. Gun towers, laser towers, drone towers, etc. and each can be upgraded between invasion waves depending on your resources. Each tower is usually good for one specific thing, and it is up to player to discover what’s the optimum method to make the towers fit in with their play style and what’s most effective versus what enemies. Of the various kinds of enemies that are trying to take over the planet, some are small, numerous and quick, while others are powerful, slow and difficult to kill. Find the right mix of weapons, towers and perks to take them out before the core is destroyed!

sanctum 2 towers

Sanctum 2 vs Sanctum 1 main differences:

Emphasis is now placed more on the players to damage the aliens instead of with dozens of towers. In fact, the number of towers allowed is capped at 15, no matter the number of players on your team. Also, aliens will now target you specifically if you’re too close – totally different from the first game when they generally ignored you. However this also allows you to interrupt their progress and slow them down if you’re quick and agile.

Feats of Strength! These are basically five options that make the game harder. The enemies attack faster, regenerate health, have more hit points, etc. Defeating a map with all five selected is definitely an achievement.

There is now a leveling system that unlocks more weapons, towers and perks to the player as he progresses. These additional options allow the player to replay earlier maps with different strategies and feats of strength.

Perks! Choose up to 3 to modify your character or the game.

sanctum 2 perks

They took away the teleporters That was among the neat things from first game, letting you warp from one part of your maze to the other to deal with any breakthroughs. No longer. This will affect your game play and your tower defense.

Death: Yes, one can die now, and guess what? If you die, you have to WAIT for a respawn, even if you fall off the map by accident. If you’re using a certain Feat of Strength you’ll have to WAIT until the end of the wave. Ouch. Don’t die.

While many of the enemies are carried over from the first game and look just about the same, there are some new alien types thrown in, especially in the DLC content. This gives an additional challenge to Sanctum veterans.

Can’t improve weapons directly: This has been removed as well. You choose a gun, that gun stays the same, no upgrading it stronger or quicker, or faster reload… However you can choose perks instead that basically do the same thing and more.

The final word

Sanctum 2 is an indie game that really shines. If you like shooters and/or tower defense games, this brings both together in a very challenging way. The artwork is fantastic and the music is amazing. I highly recommend you support this independent studio.

Empire: Total War in the 18th century

empire-total-war-americas

Empire: Total War is a historical mix of turn based strategy and real time tactical battles set in the late 18th century.

With another notch in it’s gaming franchise, Creative Assembly takes the same winning concepts that were so successful in it’s earlier games and tweaks them for the world in the time of Napoleon, focusing on Europe and the two colonial theaters of North America and India in the 18th century.

empire-total-war-europe

The game is broken down into two separate parts. The first part is The Grand Campaign – the turn based strategy on the world map that moves your armies, maintains your cities and engages in intrigue and diplomacy. A new feature, the technology tree, allows research improvements and benefits for your Empire’s military, industry, and overall philosophy. In each game you choose an Empire to run, victory conditions to accomplish and campaign length. Be warned, even a ‘short’ campaign of just 50 years is a long game, requiring hours of strategic thinking as you flex your intellectual might on multiple fronts. Thankfully there is a tutorial set in colonial America called the ‘Road to Independence campaign’ that teaches you the basics.

empire-total-war-battlements

The second part of Empire:Total War is the real time tactical battles when two armies collide and you deploy and order your troops in combat. The battleground takes place on various terrain maps from rolling hills to open fields to strongholds and fortifications (my favorite is siege warfare). Use natural features like ‘high ground’ and forests to your advantage. Various types of infantry, cavalry and artillery are yours to command. There’s even some great naval battles where armadas duke it out on the high seas. Each unit has it’s own strength, accuracy and morale that affect it’s combat ability – militiamen may be quick and cheap to recruit, but don’t count on them too much to hold the line! The level detail is excellent. You can even zoom in and watch the individual soldiers shoot and fight as they strive for victory.

empire-total-war-siege-defense

There are hundreds of hours of single player game play here, but there’s also multiplayer battles where you can match up versus other online players. However there is no online play for The Grand Campaign. That is probably a good thing since those multiplayer games would take forever to finish. Overall I enjoyed the game a lot and reached 100% achievements. The battles could get monotonous at times but the AI was usually good without major flaws to exploit. Depending on the size of your campaign, there could be too much micro-managing, but usually if you’re doing that well you can put most things on auto-pilot where local administrators choose what they think is best, letting you be free to concentrate on what is important. If you like historical battles or any of the Total War series, then Empire should be a vital slot in your gaming library.

Defense Grid: The Awakening

defense-grid-alien

Defense Grid: The Awakening from Hidden Path Entertainment is thought by many to be THE tower defense game for the PC.

