QUOTEDefend Your Castle Review
Simple. Crude. Mindless. And kind of addictive.
by Matt Casamassina
May 12, 2008 - WiiWare -- the perfect complement to Nintendo's own Virtual Console service. And the ideal avenue from which smaller development studios can distribute their retail-unfriendly games. Titles like Defend Your Castle, already a fully playable web-browser experience and something of an Internet sensation. The premise couldn't be cruder or simpler. Villagers run at your castle and you must protect it by any means necessary. Usually, 'any means necessary' equates to picking the villagers up and tossing them skyward, from where they will come crashing back down to the ground again. Done. We know -- seems ridiculously shallow, but there's much more to initially meets the eye where Defend Your Castle is concerned for its a WiiWare project that reveals its depth both as time passes and as multiple players jump in and out of the experience.
Closing Comments
Defend Your Castle is a fun WiiWare game and a perfect example of what the service can bring to Wii owners. Namely, seemingly shallow pick-up-and-play experiences with hidden depth. XGen Studios' project features only a handful of basic play mechanics -- primarily, the ability to grab villagers and toss them around -- but it's frantic, occasionally strategic, and fun, particularly as a multiplayer game. It's also a deal at only 500 Wii Points. The big problem is that you will inevitably tire of the single challenge, even with the bells and whistles surrounding it. And, of course, there's the fact that a similar experience can be had for free on your Internet browser.