Spacejacked (PC) Review

Dungeon Defenders is probably the most popular Tower defense series out there, but it pales in comparison to the brilliance of Orcs Must Die! 2, which is fast-paced, varied, and incredibly fun to play. Most tower defense games don't go the route of Robot Entertainment's masterpiece, though, and instead aim for something simpler by providing specific spots on which traps can be built, rather than having the entire arena available for trapping in whatever way one wants.

This is also the avenue that Spacejacked takes, making it very similar to Deathtrap, but set in a spaceship, and with slightly stricter constraints on the traps. The traps themselves follow the lead of Kingdom Rush: Origins, as there are very few options. As is typical, each trap can be upgraded or sold back to regain scraps of Metal (the resource necessary to build traps), while the player works to efficiently protect a certain location.

The gameplay here isn't anything special: it's possible to set traps and then shoot enemies with the controlled character, aiming to kill all of them before they can reach and destroy a specific target. One neat gimmick is that, rather than having the ability to jump, this character can flip upside down and run on the ceiling, and then come back down at another point, effectively jumping to a higher platform, and yet, it's really only that - a gimmick.

As far as the whole package goes, it's put together very well, though it's weird to see such a young genre represented in classical graphics. Still, Spacejacked would fit right at home on the Sega Genesis, and that's a good thing; the retro style is crisp, concise, and well-done. Similarly, the music is great, energetic, and nearly worthy of its own soundtrack, which, is pretty common among tower defense games - they usually have awesome music, and this is no exception.

The only real problem here is that the gameplay is lackluster and does nothing that others haven't done better, while also providing more variety and trap options. The game is very fast-paced, but this isn't terribly noticeable; in the last few waves of any tower defense's final stages the gameplay can be described as fast-paced, after all. Nothing here is bad, but nothing is particularly good, either. It would serve as a good introduction for those who aren't ready to dive into more complex examples of the genre, but long-term aficionados may be disappointed by what feels like a paint-by-numbers affair.