Defend the Tower II by AceHart

Defend the Tower II by AceHart

Many of you are probably familiar with tower defense games.  Throughout various waves of mobs, you use upgradeable towers to defend a certain area from being overrun.  This is an example of a very common tower defense game, but have you ever played AceHart’s version of tower defense?  It’s rather unorthodox and very fun. To add to AceHart’s the stern nonconformism, AceHart uses a Q&A format to introduce his new map.

Q: What’s different to single-player?
A1: It’s multi-player
A2: Some minor details are greatly different

Q: I can’t seem to win anymore…
A: That would be one of the minor details that are greatly different

Q: Any other such “details”?
A: Plenty

Q: Played with comps and they had a truck-load of own units. Where did he get all those Charm charges from?
A: There are other ways…

Q: I’m sure I have more Creeps to kill than anyone else!
A1: Well all know that random really isn’t
A2: It’s a conspiracy
A3: Blizzard hates you

Q: Hey, I found a shop!
A: Tried using it?

Q: Yep. But that somehow went the wrong way…
A: Damn. Use with care. Comps don’t by the way.

Q: It’s not in GUI anymore.
A: I know.

Q: Still looking for replays?
A: Always

Q: What if I didn’t do that well?
A: How badly you (got) owned is of little importance

Q: It doesn’t work!
A: Oh, really?

Q: Yeah, really!
A1: Details man, details. What, where, who, why and what should have happened instead?
A2: Got the replay?

This unique teaser just made me more curious, and I explored this game by playing it multiple times.  Actually, I’ll probably play it later today even!  Do you need more reasons why this game is awesome?  Well, I suppose a quick review is expected.

You begin the game off with little instruction.  You have one tower.  It is your primary and only tower.  This tower is also a hero, so it can level up during battle.  Each time your tower levels up, you can upgrade one spell.  There are four upgradeable spells: extra arrow, extra cannon, extra click, and extra charges.

These upgrades cause immediate changes to your tower.  An extra arrow gives you one more projectile to hurl at the enemy.  The extra cannon creates a revolving, spiked ball above your unit.  This spiked ball fires cannon balls at the waves of enemies.  An extra click ability allows you to cause damage to enemies by merely clicking on them.  This is useful if you’re a quick clicker.  The extra charges spell allows you to accumulate more helpful items throughout the game.

There are also other ways to inflict damage to your foes.  You can use other, non-upgradeable spells: rune summoner, summon footmen, entangling roots, fire bolt, and my morbid favorite – exploding corpses.  Rune summoner changes the runes that are dropped by mobs.  When you collect 5 runes, you gain one item; this is rather helpful if you want to charm a creature or increase health or mana.  Summon footmen spawns two footmen in an area near your tower.  These units can cut through the thick waves of monsters, and they can also collect dropped runes.  But be quick!  Footmen and runes disappear very suddenly.  Entangling roots impedes mobs.  Fire bolt knocks a monsters into a daze and also damages it with fire.  Exploding corpses blows up dead units and causes massive damage.  But the recharge takes a very long time.

Sounds good so far?  Well, there’s more.  You also have items to choose from: charm, health, and mana.  Charm allows you to convert one monster to your side.  Health heals your hit-points.  Mana gives you more mana, which is rarely needed in any of the matches that I play.  The only way to acquire more items is by collecting runes, so make sure you collect as many as you can with footmen or charmed creatures!

Finally, there’s a mysterious shop in the center of the map.  This shop is not for the weak-at-heart.  Here, you can purchase upgrades for monsters that spawn in the entire map.  Though you have three other plays in three other unique regions, they can take a real hit if they are unprepared for a level 8 monster or a sudden change in mana count.  Imagine trying to hold off a wave of 20 monsters without any spells to cause massive damage.  I guess you better start cranking out the health and mana and charm items! 🙂

I give Defend the Tower II by AceHart a 11.5 out of 12.

The game has a great atmosphere and a teasing challenge that will have you glued to your computer for an hour or so.  If you feel like you’re ready for some major losing, try AceHart’s Defend the Tower II.  If you somehow manage to win one game, comment below.  Braggin’ rights are well-deserved.

Keep on mappin’, WC3 Fans.