izigame.me

Ol' Reliable


There will be a TL;DR at the end.

~

I've been playing this game since 2012.
I don't boot it up too frequently, but I have well over 100 hours on it.
Once you boot this game up and check under its hood - you're going to find that quite a shocker.

It's really a rudimentary title - almost a glorified flash game.
There's only a handful of towers, and the levels do very little to introduce interesting twists to the very basic tower defense mentality of slapping damagy thingies and debuff thingies along a strict path the enemies mindlessly stumble through to your precious objective. While it is a 3D title, it doesn't do too much to stand out in the otherwise monotonous ocean of titles doing the exact same thing.
There's no variety, no longevity, no payoff, no grind, no reason to boot it up or try it out in the first place.... so why have I spent so much time playing around with it?

When I had this game on my XBOX 360 - it was a very simple title that was equal parts mindless as well as easy on the hardware. Over 10 years ago, my internet was slower and the 360 was not known for its extravagance in hard drives - so any time I'd want to download content onto my console, it would be stuck loading for hours. Instead of doing something sensible (like reading a book or touching grass) I booted up this game instead.
It's just that simple - I'd mindlessly drool into the palm of my own hand as I upgraded towers and laid waste to entire swaths of alien life.

The things that bring it down are also the very things that elevate it.
There are no cutscenes, no real story, no depth, no intricacy, no profound investment - the lack of these things make it bland and flavorless dross - but also make it the ideal game to boot up when you want to turn your brain off and watch things on the screen sizzle.
It's the perfect balance of engagement to string you along for periods of time without requiring much thought or mindfulness - and is super light on your computer.

To this day, it's still my go-to piece of entertainment when I want to kill a few minutes to wait for something to download.

~

TL;DR
5.5/10
Defense Grid: The Awakening is a Competent little game.
I think everyone should give it a little try if they can catch it on sale. It's a lot of samey content to chew through for the coming years and doesn't need to see the light of your computer screen for any other reason than to jingle keys for your passing interest. As inconsequential and dispassionate as it is, there is a home for it in the slow times between other games where it will treat you right and keep your attention for only as long as it takes to move along the linear path of your own life.