Beta Preview: Defense Grid 2

• Please bear in mind that this preview covers Defense Grid 2 in its beta form – not only may aspects of the game change before its release, but new features may be hidden or missable. What I discuss here is simply what I have experienced from the content provided in the beta.

The Beta for the sequel to 2008’s acclaimed tower defence game, Defense Grid: The Awakening, has opened recently, giving us the opportunity to have a taste of the game before its September release.

Only two missions were available to play, therefore the overall impression was somewhat shallow; however, an impression was gleaned nonetheless. It’s not a bad looking game – as you might expect, the visuals have been improved since the original title, and the art style from the two missions available are pleasantly bright and colourful. Similarly, the animation quality for both the turrets and enemies are improved, both not only looking cooler, but appearing more visceral – turrets look more like they are packing a punch, and enemies topple over and burst when killed.

Of course, much of the gameplay is the same. For those who haven’t played the original Defense Grid, essentially the game involves defending a power core from waves of enemies by the strategic positioning of towers. Towers vary from guns to flamethrowers to air missiles, and the core challenge of the game comes from finding the most effective combination of towers with the resources that are available – sometimes creating pathways which slow the progress of your enemies.

Extra modes and challenges for missions are still present, giving you the opportunity to customise levels to your liking – ‘Grinder’ offers the challenge of defeating 100 waves of walkers; ‘Green towers only’ makes it so you can only use level 1 towers; and ‘Frozen core’ means that once enemies have taken a power core, even if they are killed, the cores do not float back as they usually do. Additionally, there were three types of game modes in the form of ‘Open’, ‘Competitive’ and ‘Competitive unlimited sell’. ‘Open’ makes tower items and command team special weapons available (from what I can gather, command team special weapons refers to abilities such as the orbital laser; tower items were not enabled in the beta, so I was not able to discern what they actually are); whereas ‘Competitive’ disables them and prevents you from selling towers; and, of course, the final mode is the same as ‘Competitive’ but allows you to sell towers.

The User Interface has been given a polish too. You get more feedback such as graphs and stats, as well as some more accessible inclusions such as more expressive enemy listings (previously the enemies that were about to attack were shown as funny little coloured shapes – now we have more distinct drawings of the foes), and more info on the enemies that you are dealing with, and how effective your towers are.

While the game seems to be staying true to the original and simply evolving already existing aspects, there have been a few changes/additions to the actual gameplay and mechanics. Resources and their acquisition have been revised. Where previously you mainly needed to kill enemies in order to gain resources, in Defense Grid 2 you gradually gain resources as time progresses. This makes the game immediately more accessible to newer players or those who are not as deft – in the original, particularly on harder difficulties, placing a tower in the wrong location or buying a more expensive tower at the wrong time could spell inevitable defeat, but this new system gives you an opportunity to make up for mistakes.

Aside from a tweak to the missile tower – previously these could only engage flying enemies, however they now can attack ground units – there was only one new variation of tower: the boost tower. The boost tower is a relatively low cost tower, however has no real functions on its own, instead becoming useful when towers are placed on top of it. Not only does the boost tower extend the range of the towers it shoulders, but also increases their damage (I particularly enjoyed placing canon towers on them – a tower that is not best used in close proximity to enemies, thus placing them behind other towers with elevation and a bit of a damage boost seems to do the trick).

Some minor changes of note include an inability to place towers in the enemies’ path – previously you were able to do this, however it would nullify any blocking effect that your towers give off, thus making any pathway you were trying to create entirely useless – as well as a clearer indication of where your enemies are actually going in the form of a line of arrows (it’s not a massive change, but it definitely makes the game more accessible).

Half way through the first level of the campaign (called ‘Surface Tension’) the map extends, revealing another route to send your enemies and place your turrets. It is a surprising and exciting feature – not only did it reveal more options and keep the game flowing, but I initially had to rethink my strategy (selling a couple of towers and placing some new ones in order to make best use of the new ground I had been given).

And finally, the last new addition to the gameplay that I could find was a command centre. The command centre sits in a set position on the map, and gives you the option of extending the map itself – basically you will pay a certain amount of resources to unlock a few more tower slots.

Most excitingly, however, is the game’s inclusion of a two player cooperative mode. Although it was a bit of a struggle to get a game going specifically with my brother (there doesn’t appear to be a direct or convenient way of just setting up a game with someone on your Steam friends list), it has shown itself to be an enjoyable feature with much potential. The maps stay the same as they would appear in singleplayer mode, although it is divided between each player.

Each player also has their own resources, and is free to build whatever they like within their assigned areas. Of course, the challenge and fun comes from figuring out ways to combine your towers and areas to best fend off the attacking waves. Having another player to help you out makes the game a little less hectic, which can be seen in both negative and positive lights; managing all of your towers on your own is part of the challenge, so you could argue that it makes the game too easy.

Having said that, you will need good communication in order to avoid botching plans and ultimately failing. I wasn’t able to experience any competitive multiplayer; however this is touted as a feature of the game. Additionally, the ability to create your own levels is present, which should produce some cool player involvement and plenty of content after the game’s release.

As for the reliability of the beta, it was generally plain sailing; I didn’t experience any significant bugs or problems (just the occasional tower not showing statistics, as well as in one instance the resource counter delaying what was due to me). Ultimately, what I have experienced in the beta has been promising. They aren’t messing too much with the formula, but are polishing in the right places and adding some interesting new features. Defense Grid 2 will reportedly launch sometime in September.