The worst thing about Double Fine Productions’ games, like Psychonauts, was that they only came out every four or five years. The best thing Double Fine has done, on the other hand, has been to shift their focus to downloadable games. Sure, epic quests like Psychonauts won’t come along nearly as often, but the flipside of that has been three doses of Double Fine’s unique sense of humor and style in the last year.
Game: Trenched
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Double Fine Productions
Genre: Action / Tower Defense
Price: $15.00 / 1200MSP
Pros: A fresh take on tower defense wrapped in an approachable mech game.
Cons: Not a whole ton of replay value, or two tons for that matter.
Verdict: Another unique, fun downloadable game from Double Fine worth every cent.
Acquired via Purchase
The latest from Double Fine is Trenched. Set sometime after World War I, Trenched pits you, a Mobile Trench Marine, against the looming threat of the Monovision, monsters created by their master, Vladimir Farnsworth, with the single goal of spreading “the Broadcast” throughout the world so that people can experience life from the comfort of their own homes.
Trenched combines straight-forward third person mecha combat with strategic tower defense, both of which are surprisingly deep considering the hybird nature of the game. On the mecha side, a variety of weapons, torsos, and legs give players a ton of options for customization. When playing online, I don’t think two mechs ever looked exactly alike. The different torsos allow for different weapon and turret loadouts, while the different legs give abilities like sprinting or fortifying to resist damage (essentially turning you into another turret!). The turrets themselves come in as much variety as the weapons and can be leveled up as expected of any competent turret game. Without the other aspect, each concept on its own might be a bit boring, but together they’re a lot of fun, especially with a few friends.
While the single-player mode is fine on its own, but the cooperative mode is where Trenched really shines. Up to four players can get together to take on the Monovision threat. Difficulty ramps up a bit with more players, but is otherwise identical to the single-player campaign. In addition to the points you accumulate yourself, anyone you’ve played with recently becomes part of your “regiment” and as they continue to play, you get further rewards, which adds another great draw to the multiplayer.
The only real complaint with the game is a lack of replay value. Especially with a couple friends, getting gold ratings on each of the levels isn’t terribly difficult and once all the rewards are collected, there’s nothing left to do. A versus multiplayer would’ve been a great addition. At $15 though, Trenched is already well-worth the price and versus might’ve been too much to add on. But hey, there’s always room for DLC.
As a side note, I love that the villain spreading the broadcast is named Farnsworth — not coincidentally the same name as the man who invented the television in 1928, Philo T. Farnsworth. It shows Double Fine’s focus on fun detail and adds that little extra alternate-universe-history flair to the game.
GrE Grade: B
Popularity: 1% [?]
