PixelJunk Monsters HD

There's so many tower defenses out there, most of them free, that you have to either innovate or add lots of polish and charm to stand out from the pack, and this game does neither. It is a solid TD with some depth, especially in the later levels, but there's little justification for its price when so many free TDs do everything better. When you get down to it, this game does not feel like a labor of love; it has a mercenary, cranked-out "casual game" feel that kind of saddens me in an indie developer. If you can't get enough TDs and don't care about bang for your buck, go for it, but don't expect to see anything new.

I suspect the one and two star reviews for this game are from people who never experienced playing this with a gamepad. As it was initially a PS3 exclusive, it was designed for playing with a gamepad as opposed to the standard mouse/keyboard or touch controls of other tower defense games. As such, I can see how making the little tiki men run around to build towers can be frustrating for those used to instant click/touch tower defense controls -- but the ideal way to play this game is actually with a gamepad or keyboard only. I have probably spent over 400 hours playing this game in all its different incarnations, having purchased it 4 separate times on PS3, PSP, Steam, and now finally the DRM-free version at GOG. I have gold rainbowed each of the levels in each incarnation, gotten all medals and trophies, and was pretty active in chasing the score leaderboards when the game was fresh on the PS3. I have mastered it alone in 1P mode, alone with two controllers in 2P mode, and enjoyed trying to reach new high scores with friends and family in co-op mode. And through all of this, I still enjoy playing this game to this very day. This is the sort of game that, if it resonates with you, you will love and cherish forever. The atmosphere created by the music and sound design, the character designs, and the calm yet at times frenetic gameplay just meld perfectly for me into a creamy core of PS3 tower defense nostalgia goodness. I'm so happy to have found this at GOG, and my hats are off to both GOG and Q-Games for making it available here.

I have such ambivalent feelings towards this game. Almost everything about this game is great so I should love it, but then one aspect is so frustrating that spoiled everything for me. So let's start with the good: mechanics are slightly different than in most td games - and I really love them! You control a character and you need to get with him to place where you want to build a tower. Also coins, that come from dead enemies need to be collected. It adds another layer to difficulty - you need to manage not only the structure of your defenses, but micromanage all the the little things, including upgrading the towers by either paying with rare games or standing near them. For me this is all well thaught by game designers - it's original and very engaging. There is no time to rest, you need to be focused. Then you have many different types of towers and plenty of levels to try your skills - so the game is not boring and throws many challenges on the player. But,,,, and this is really big but... because of the mechanics of the game (you run around with the character) there is no way to speed up the game. And because you need to walk to different areas, monsters are also quite slow and levels take long to complete. That alone is not a big deal but every, I mean EVERY level is designed in such way that every new wave is a surprise. What I mean by that is this: you're building your defences, there is one clear way to your base and monsters for over 10 waves are going same way. Now suddenly few ways before the end they go different way and you lose. And it's already >20 minutes in the game. So you play again. You build your new defences again, you think you're good now but then 2 waves later you have the same situation. This is so frustrating! So in order to win the perfect score (and be awarded with a rainbow that is needed to open new areas in the game) you need to play the same level again and again and it's so tedious, because you need to repeat the same steps over and over again. This makes that game unplayable for me, I don't have a whole eternity to play it! And it just annoys you when you can't really plan ahead, you need to get to the particular wave, see new pattern of enemy movement (no, you can't predict them) and then start again. This is no fun, unless you're masochist. What a waste of great potential!

I avoided this game for a long time, lost in conflict between my love of Pixeljunks Shooter and Eden, and how very boring and unoriginal this looked. My grimmer feeling was the accurate one. This is a very, very boring, slow game, without visual coherence or flare or any soul. An empty game. I'm surprised they made it.