The lost Castle
November 21st, 2007
Or, how I lost another day of productivity in the name of R&D.
"The lost castle" is a freeware tower defense game created by a German fella by the name of Reiner Prokein and is available for free. Reiner has created a very fun strategy game here. I'm a sucker for strategy titles but I won't suffer something that isn't fun and TLC is well worth the few minutes it will take you to figure out how to play the beast. It's not the prettiest game ever, it's sound effects are basic and serviceable at best and some of the UI stuff is a little rough around the edges. But it's got it where it counts - it's stinkin' fun to play and if you like castle defense or strategy games then I can whole heartedly recommend it.
What's not to like? I'm not gonna pick anymore nits. It's a freebie and the graphics and sounds do the job. Here are the real issues:
a) incredibly slow pace - some way to speed up the war mode where you are watching the critters advance on your towers would be great.
b) no save game feature. Gotta go to dinner? Make your way to the next build phase and you can walk away for 3 days. But you can't save.
c) ESC quits the game (no in game options or menu) without any of those annoying "Are you sure you want to lose your 45 minutes of game play?" messages that have become all the rage with the kids in the past 20 years. God I've been playing games a long time.
d) and then there is the little matter of food... When you need units to build towers the game will just not let you buy towers until you have enough units (and gold). However, when you need food to feed your units and don't have enough then the game will just make your units fight poorly. Since you can't undo a units build you can lose half an hour of game play and poor fighting units are just going to screw up your game... This one is the real game design faux paux as far as I am concerned.
So. All that bitchin' aside... it's better than just about any commercial downloadable strategy game I've seen out of the casual or indie scene. Gotta run. I think there is time for one last game before bedtime...
Peace,
L
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