Like many adult gamers, my backlog is a constant source of shame and anxiety, and at the forefront of that avalanche of shame is the pile of Steam games I've accrued over the years (those darn Humble bundles are just too hard to resist). Swords and Soldiers HD was actually probably one of the first games I bought on Steam, as the WiiWare version had gotten great reviews and it was (presumably, I don't really remember) just a couple of bucks.
I'm not really into tower defense games, but the game's cartoony visuals drew me in. The game features three different factions: Vikings, Aztecs, and Chinese, and the variety of units and special powers is engaging. The game is polished and on my laptop didn't have any slowdown whatsoever, even when the screen was full of skeletons, flaming arrows, angry Vikings, and the like. The game does change things up so that some strategy is required, but for the most part it was pretty casual and mindless. The game includes special powers, such as lightning strikes, that you can activate and direct, and in general feels like it requires more active participation than the only other tower defense game I've spent a significant amount of time with, Plants vs. Zombies (which I found to be completely mind-numbing).
The polished presentation wasn't quite enough to see me to the end of the third campaign, but the three different factions do feel unique and the game was pretty entertaining overall. I can't say that I'm too interested in the sequel, which has gotten positive reviews but just looks like more of the same, though.
Defend these Swords and Soldiers HD links:
- The game has been released on many Nintendo platforms by now. Along with the aforementioned WiiWare release, it was also released on 3DS and Wii U. Apparently it's also been ported to a variety of other platforms, including iOS and Android.
- Entry at howlongtobeat.com
- Entry on Wikipedia