Prime World: Defenders – Review
Prime World: Defenders takes the classic tower defence gameplay up a notch by combining it with a cardgame. Let the Prime-wars begin!
Story
Prime World: Defenders has the same roots as Prime World.
The history about Prime World is quite tragical. An apocalypse changed the world completely due to a flood of Prime. The united people were divided by this new event. Individuals could wield this new power to use magic, or they used it to develop advanced technology. This led to the foundation of two new governments: the Imperium and the Keepers. The Prime became scarce and a clash between these two was unavoidable. Our adventurer doesn’t take part in these battles. He ventures in the Primezone and fights the Touched with a group called The Defenders. The Primezone are the last areas with Prime. The Defenders use both magical abilities and the available technology. Their goal is to try and retrieve artefacts of the old Kingdom.
The storyline develops when you complete missions and defeat several bosses. It’s quite logical that the storyline in this type of game comes in second place, but Nival took the time to add a decent story.
Graphics
The graphics are overall top-notch. Nival used some elements from Prime World to create a pure and colourful environment. Each level is very detailed and it feels like you’ve jumped into the world of Alice in Wonderland.
Every tower has its own specific visual effects and the upgrades have different colours and structures. There are different types of monsters in Prime World: Defender and each mob has its own visual characteristics. Their colours change when a monster gets more powerful.
The cards used in this game have an authentic feel and seem very realistic. The comics in between missions are a bit more abstract, but they fit the game perfectly.
The quality of the graphics stay practically the same when you switch between full screen and windowed mode. It’s impossible to down- or upgrade the quality, but you can change the resolution settings if needed.
Sound
The music in Prime World: Defenders fits the game. The soundtracks give you the impression that you are on an important mission and emphasize the sensation of killing monsters. A downside is that there are only a few tracks, which makes it kind of boring after a few hours of gameplay. The music in the main map even stops playing after a period of time.
The sound effects are very nicely done and give the game an extra dimension. Each tower has its own specific sound and forging/upgrading items feels more dynamic. The different characters have their own voices. These voices are very clear, distinctive and they fit each personality.
It’s possible to change the sound settings. The developers implemented the choice to turn down or turn off the music, overall volume or voices separately.
Gameplay
The overall gameplay is similar to normal tower defence games, but there are some nice additions.
Prime World: Defenders uses cards to give players the possibility to build towers and use magic to defeat several monsters in multiple levels. The main purpose is to defeat several waves of monsters that try to steal Prime or try to destroy an artefact.
If you start a new game you get some help to get you on track. When you clear a level, you get some loot, silver and experience. The amount and exclusivity of the prizes depends on how good you completed the level. Players can initially take 5 cards to the battlefield (4 tower cards and 1 magic card). This maximum increases when you gain more levels and you got enough silver to afford it.
It’s very important that you check which monsters you will face in a level, because each tower has its own specific purpose. If you get flying monsters, it’s essential to take an air based tower.
You need to have Prime to build a tower. Prime is the only resource needed to build your turrets of doom. Each card needs a minimum of Prime before you can place it on the map. When you build several of the same tower, the required resources will go up.
Magic doesn’t use Prime, but it has a cooldown before you can use it again.
This game has main stages and bonus levels. These bonus stages are meant to farm some good cards so you can complete the main levels. There are 3 difficulties available, namely easy, normal and hard. You have to put some effort into it to get some epic cards: the harder the level, the better the loot.
Your assortment of cards are stored in the ‘Collection’ section. You can view each card and sell them for some silver if you need some room for example. There are only a few spots available at the start but you can get more slots when you get more experience and you have the cashflow.
When you collect the required experience, you level up. This leads to the possibility of unlocking talents. These talents are divided into three sections, namely Prime, Technical and Magic. These upgrades make it easier to advance in the game.
You can get silver by completing levels, selling items and pick random loot cards. Silver is used to buy new talents and forge/upgrade cards. You can also buy some new, random cards from the store. The store has some rare cards which u can buy with silver or golden stars. Golden stars are earned by completing levels and collecting special cards.
The cards in Prime World: Defenders can be improved by forging them with specific upgrade cards. These cards give the old card a stats boost, which makes them more powerful. When you want to evolve a card, you combine 2 of the same cards. This will upgrade this type of tower. In battle, you can evolve a tower twice to optimise its strength. The cost of upgrading a tower is determined by its buyout price. To upgrade the tower a second time, you need double the Prime.
Nival implemented an encyclopedia as well. The enemies, cards and the story is recorded here. The enemy section keeps data from each seen monster, totems and bosses. You can see each monster card so you get the possibility to learn more about their health, damage and speed. The Cards section holds every card you’ve earned during the game. The last part in the encyclopedia keeps a record of the different characters and the viewed comics.
Conclusion
Prime World: Defenders takes a shot at combining a tower defence game with the possibilities of a cardgame. The graphics are top-notch and the quality is similar to Prime World. The music and sound effects are good and fit the game, but get boring after a while. The gameplay is similar like other tower defence games but it’s refreshing to use cards instead. It’s also positive that you can farm cards when you’re stuck in one level. Prime World: Defenders is a must-have for gamers that like the tower defence genre with a cool twist.
Prime World: Defenders - Review,
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