Author: CowardlyLobster

We truly are in a Golden Age of gaming, in which AAA titles storm the stores practically every month, with hardly the time or money to play them all. Much less time do we have to scour Xbox Live’s Marketplace for great games on the cheap. Too often, well-made Indie games fall through the cracks of our collective consciousness and stay unplayed on Xbox Live.

If you’re a fan of Tower Defense games, don’t let Sol Survivor be one of those games.

Definitely a game made with the ‘core strategy gamer in mind, this title does little to reinvent the Tower Defense genre, but its end product is a very enjoyable experience you won’t want to miss on XBLA.

Story

After an intro like that, I’d hate to start my review on the game’s biggest weakness – but this is the format at GV, and we’re stickin’ to it. This story elements – and otherwise ‘driving forces’ of this game – are generic at best, and drab at worst. The plot seems to exist solely to move from one mission to another. Not that it’s a particularly bad story – it’s got space monsters (the Ascendency), lasers, resource wars and interstellar flight – but it’s something most gamers have heard done to death.

Of course, at the end of the day, one needs to consider the platform – this is a tower defense game on XBLA. At the end of the day, the story doesn’t really matter. The designers seem to realize this, as very little of the story needs to be read or accessed, but it’s present for those who want to read it.

One final gripe about the story I have is concerning the game’s Executive Officers. In multi (and through the course of the story), several XOs are available for selection – each with their own combination of weapons, strengths and weaknesses. The idea is good on paper, but somewhat lacking in execution, as the characters are essentially bland archetypes of sci-fi and military genres. The only unique thing about them is that early on in the story, you have XOs that actually outrank you.

I’d have been much happier just choosing among the different weapon selections as class choices, and omitted the XOs all together.

Gameplay

The keys to any good strategy game is balance and scaling. The selection between the XOs listed above would be much more aggravating (particularly in multi) if some were impossibly better than others. Now, a player may be better at some generals than others, but that’s because SS does a great job at tailoring each XO to different styles of defense. Some players may prefer a few, expensive large turrets focused on wide areas, while others may want to concentrate on several, short-range trench-fightin’ turrets that can be bought on the cheap. There’s a wide array of weapon and tower options, and of course, some work better on other levels, adding to the strategy of the game before the mission even starts.

And the missions themselves would be frustrating if the scaling were off – no one wants to be rushed by flighty, cloaked characters in the first few waves before a formidable defense has been built up. And no one wants to breeze through a game, only to face impossible odds midway through without warning. The game generally starts out most levels with weak, ground enemy troops, giving the player a chance to concentrate on ground first before concentrating on air defense a few turns in.

Resources in this game are handled in fairly standard fashion, with your main monetary resource for building new towers (Mass) is increased with every enemy defeated. The game also gives you Support weapons you can use without Mass, which is controlled by Energy (which automatically regenerates). Early on, it’s best to knock out weak waves of enemies with Support weapons, leaving Mass to build up and make your defense at pinch points on the track.

Level Design

Level design is basic in this game – and I mean that from the best possible light. The simplicity of the maps leaves the player to concentrate on the baddies. The game scales upward in difficulty, where as many as four paths to your Base can emerge, with just as many drop points. This is where the real strategy comes in, as players build both long-range turrets that can cover multiple paths, or can build the bare minimum defenses at each path with short-range, high destruction weapons. In most levels, the paths converge at certain points, creating pinch points in which the real intense fighting of the levels occur.

Controls

Without a doubt, this is the game’s strongest feature. Players can easily shift from sections on the battlefield, build turrets, call support weapons, attack the enemy base in multi, bring up ally or enemy info and zoom out for a strategic view. In fact, all these commands are handled with the triggers, the analog sticks and the A button. Turrets and support weapons are handled with an excellent radial display, with one trigger controlling turrets, one for support, and both for attacks against the enemy base. The map scrolls fluidly from one area to another and zooms in and out with no hesitation; it’s the next best thing to a mouse with a scroll wheel. I’ve often been skeptical of RTS games on consoles because of the limitations of the controller, but SS handles it seamlessly.

Difficulty

…Now, from the simplicity of the gameplay, ease of the controls and the expert scaling in this game, one might start to think this is easy. God, no – far from it. This game will kick the ass of most mainstream players.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll admit right now that this reviewer is exceptionally bad at tower defense games. But even still – I’ve played them for quite a while, and have usually been able to limp my way through most story modes on the default setting. No – for SS, I had to swallow a big lump in my throat and switch down to Easy mode to advance through the game [sobs]. The game does a good job in lulling you into a false sense of security with your defenses, only to be utterly boned once the enemies begin to trickle past your main defenses. Once that happens, the dam bursts. You’re hosed. Now this may seem contrary to what I said before about the game not springing impossible odds on you without warning – but it isn’t. The game does warn you – the next few waves are listed on the right side of the screen, with time estimates on when they arrive. And you feel like an idiot when you see how you could have improved your defenses.

