Castlestorm Review
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​Castlestorm is a physics based tower defence game with RTS elements. A mixture of tower destruction meets Angry Birds, brought to you by the brains behind Pinball FX, Zen Studios.
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Set in medieval times, you are the kings protector, the protector of the castle and of those within it and you must protect the realm!
The idea of the game is to destroy the enemy whether that be by destroying their castle, capturing their flag or eliminating all enemy units so that there are no more, and whilst trying to do this, prevent all the mentioned from happening to you and your castle.
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​You will mainly take control of a ballista similar to that of the Angry Birds catapult, which shoots various different projectiles such as arrows, boulders and bombs. You are to use these projectiles to stop the enemy from getting near your gate as well as smashing the enemy castle until it is no more. The ballista is great fun and unlocking and strategically selecting certain projectiles before a mission is always an enjoyable task.
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On top of the ballista you have the ability to send out the military and again throughout the campaign you unlock new units and abilities. At your disposal, you will have units ranging from knights and archers to golems and griffins all of which are powerful in their own right but also with a weakness. As much fun as the military are to use, I always felt that the enemy had the upper hand and that almost all of my power and defence came from the ballista.
So you have a ballista and a military but what else do you need in game like this? A hero and magic of course….. You can (at any time) take control of your hero for hands on powerful attacks, but again, he/she is not that great nor do they last long before you have to go back to the ballista and military units. Then you have magic. Magic is very helpful and at times a game saver. On many occasions I was getting over run by ground units only to be saved by a spell that totally wiped out the majority of any enemy stupid enough to be traveling on foot/horseback. There are also spells to make units invisible, gain health and freeze the enemy, and all will need to be used carefully in order to gain maximum points at the end of the round.
Throughout the game you will unlock up to 5 stars for completing a mission as well as money with the amount depending on how well/bad you did. The money can be used to upgrade everything, from the castle and rooms within it to your military units and ballista projectiles. Spend wisely, otherwise you might be constantly backtracking in order to save enough money to gain experience in an area that could win you a mission.
Bright solid colours and beautifully detailed levels are constantly thrown at you throughout. I don’t know what it is about medieval but there is something so appealing that it always makes sense to go in that direction as opposed to the modern era and the designers need a big pat on the back for the skill and craftsmanship that your eyes are treated to.
Thankfully Zen studios are a studio that know what people want and by that I mean online multiplayer. You and a friend can play co-operatively or versus and earn money to rank up as you do in single player. The multiplayer is great fun and at times quite funny but after a few attempts of trying to get to the highest wave possible, I needed a break because the repetitiveness wore thin. However, mixing it up by taking it in turns to control the ballista and hero definitely helps keep you entertained.
Overall Castlestorm is a great game with something for everyone. Yes, at times it can become a drain especially if you’re constantly failing to get the 5th star to perfect a mission and yes, at times the online will become samey but, the quirky story telling, beautiful design and solid gameplay make up for a great arcade game. Castlestorm will cost you just 800msp and is most definitely worth it.
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8/10
Review By wicket2961