Hordes of aliens are invading and your job is to strategically place fortified towers to channel these enemies for annihilation through a maze of death. Doesn’t that sound nice? Plan your strategy by making choke points so your various towers can wreak havoc before the aliens can disable the power core and overrun the base.

defense-grid-the-awakening

For each level, you get advance knowledge the aliens are coming and their expected route of attack. The alien vanguard is light but each wave gets stronger and more numerous so it takes more and more towers to take them out. An ‘incoming’ bar at the top shows what’s coming next so you can plan an effective defense. Beware the bosses with special abilities as they are truly powerful and will give your most carefully laid plans lots of trouble. You gain resources to to upgrade and build more towers from killing aliens and having power cores in your containment facility, which the aliens are trying to reach and disable. Stop them at all costs!

defense-grid-mission-selection

The graphics in Defense Grid are stunning, the music is terrific and even the commentary is memorable. It is single player only, but each level has multiple challenges for the die-hard tower defense lovers. The achievements are difficult and actually feel like true accomplishments. There are also several DLCs for even more action, including one that hilariously parodies the Portal franchise. The developers for this indie game are very good about responding and interacting with players.

Dwarfs!? and the Power of 2

Dwarfs!? is an clever 2D arcade game from indie developer Power of Two where you control a dwarven colony as they dig deep underground, looking for treasure but always stumbling into dangerous caves and hostile denizens who threaten their very survival. Silly dwarfs. They soooo crazy! They just can’t stop…

View this Gamer entry

Killing Floor Co-op Survival Horror FPS

killing floor bedlam shotgun

Killing Floor is a dark, gritty and terrifying indie game where co-op players battle to survive after a biological contagion releases cloned bloodthirsty human mutations upon the streets of London.

Originally developed as a mod for Uneal Tournament 2004, it became popular enough to release as a stand alone video game in 2009 by Tripwire Interactive and is still supported by the devs to this day, with an active player base.

killing floor trader

Killing Floor is a first person shooter, with each match taking place in one of dozens of unique maps around England, where the players fight waves of zombie-like hordes until the ‘boss’ Patriarch appears to wreak havoc and the match ends in victory or death. It’s survival horror right at it’s very core. Players earn money by killing specimens and staying alive each wave, and between waves they may buy or sell weapons and body armor at a trader while it’s temporarily safe.

killing floor perk effects sharpshooter

Each player may select a perk at the start of the match and switch between waves. Each perk is like a character class, and gives bonuses to certain items and play style. Each level up to a max of 6 gives increased bonuses, and Perks are leveled up using specifics to each class.

  • Field Medic – Bonuses to healing and body armor with slight movement bonus.
  • Support Specialist – Damage bonuses when using shotguns and welding bonus.
  • Sharpshooter – Damage bonuses when using sniping weapons and scoring headshots.
  • Commando – Damage bonuses when using assault weapons
  • Berserker – Damage bonuses using melee weapons with movement bonus and damage reduction.
  • Firebug – Damage bonuses when using fire weapons and resistance to fire.
  • Demolitions – Damage bonuses when using explosives.

Beginner tip: Until you have a perk at level 5, you will always start a match with a knife and a pistol, so the best perk to start with is the Sharpshooter for it’s bonus damage using pistols as well as head shots. If you pick anything else you’re just gimping yourself, and the team. You can switch perks after the next wave when you have enough money to buy a better weapon.

killing floor frightyard kfo axe

Killing Floor can be played single player or co-op multiplayer up to a team of 6, with the game scaling automatically to fit the number of players and difficulty level. As either increases, so does the number and strength of most of the specimens coming to kill you. This makes team playing very important and players who don’t work together usually don’t last very long. Up to 32 zeds at a time randomly appear at various spawn points on each map, and head towards the nearest player. This means these mutated creatures could easily appear from above or behind your position and surprise you if you’re not careful.

Killing Floor also supports custom mods from players covering anything from new maps and items to new perks and profiles. I recently played a map which was a replica of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. Trippy. A great feature is if you join a server that is using mods, they will be downloaded automatically for you. You can also find and install them manually if you wish to play solo, or even set up your own server.

killing floor workshop

Killing Floor has a large number of downloadable content (DLCs) that are mostly cosmetic, providing different skins for the player or new items such as the gold plated AK47. The new weapons are roughly equivalent to existing weapons so these DLCs are mostly for show and to support the developers. The Commando Chicken outfit seems to be popular.

killing floor dlcs

Although basically Killing Floor is about killing the crazed mutated specimens and surviving the match, the replay value is there due to the dynamics of team play, different strategies and random enemy spawns. Some teams may ‘camp’ a certain area so they know the direction the zeds must come from and try to defeat them with massed firepower, where other teams may keep moving around the map, kiting the zeds so as not to be surrounded. Both tactics are viable depending on the map and the players but make no mistake – this game is challenging. Even the best players will find themselves getting eaten more often than not on the higher difficulties. The simple yet clever game play in Killing Floor is what makes it so enjoyable.

Zeno Clash a surreal fantasy world

Zeno Clash is an first person fighting game from Chilean developer Ace Team set in a surreal fantasy world best understood while on mind altering substances. Playing the role of Ghat, the son of a bizarre creature called Father-Mother, whose ‘children’ form the most powerful clan in the city of…

View this Gamer entry