But let’s not lie all the blame at my feet… there are a few things I would have liked to see in this game that would have greatly improved the experience, at least for dopes like myself. I can sum it up in one word: information. There are a few omissions from the gameplay that, if added, would have definitely helped players better adjust their strategies. A mini-map, for example, is not available on screen or in the pause menu. I also would have liked to see, when highlighting a tower to build that covers a certain area of path, a pop-in graphic would appear on the map, showing where similar towers have already been placed. Or if I am building a certain type of turret that hits ground and air targets, I would have liked to have a slider in which I could specify how often these turrets target air vs. ground units. Heck, I would’ve killed just for a more advanced stat screen at the end of each mission, telling me what towers are doing how much damage.

Now, for seasoned tower defense vets, these are mostly the whiny ramblings of a bad tower defense gamer. Most good tower defense gamers will have no problems without the above mentioned features. But it does make coming into this game somewhat daunting for casual gamers.

Presentation

Graphics

In so many words… I’m a fan of the look of SS. Yes, the texturing of the character and environment models leaves a little to be desired, but it still looks great for a first-time try from an Indie studio – especially given the XBLA platform. The designs of the turrets are very cool, fairly innovative and fit the setting. Also fitting, and my favorite of all the graphical qualities, are the landscapes of the levels. There isn’t much to them (they’re mostly made up of long stretches of dreary terrestrial rocks and dirt), but in its absence, it adds volumes to the environments. Especially at night, it’s quite a sight to (pardon the rhyming) to see the moon-drenched, bleak landscapes amidst the bright and vibrant color scheme of the gunfire, turrets and enemy forces. The combination of the vibrant models against the drab backdrop is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it helps in the visibility of the gameplay, and makes it easier to locate points of interest. The only downside in all of this is the reticule, which sometimes becomes lost amidst the brightly colored chaos of battle.

Sound

Both the sounds and the soundtrack of SS are simple, and lacking in quantity, but they succeed in hitting all the themes of the setting. Industry, technology, inter-galactic conflict… all of these themes come across loud and clear by using sound assets fitting and recognizable in other games of the same genre.

While the score of the game is very short, the few songs included mesh well in the background of the combat. Of course, I would have liked to see the songs mixed throughout the gameplay, as playing five straight missions in each level with the same song can be bothersome.

…Except in the third level; that song is great, no matter how many times you listen to it. I actually had it playing in the background while I wrote most of this review.

Multiplayer

As stated before, I admittedly suck at Tower Defense games. I just never knew how badly I sucked until I played the developers for this review.

I had the utmost joy of getting my ass handed to me over and over again. Even on co-op, when I was paired with one of the programmers, I was dragging the team down considerably and led to loss after loss. I began to feel sorry for the guy, as I heard his buddies heckling him from over the mic. And tears streamed down my cheeks (not really)(well, maybe a little).

There are four multiplayer modes: Wars, Co-Op, Versus and Duo. Co-op is simple… two or more players team up to head off an Ascendancy attack. Versus is simple enough as well, players try to outlast one another alone, or team-against-team. Duo is where players can try to tackle the Campaign mode together, in which one player builds defenses, and the other controls the Support weapons.

Wars, however, is where Multi shines… single players or teams head off against one another, with both sides controlling not only the defense of their own base, but the attack of the other base. Mass in this mode is split evenly between your Base’s defenses and your attacks against your competitor. There are definitely a lot of plates to keep spinning, but thanks to the simplistic level design, it never becomes too overwhelming to the point of frustration.

Summary

Sol Survivor is a great game, and about as good a tower defense game you’ll find on XBLA. It looks good, controls like a dream, and is scaled and balanced well. It can be a little taxing for mainstream players, as the lack of information and difficulty of the game can be hard to overcome, but it’s a worthwhile endeavor if you’re up to the challenge. And for TD vets, it’s an experience that shouldn’t be missed.

[Edit 11/24: Sol Survivor developer Cadenza Interactive has informed GV that SS will soon be available on PC, via Impulse and other PC download stores. Those interested in joining the beta for Sol Survivor on PC can express their interest at Cadenza's forums, at http://cadenzainteractive.com/SolSurvivor/forums/. The release date for SS on PC will be posted on GV when it is made available.]

In an effort to maintain transparency, we would like to inform you that Gamers Verse received a review copy of this game.