Defenders of Ardania
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''Defenders of Ardania'' is a hybrid
tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...
and
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
for Microsoft Windows,
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
,
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
, and
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
. It was developed by Most Wanted Entertainment and published by Deep Silver and
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.


Gameplay

''Defenders of Ardania'' is a
tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...
game that also has offensive
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
elements. As with all tower defense games, the player must defend their home base by building several types of static tower units that fire at weak offensive units spawned by the opponent. In ''Defenders of Ardania'', however, players must also spawn soldiers themselves. Like the opponent's soldiers, the player's soldiers move along a fixed path towards their opponent's base and cannot be directly maneuvered by the player. The game is won if units spawned by the player get past the opponent's towers and destroy the opponent's base before the opponent's units get past the player's towers and destroy the player's base. The game features a campaign mode with eighteen levels, pitting the player, controlling human, elven, and dwarven land and air units against a computer opponent controlling undead units. There is also a multiplayer mode that supports up to four players, either in free for all or two versus two format. In the multiplayer, players can choose from one of three factions to play as; the single player campaign's human faction, an animal-filled faction, or the undead faction.


Reception

The iOS version received "favorable" reviews, while the PC and Xbox 360 versions received "mixed" reviews, according to the
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website
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. For the iOS, Michael Halloran of ''148Apps'' praised the game's visuals and level of detail, and expressed dissatisfaction only with the game's tutorial. Eric Ford of ''
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'', another iOS reviewer, praised the visuals as "beautiful" and "gorgeous" and said that the game "is an excellent addition to the tower defense genre and is a must-try for any fan". Ford did, however, criticize the tutorial, expressing a desire for a tutorial mission rather than instructional screens. Mat Jones of ''The Average Gamer'' gave the game a highly negative review, saying that the game was not challenging and that concepts, such as the ability during one level to attack multiple bases and change which one player's units went towards, were never explained. Jones concluded his review by saying that "Defenders of Ardania isn’t a quality product and you probably shouldn’t spend money on it." Reviews were universally less than positive on other systems. While critics praised the idea of the game, they found fault in the execution. Several critics disliked that the troops spawned by the player simply walk past the troops spawned by the opponent without the two groups fighting. The game's flow also attracted significant criticism, with Peter Eykemans of ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' saying "Even on double speed, the pace is painful. This makes a simple two-person battle turn into a lengthy saga of repeating the same actions over and over again." and Ray Carsillo of ''
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'' complaining of "long drawn out matches on even the easiest difficulty settings as you try to force your way past a virtual stalemate". While the visuals did receive praise, critics felt that they also got in the way of allowing the player to tell what was going on in the game. Opinions about the narrator were mixed. Henry Winchester of ''
PC Gamer UK ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' praised the voiceover, calling it "a pleasingly booze-obsessed voiceover, delivered by what sounds like a
Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...
doing an impression of Sean Connery". Carsillo was less kind, stating that "your narrator and chief advisor sounds like an awful Sean Connery impersonator and he may be the ''best'' of the voice actors you come across". Matt Hughes of ''
GamesRadar+ ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and ''Computer ...
'' strikes a more neutral tone, stating that "Pre and post-battle dialog is fully voiced by what are only technically 'actors,' but it definitely beats silent text, and does add a bit of flavor to the world." Multiplayer also received mixed reviews. Eykemans suggested that multiplayer exacerbates the length and flow issues already present in the single player game, while Hughes called multiplayer the game's "biggest asset", stating that "Playing against real humans definitely ramps up the intensity and reduces the cheap exploitation found in the campaign."


References


External links

*
''Defenders of Ardania'' at Xbox.com
* {{Majesty universe 2011 video games IOS games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Real-time strategy video games Tower defense video games Video games developed in Hungary Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Deep Silver games