Tower defense can be a difficult genre in which to innovate. If you take away either the towers or the creeps then you’re not really playing tower defense, and if you add other things to the formula then you begin to make a different type of game with tower defense elements. The folks behind Defender’s Quest: Valley of the Forgotten have managed it, though, by marrying an RPG to the tower defense formula. Your party makes up your towers, and there’s an interesting story to uncover along the way. READ MORE
Have you played any of the previous four Professor Layton games? Yes? Then you know exactly what to expect here. Thanks for reading!
If you haven’t played any of them yet, think of them as a collection of puzzles (135 in the main narrative, optional downloadable unlocks, a few mini-games and, if you’re good enough at the latter, 15 incredibly difficult bonus puzzles) hidden amongst the scenery and population of a whimsical adventure starring the London gentleman and archaeology professor Hershel Layton, his young apprentice Luke Triton and, returning from Last Specter, research assistant Emmy Altavia. The details of each narrative differ from title to title, but they all involve a bunch of mysteries (many apparently supernatural in nature) that the Professor and company will have to work out as they progress. Along the way, they will encounter a variety of bizarre characters, almost all of whom will eventually force them to solve some sort of puzzle for whatever random reason. READ MORE
Another year, another Dance Central. Harmonix has developed an amazing formula for this game that’s worked for them year after year: providing Kinect users with intricate routines and high-energy music that would blow the doors right off a club. Has it finally grown stale and left us embarrassed on the dance floor?
Not quite yet. READ MORE
The DJMax series hasn’t found much light here compared to other music games here in the U.S., but it still managed to find its niche here. While some are familiar with the Beatmania-styled Portable series (DJMax Fever and DJMax Portable 3 both making their way to the states), the lesser known Technika has only made an arcade appearance for the last three years of its existence. At most, those machines have been scarcely placed around the country. READ MORE
When making an action-RPG on a handheld system, there are two things you need to do to make it work. First, make sure it is an easy pick-up-and-play game in small doses. Next, put in a camera that works with a portable systems’ limitations. With Ragnarok Odyssey, Game Arts did a better job of fulfilling those needs than anyone else has thus far on the Vita. READ MORE
