Review: Tech and Magic

Tech and Magic
Developer: flashrushgames
Genre: Wall Defense

The main character looks remarkably similar to Veigar from League of Legends, who looks remarkably similar to Vivi from Final Fantasy, who looks remarkably similar to Orko from He-Man. There has to be some copyright infringement in there somewhere.

Total Score: 3 out of 5 (Good)

This reasonably quick wall defense game features a sleek design and an interesting system, but ultimately succumbs to a lack of variety and repetitive gameplay. There's definitely promise here, but this game will only ever be noted as the predecessor to a really good sequel, should one be developed. The enemies look good, the controls feel right, and the powers are pretty cool if a bit unbalanced. Let's hope that the developer expands on this concept and delivers an expansion or sequel worthy of a 5 out of 5.

The score

System: 4
Everything in the game feels pretty good. The pacing of the upgrades and enemies are appropriate, and the controls worked well for me (I really appreciate auto-attack style wall defense games). I wish the game was a little more clear on what each of the powers do exactly; for example, I didn't know that the fireball couldn't hit flying enemies. Nothing is really out of place as far as the system is concerned, which is good.

Atmosphere: 3
I dig the Arcanum-esque magic vs. technology feel of the game. The sprites are reasonably simple, but they look very distinct and very clean, which is good for a defense game where there are lots of enemies on the screen at once. The game's music is properly motivating, though the sounds effects were a bit jarring at times. I would have liked to see some more interesting changes to the animations of the castle and powers as you upgraded them. As it is, upgrading isn't really exciting from a flavor perspective.

Storytelling: 1
There is exactly zero explanation as to why our hero is protecting a medieval castle complete with magical crystal cannons from aggressive firearm-wielding robots, so I'm left to assume that this game represents commentary about Man's struggle to exist in a world full of technology... with magic or something. I'm sure it involves Scientology somehow.

Replayability: 2
This game is pretty short, and there isn't really any compelling reason to play it after you finish. Their aren't even really enough powers or enemies to really motivate you to keep playing, and I found myself almost quitting a few times. I suppose its a good thing that my the time I was ready to quit playing for real, I had beaten the game. I would love to see more game modes, and more variety.

Fun Factor: 3
The first few levels and each of the boss levels were really fun for me. I enjoyed picking my upgrades and trying out the powers, and seeing the new enemies when there were new enemies to see. That said, there really isn't anything here that's going to excite those that don't like the defense genre. The game is a solid example of doing everything in a game just enough and no more, and it really suffers for that. If you are a fan of the genre, you'll have fun. If you aren't a fan, you'll probably get bored pretty quick.