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 ...
/
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
video game developed and published by
Puppy Games
Puppy Games is an independent games studio based in the UK. They describe their game style as "neo-retro arcade games".
Puppy Games is a corporation that was founded in 2002 by Caspian Prince and Chaz Willets as a part-time project, before becomi ...
. It was released for one of the five games included in the second
Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Bundle, Inc. is a digital storefront for video games, which grew out of its original offering of Humble Bundles, collections of games sold at a price determined by the purchaser and with a portion of the price going towards charity and t ...
in 2010. As a result of the success of the Humble Indie Bundle sale the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
of ''Revenge of the Titans'' was released. On March 16, 2011, the game was released on
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
.
The game received positive reviews from critics, who commended its art style, gameplay, and writing.
Gameplay
''Revenge of the Titans'' plays like a traditional
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 but with the caveat that enemies ignore or attempt to avoid the towers that you place, increasing the difficulty. The goal for each level is to prevent the command center from being destroyed by aliens by protecting it with turrets and other defenses. The player has access to extensive research trees that they can use to develop different types of defenses against enemies.
In addition to the normal alien enemies, there are also large alien bosses that present a greater challenge and force the player to change strategies.
The game is created in a style that combines retro pixel art with modern aesthetics.
Plot
''Revenge of the Titans'' is a direct sequel to '' Titan Attacks!''. After successfully stopping an
alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
race from the moon
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
from destroying
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
via their
spacecraft
A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...
, the aliens return for revenge, launching an all-out ground invasion. The player is the unseen commander of a military force that must stop the new invasion and then deal with the alien threat once and for all, by decimating them on Titan itself.
Development
The game was initially slated to be released on
PS3
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 ...
,
PS4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in E ...
and
Vita
Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to:
* ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography
* Vit ...
by
Curve Studios
Curve Games Limited (formerly Curve Digital Limited and Curve Studios Limited) is a British video game publisher based in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 ...
, but porting the game was deemed too difficult, and only ''Titan Attacks!'' was ported to consoles.
Music
The soundtrack of ''Revenge of the Titans'' consists of six tracks. Each is a synthesized version of a classical music piece.
# March -
Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary
The English composer Henry Purcell wrote funeral music that includes his ''Funeral Sentences'' and the later ''Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary'', Z. 860. Two of the funeral sentences, "Man that is born of a woman" Z. 27 and "In th ...
# Fanfare –
Fanfare for the Common Man
''Fanfare for the Common Man'' is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year b ...
# Mars –
Mars, the Bringer of War
''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
# Einleitung - initial fanfare from
Also sprach Zarathustra (Strauss)
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.Toccata in D minor (
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
)
Reception
''Revenge of the Titans'' received positive reviews from critics, and has an aggregate review score of 79/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
.
Emanuel Maiberg of
GamePro
Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
scored the game 90/100, calling it a "nearly perfect game" with "ingenious" art direction and "stellar" writing, while also commending the game's high level of difficulty.
Alec Meer of
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
praised the blend of RTS and tower defense genres in ''Titans'', awarding it 8 out of 10.
Nick Kolan 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 ...
scored the game 70/100, commending the game's depth and cleverness, but criticizing the "sharp difficulty curve" and "poor upgrade system", which he claimed would limit the game's "mass appeal".