Defend the Highlands: World Tour – Preview
These days we are worried about various factions that want to take over the world, with the brewing war between east and west we forget that there are some hidden dangers lurking deep within the world. Scotland by example isn’t one of the countries you’d think of that would go for world domination. But in this game, we’ll see a glimpse of Scotland’s might, with you leading the pack.
The Scottish want to build haggis factories all over the world, but not many countries simply accept the invasion of these ‘lads’. You follow the story of Alfredo that begins in his own back yard and slowly traverses all around Europe, Asia and finally the United States. On the way you meet various friends that want to help out but you will also meet strong figures that want to stop you. This is as interesting as the story gets, you can fantasize your own pieces to the puzzle but this is where it ends. It would have been fun to know the reason why Alfredo wants to put haggis everywhere but for now we hope that this will be added with the full release.
Some say that a less refined graphical layout has its charms, others dislike the cheap feel of it but the visuals of Defend the Highlands: World Tour remind us of simple unity assets. This is however not that annoying since the game is mostly played at a higher camera level. The maps have been greatly worked on and mix classic with modern styling. There are characters stemming from the history books like: ancient Egyptian mummies, samurais and knights, to more recent: fat Americans, terrorists and kangaroos. This vast diversity is also used in most areas, all of the settings are very lively and filled but still easy to navigate through.
The first thing we notice when playing the game is that everything is voiced. From instructions and short story pieces to updates about the battlefield progression and enemies announcing their coming. Normal units add character by swearing, reacting to other units or dying words that can be really funny. Some sound bugs are still present with voice lines shortly looping when a bunch of the same enemies are bundled together. Another small demerit point: the voice-over for the announcer feels terribly forced, maybe it was the voice actors first experience with acting.
Defend the Highlands: World Tour is a strategy game in where you need to defend yourself from the incoming waves of angry townspeople. Currently there are two game modes available: the first is the campaign that takes you on the world tour of our Scottish friends, the other mode is skirmish where everything is unlocked and you can create battles to your own liking. You start a match with some Scottish troops and hero(s). The normal troops are expendable and additional heroes as well, but when Alfredo dies it is all over. To keep your troops well fed and fighting you will need to farm oats. While someone is farming they cannot fight and are open to attacks, so keep them well protected. Each troop has two attacks: a ranged attack and melee attack. You can set your troops in safety behind natural cover or build safe spots on the field for added survivability. If you want to obliterate the attackers there is an option to invest into a range of stationary weapons, from short ranged crowd control to long ranged pickings.
Obviously these things aren’t cheap so the more troops you kill the more gold you generate for investing into weapons. After the battle you get the time to upgrade troops and weapons or unlock new toys for warmongering. Naturally all that food needs to be eaten and when you are low on troops you will overflow with delicious oats, so there is a special troop spawning device that looks like a windmill and this will pull new recruits from the zeppelin hovering above. Because this is a preview and as mentioned earlier there are various bugs in place and sometimes the AI does some really strange things, from randomly running into walls to deserting after a cover is destroyed.
Conclusion
Defend the Highlands: World Tour is a fun game that can bring you hours of fun with the selection of a story mode and an open skirmish where everything is unlocked and can be modified to your desire. You will need to be very tactical and remember that every fight can be won although you are currently in a ‘last stand’ position. We will be looking forward to future updates of the game and hopefully it will have a more interesting story by then.
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