Defend Your Castle

"Nothing more a 500 Wiipoint game should consist of!!!"

Introduction

One day when I was browsing the WiiWare titles, one game in particular caught my eyes. I didn't really know what to expect since I've never bought a WiiWare title before, so I read the description and it look like pretty simplistic game to me, so I decided to push my curiosity forward, and watched the trailer… seriously my first thought was why did Nintendo even license this game, the enemies are stick figures with popsicle sticks as battering rams. The game look really unappealing at first sight but eventually after several positive comments from my friends and gaming websites, I gave the game a try at the XGen studios website. The gameplay really surprised me… I had so much fun that the next day I bought the WiiWare rendered version…

Graphics

As I have stated earlier the graphics are bunches of colored construction paper trying to portrait a castle and a background. Even though the graphics are quite simplistic, they have that charm of being like a parody of the giant marketed films and games such as Lord of the Rings, Zelda and every other of the same genre. With the nonstop waves of stick figures with Popsicle battering rams and bottle cap heads, this game needs to be given the credit it deserves for making its way on the WiiWare. Nonetheless, as far as the graphics go, they aren't representative of the value this game has to offer even though they could have brought a smoother and nicer look to the game.

Gameplay

Wow, seriously I was amazed by its simplicity and how awesome such a small and unique game like this could maximize its greatness in so little content. Right from the beginning, you'll be introduced with a high and epic melody. You'll also be greeted with a nonstop oncoming stick figures running to the right of the screen in an emotionless state, which makes you feel anxious on the awaiting scheme of destroying your castle. Once you actually start up the game, the numbers of stick figures you've seen on the title screen will merely be dropped to one at a time, but rest assure the never ending horde of paper figures you've seen on the title screen is merely a joke once you get in the higher levels. So once you get control of the game you'll be given out a bread clip as a pointer, a castle that's to the right of the screen and a simple papered background customized as green being the land, blue the sky and clouds being hold by sticks that move around. There is also a sun which takes the role of being a timer in this game; he will be very helpful for you so you don't get discouraged by the never ending horde of enemies, once day turns to night, you've won the level.

The enemies, as terrible as they may look, they're so funny to watch that you will probably just turn this game on to see them move towards the castle. The basic enemy units are emotionless stick figures that move to the right in hope of tearing down your castle with there bare hands. There are also stick figures that use Popsicle sticks as battering rams, and others that roll some sort of bomb in hope of blowing your castle. There are also the big units which consist of Bottle cap stick figures and catapults which later on can be very troublesome to deal with because of the numerous bashing and rushing going on at the same time. Your best solution to deal with them is being prepared with a good amount of archers and magicians and also being skilled with your paper clip is not a bad idea too if you want to conquer your enemy.

The controls in this game are pretty basic; you use your bread clip; controlled by your Wiimote to fling your enemies up in the air so once they fall down, they crash and die. For the first few levels your only defense against your enemies will be this technique. Further in the game, you'll be able to upgrade your castle with Archers, builders, magicians and having your own personal demolition squad. They all have their own purpose, and they help immensely on defending your castle. The archers are pretty basic; they help you kill your enemies as they come. Magicians are probably the most important of them all as they help you erase and bombard your enemies as well as converting them to your side. Builders are very useful as they heal your castle throughout the levels which really helps to keep your castle from being destroyed. Yet, there is also another upgrade, which is probably the most useful of them all, the pit of conversion. Yes, this game doesn't generate units for you; instead you gotta grab your enemies and throw them in the pit of conversion or use the conversion spray to be able to add units to your upgrades. The gameplay is pretty much summarized here, you complete levels to gain points, you use those points to buy upgrades, you convert enemies to your side and assign them to the different sub categories which consist of archers, magician, builders and kamikaze, you just repeat this cycle again and again. It's pretty basic; there is no flashy hardcore graphics and gameplay, It's just simple, funny and entertaining nothing more a 5$ game should consist of.

Multiplayer

Seriously this game is truly awesome and especially when you and a couple of friends come over to play defend your castle. Coop is basically the same thing as single player, you upgrade your castle and shoot enemies up. The only noticeable difference is that the game will adjust its difficulty based on how many players there are. So your might thinking whats so great about about multiplayer? well it's just better, theres like this competition spirit between players at trying your best on beating your friends score, all the laughing and enjoyment of seeing thousands of stick figures rushing and trying to destroy your castle. This game has a really strange way of putting a smile on each and everyone's face due to its simplicity yet awesome style. This game alone is worth buying for its multiplayer mode.

Bad Side

The only big complaint I have about this game is the fact that your wrist will pay the price of your entertainment. You have to fling your enemies up using the Wiimote and this is a very repetitive and tedious task to do because at some point your wrist will pray heaven for you to drop that controller down to give it a break. It's really not a suited game for anyone who suffers from a wrist or hand injury because it'll probably make things worse. I'm maybe not a hardcore defend your castle gamer, but the most time I've spent sitting down and flinging stick figures up was when I bought the game, I merely played one and half hour before my wrist couldn't take anymore up and down movements. It's the biggest complaint I got towards this game. In my opinion, a simple double click on enemies would have been enough than using your Wiimote like a jackass in your living room.

Overview

We'll this game is really entertaining for the first few times you pick it up, it tends to be less attractive once you move on towards the later levels, but having a couple of friends coming to your home, brings it replayability to a whole new level. My suggest, give it a try a XGen studios website as there is a free but poorly rendered version of the WiiWare title. If you find that this game appealing and good, why not buy it? For only 500 Wii points, it is probably the best money/value game there is as of now.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/20/08, Updated 05/22/08