Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault (PS Vita) Review

By Ian Soltes 25.06.2016

Review for Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault on PS Vita

The tower defence genre is nothing new, often existing in tandem with real-time strategy. There are plenty of classic and quality titles out there ranging from Dungeon Defenders, to Defender's Quest. It can be hard to distinguish yourself in such a market and Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault attempts to do so by giving you only one tower. It works… for a time.

The future is a bleak one for Earth. Giant monsters have invaded, most cities have been destroyed, and most horrifying of all, the remainder of mankind had an evil scientist take over, one with an unorthodox defence strategy. He decided that the best way to defend the remaining cities was to turn them into giant spinning contraptions that will beset all the poor souls within with a massive bout of nausea every time a monster attacks.

The story follows the tale of one young commander charged with defending one of these death-traps, and protecting it from all the heroic monsters seeking to liberate its populace. Admittedly by eating said population, but as many 80's films have shown the world, mankind is the real monster!

Aegis of Earth follows the classic tower defence formula, but seemed to have misheard the meeting in which it was explained. Instead of using towers in order to defend against a horde of monsters, there is one tower which must defend itself. The gameplay itself is fairly straight-forward in that, upon this tower there are a bunch of 'lots'. Said lots can host buildings, like houses and weapons, and the goal is to utilize said weapons to kill a bunch of incoming monsters to protect the city.

Screenshot for Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault on PS Vita

In the meantime, it's also important to focus on earning money and civilians and the like to keep upgrading weapons and attract more citizens. The game boasts a unique mechanic in which the city is made up of several layers which can be independently rotated to do things like move civilian populations away from encroaching hordes, or to bring weapons formerly on the opposite side to bear upon new monsters. That is, sadly, about it.

The rest of the game ends up being simple repetitions of these actions. Building and upgrading new weapons, pivoting the various layers of the city about to fire at new monsters or protect against them, and repeating. It is interesting for the first half-hour or so, but it will grow old quickly as there is little in the way of challenge or difficulty curve. Most of the time will be spent trying to remember which row had a certain weapon on it and trying to pivot it about to fire on the hordes of baddies.

There is a story as well, but sadly, it doesn't really stand out all that much. It's not bad, just nothing special. It's been done before and, sadly, isn't enough to save the game. It's far more interesting to sit down and imagine how each of the poor civilians in each city is trying to survive when every once in a while, their whole world turns into a rapidly and chaotically spinning carousel. One that will rip the nearby Waffle House off its foundation and send it flying down into the layers below, just because someone felt that the best way to protect humanity was making it so that the entire city could rotate at break-neck speeds.

Screenshot for Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault on PS Vita

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

Aegis of Earth has one interesting idea and… that's about it. With its simple mechanics, okay story, and generally unimpressive presentation, it's okay for a portable game for quick bursts or killing time. However, those seeking more engaging tower defence titles best look elsewhere. This game has a place, but were it not on a portable console, would likely be in for an official reprimand. As-is, it fits in just well enough with the 'short spurt of play' ideology that makes it acceptable for a handheld title.

Developer

Acquire

Publisher

PQube

Genre

Strategy

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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