Dungeon Defenders – Review – Xbla

There must be about a million tower defense games out right now, each with it’s own gimmick and art style. Very few of those titles though have staying power and none that I have played have a deep leveling system and Diablo like loot drops to keep you addicted and wanting more. Dungeon Defenders changes that last part and may take it’s place as the best tower defense game so far.

Story: A long time ago in Etheria warriors fought and locked away their evil immortal enemies The Old Ones in the Eternia Crystals. The warriors have now left their castle stronghold to adventure while leaving their children in charge of the castles chores. Growing bored of chores the kids decide to play about and mistakenly unleash The Old Ones. Now they must defend the castle.

Gameplay: Dungeon Defenders is a clear mix of two genres that people love: Action RPG and Tower Defense. Starting out you choose one of 4 classes (Apprentice,Squire,Huntress, and Monk) each has a different learning curve with the Huntress and Monk being the hardest to use. Once you choose your class your off to defend your first dungeon, all seems like your run of the mill tower defense, but once the waves start you must jump into the fight and assault the enemy head on gathering loot and mana as you go. Mana in the game is used for pretty much everything from buying and upgrading your towers to purchasing new armor. The game does however become very boring playing alone, but fear not there is co-op. The co-op mode is where Dungeon Defenders really picks up, going from a fun game to a great game. They also include PvP so you can prove to your friends who is the best defender of them all. Challenge maps are also included and add some fun modifiers such as no towers allowed.

Graphics/Audio: The game doesn’t look much different from it’s phone counterpart with the exception of being on a much larger screen. Cartoonish character design coupled with bright colors make Dungeon Defenders a very pretty game albeit a grim dungeon atmopshere. The soundtrack is nothing special, but also does not detract from the overall experience. I just wish it wasn’t so generic in terms of sounds and tone.

Overall: Dungeon Defenders is a great game, especially if you have a few friends to jump into the fray with. People looking to play this alone may want to try something else as the game becomes not only very challenging, but kind of repetitive while alone. The biggest downside for me was the price point, while $15 is not a lot for this game on the Android and iOs platforms it only runs $3. If your an action RPG fan or a tower defense fan give this game a try.

Pros:
-strong co-op
-great for casual and hardcore gamers
-tons of loot and leveling

Cons:
-little enemy variation
-price is 5 times higher then the phone version with not much difference
-single player is boring

8 out of 10

A copy of this game was provided by the developer for reviewing purposes.

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