Publisher/Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Genre: Tower Defence/ Real time strategy (Single player only)
Specs: Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Microsoft Windows Vista/Microsoft Windows 7, ntel Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD Athlon 64 +2800, 1 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 / ATI Radeon X1800 or equivalent, 1GB hard disk space, DirectX 9.0c compliant soundcard
Verdict: A novel take on the usually dreary tower defence genre with you as the attacker against a bunch of tower building alien invaders. Subtle yet deep game mechanics, a modestly campaign and two single player skirmish modes offer decent value for its asking price
Available on Steam

Rather than a rehash on the tired old tower defence genre, 11 Bit Studios have turned the whole concept on its head. Instead of being the defender against hordes of enemies, you’re now the attacker actively working to peel away layers of enemy defenses with your own units.

Alas, while the approach to the game is unique the story behind it is populated with a veritable checklist of all the usual tropes you see in mil sci-fi. Earth has been invaded once again by nasty aliens. Except that this time, perhaps due to budget cuts in the special effects department, the aliens have only landed in two spots around the globe – Baghdad and Tokyo. To set up shop, the aliens create vast city wide force fields called anomalies and veritable forests of turrets to keep unwanted neighbours out while they do whatever it is nasty aliens do when invading earth.

Regardless, there is only one proscribed solution to the alien problem – blow them to kingdom come. That’s where you come in as you play the commander of an armoured unit called the 14^th Platoon to deliver said solution to the aliens via a column of armoured vehicles across 14 missions in the single player campaign.

Road Map

Each mission takes place in an urban environment criss-crossed with a spider’s web of roads with alien turrets dotting the landscape and barring your way. Unlike a traditional tower defence game where you have to establish a defensive perimeter to whittle down incoming units, in A:WE you’re the attacker. Rather than mustering a horde of expendable cannon fodder, you’re limited to a convoy of up to six armoured vehicles that you’ll have to keep alive for the duration of a mission. In keeping with the game’s intended genre, your units can’t go off-road and can only travel on designated paths.

The game lends a few elements from RTS games here with a tech tree of sorts as you start off with just a few basic unit types with new ones unlocked later on in the game. Each unit fulfills a different tactical role and like all things in life costs money which you can earn from resource crates scattered all over the map. APCs are the first unit you can purchase and act as cheap and affordable damage sponges with a piddly light machine gun that can plink away at targets. Crawlers are missile toting robots that are remarkably fragile but pack a punch. Shield units are unarmed but are able to create a regenerating energy shield for themselves and friendly units that are directly in front and behind them. Later on, you’ll get access to the aptly named Dragon tank that comes armed with twin side-mounted flamethrowers in order to cook turrets on both sides of its travel path.

Regardless of whichever unit you purchase, they’ll all travel in a convoy at the same speed and perhaps because of cuts in the defense budget, your units all have no brakes and cannot reverse. Once you’re committed to a path, your units will trundle on even in the face of certain death like a reenactment of the Charge of the Light Brigade in golf carts. What’s worse, you can’t direct your units to shoot at a particular target. You can however call up a map of the area to direct them as to which intersection to turn to but that’s the extent of your control over them. While this sounds like a recipe for disaster, you have an ace in the hole in the form of the most potentially powerful unit that you can get in the game. Enter the Commander.

Command and Conquer

Your Commander acts as your alter ego on the map and is the only unit you can directly control. While the Commander isn’t armed, he’s able to regenerate damage quickly and is able to use four special abilities that can be recharged by picking up power-ups that are airdropped after you have achieved certain mission objectives or racked up a certain number of kills. Some abilities are self explanatory like the ability to Repair your units in the field. Others like Decoy conjure up a dummy tank that kites enemy turrets in range to start hammering on it to the exclusion of all else while Smokescreen acts to muck up the targeting in enemy turrets in the immediate area. The best ability is the power to call in airstrikes though you’ll only get this late in the game. The trick here is using what you have at the right place and at the right time.

While all your units are mobile, the aliens can only plunk down various types of defensive towers. You’ll mostly encounter a basic laser tower that will shoot anything within range. Later levels feature tougher enemy towers that require different tactics to take down. One tower is well armoured up front and kicks out tons of damage but turns poorly thus requiring you to flank it to destroy it. Another enemy tower temporarily takes over your units to make them shoot each other. One particularly nasty tower actually heals nearby towers if you use your abilities.

Unlike the usual sedate pace of a tower defense game, the pace in A:WE resembles that of an RTS game with you having to actively micromanage things to stay on top. In a given mission, you’ll have to plan the right route; some concentrations of enemy turrets can’t be dealt with initially until you have a sizable enough and sufficiently upgraded attack force. You’ll also have to manage and arrange the right convoy line-up for a given concentration of turrets and be ready to rotate damaged units out of the line of fire to spread the damage around. You’ll also have to pick the right time to use your abilities as ability drops in a map are often limited. Combined, all these game design elements prove to offer a tasty tactical pickle.

Early campaign missions are cakewalks though later ones represent a significant challenge even on casual mode. Advanced and hardcore mode gives you far less ability airdrops and tougher enemies and will likely require several playthroughs to succeed. On average, your first run-through will take a good seven plus hours with more if you’re obsessive compulsive at maximising your score on each level to take on other contenders on the global scoreboard.

Once you’ve completed the campaign you’re able to take on two endless modes called “Baghdad Mayhem” and “Tokyo Raid”. The former is a fixed map but has randomly placed towers and a target you have to take out. In the latter, you’re tossed into one of several randomly selected maps with a random layout of enemy turrets to add to the challenge. Assuming you survive, both modes toss more targets and turrets at you until you are eventually overrun with your ultimate goal being how long you can last against the onslought. While there’s no multiplayer mode, these two endless modes should last you quite a while.

As it stands, A:WE is a unique game unto its own that manages to seamlessly blend in elements of real time strategy and tower defense together while showing a level of polish that would not look out of place in an A-list developer’s line-up. For the price of entry, you’re getting an awful lot of good gaming for your dollar.

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