Review: Revenge of the Titans for Windows, Mac, Linux

Title: Revenge of the Titans
Price: Originally launched with the Humble Indie Bundle 2, so you could name your own price. $13.37 if you preordered. $27.72 if you waited until its official release
System(s): Windows (Mac and Linux)
Release Date: December 14, 2010
Publisher (Developer): Puppy Games (Puppy Games)
ESRB Rating: N/A, I’d say it’s good for ages 10 and up. Not because it’s overly violent, but because it can be rather difficult.
Pros: Lots of different types of building and weapons, have to fund other kinds of research to create usable and more effective defenses, retro presentation, titans don’t follow a set path when they invade, earn Medals in levels based on actions, multiple game modes (Campaign, Endless, Survival), 50 levels in the campaign, can fast forward battles, cash carries over each level, can choose from multiple window sizes and you can restart level on an easier difficulty level if you fail.
Cons: Have to cancel what you’re currently doing to click and collect resources/reload, trial and error comes into play when choosing upgrades and unlocking new weapons/buildings, areas can be quite big and require lots of scrolling to observe everything, Endless and Survival are practically the same, enemy indicators on map don’t provide any idea of how many enemies will be coming from each spot and environments and enemies all start to look alike after a while.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways, 85/100, B, * * * 1/2 out of 5

In 2006, Puppy Games’ Titans first appeared on the indie scene in a shoot’em up reminiscent of Space Invaders. The Titans were assaulting the Earth and players had to step up to blow them out of the sky. Now, four years later, the Titans have returned in Revenge of the Titans. I guess they’re mad about us, you know, defending ourselves and have decided to completely overrun the earth in response. Which means players must think smart and outwit the enemies in a strategy game, defending essential bases around the world.

Titans want to overtake Earth! Again!

Earth is always susceptible to attack and, oh look! It’s happening again! This time Titans are to blame. They’re lumbering monsters who are quite strong and happen to have glowing eyes. This time, the aliens have actually landed on Earth and are attacking the cities. Players must join with top military personnel to try and save the day.

When you head to a map in Revenge of the Titans, it may look a bit different than you’d expect. There are roads and a few buildings, but they’re really more decorative than useful. Yes, Titans will sometimes follow a road once they find one, but more often they just move as a hoard towards your base. The things to really watch for are your base, crystals that you can place refineries near to get money and the warning dots that show where Titans will come from. The Titans will start invading shortly after the first refinery is built, so it’s best to take a few minutes to survey the map, lay down a few gunner stations or barricades and then place your refineries. After that, the baddies come streaming in and you have to defeat them all and survive.

Careful planning and management can save the day

Revenge of the Titans isn’t for novices. The game starts expecting players to know how a tower-defense game proceeds and what you need to do to take down the Titans. Yes, it will initially offer suggestions as to what you should spend money on and the strengths and weakness of new invading Titans, but for the most part you’re on your own. You have to know from experience that you can’t just spend all your money between missions on weapons – that you have to fund research to get new weapons and spend some cash on defensive measures. If you do mess up, then the game will allow you to replay the level at a lower difficulty level. But even a lower difficulty level won’t help if you don’t think about the next three battles rather than just the one you’re heading into.

Which is great, because it means Revenge of the Titans is a good stepping stone for tower-defense players. Perhaps people who got into the genre because of a more casual game like Plants vs. Zombies or Desktop Defense Pro and are looking for something new that will test them. It’s the kind of game where you want to keep track of upgrades and consult with other players to formulate the best strategies to survive waves of enemies.

The only real disappointment I experienced came from a small control issue. In general, they’re awesome. there are shortcuts you can use to your advantage, easily visible on screen at all times, that let you pick and place necessary defensive and offensive measures and zoom in on certain areas. Plus alerts pop up to let you know if collecting or reloading needs to be done. The problem is with said reloading and collecting. It can’t be done if you currently have another kind of building or object assigned to the mouse. At first I thought it was just me, that perhaps I was clicking wrong since a “Collect” would show up when I hovered while my mouse was assigned to place barriers, but no. It wouldn’t allow me to collect or reload unless I went to the center menu and canceled my current mouse action. Since Titans attack quite quickly, time is a luxury and you’re wasting precious second to cancel, collect and reselect.

There’s also one other thing about Revenge of the Titans that may dissuade some players. While it does have some rather retro-fabulous graphics, it is also very bland. The enemies all look similar, so the only real way to tell them apart is by size and, sometimes, by how fast they move. The environments are all clad in the same shades of dull browns, greens and grays. Now, this isn’t a deal breaker as it is something that happens in a lot in this genre. Considering you’re fighting around the world in this particular case, you’d just expect a bit more variety.

Fun, but not as catchy as other tower-defense games.

Revenge of the Titans is undoubtedly a good and challenging tower defense strategy game. It makes the player think about decisions and how to progress through the main Campaign, lest you end up on a later level without the necessary weapons and robots to assist you. It also has monsters which don’t stick to a set path, so you have to carefully watch the invaders to make sure they’ll be in range of your weapons and not go near your more valuable buildings. Unfortunately, Revenge of the Titan‘s dull presentation and routine gameplay keeps it from standing on equal ground with games like Defense Grid, Plants vs. Zombies, PixelJunk Monsters and Desktop Tower Defense. Ultimately, it’s a game that strategy and tower defense fans are going to most enjoy, since it’s going to give them more difficult missions to complete.

Site [Revenge of the Titans]