Evoland - As boring as a real history lesson

Evoland is an action adventure game which basically rips off Zelda. Theres also the overhead view which is ripped off of Final Fantasy. You might be thinking, well if this game is such a huge rip off of other games why should we play this. This is done intentionally as a "history" of video games. You start off the game as shitty pixels and every treasure chest you open you unlock a new added improvement in the game such as fluid screen scrolling instead of the classic Zelda one, BGM, colour, etc etc. You go from shitty graphics to full on HD 3D graphics. But outside of the gimmick of video game history its a pretty bland game.

On the overworld you basically play like a final fantasy game with an ATB bar and attack, skill, item commands. You have the main hero who can do damage, and the heroine who does pitiful damage but can heal the team (all two of them) with no mana cost. Basically you just spam the same button over and over and kill everyone. Inside dungeons it could have both the same turned based combat or sometimes its the top down action adventure style like Zelda. Here you really notice how awful the control are on PC. Its awkward to move around and swing your sword and you more than often get hit trying to swing at the enemy. Not to mention how annoying most of the enemy are. Its not very hard but its very tedious because its not very fun chasing a monster around for 2 minutes trying to hit it once. The puzzles aren't hard at all and just wastes your time even more.

I know they are trying to pay homage to the old school games but when you do it so badly I think its more of an insult. The graphics eventually do get really good but outside of that there really isn't much going for it. The gimmick wears off fast and I hear the game is very short. The only upside in this game is the card game mini game. Its almost the same thing as the FF8 card game and I wasted quite a lot of time playing it. When the mini game is more fun than the main game you know you probably fucked up somewhere.

Overall, the game is boring as fuck. Outside of the gimmick of being a history of video games, its just a mediocre action adventure game and turn based game mixed together. There are references like "Claud's Buster Sword" and a guy with an airship called "Sid." But honestly, its really not that interesting.

Defender's Quest - Yes it looks like shit

I wasn't really sure about this game when I first heard about it. One look at it reminds me of a shitty copy paste flash tower defense game. Not that I have played any of them though. So after reading about the game, reading people talk about it on the forums I decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it actually is. However there is one major problem that people keep arguing about over and over. The graphics are shit. People look at the graphics and go "it looks like shit it must be shit" and won't give it a try.

When you first start the game you are wandering around as Azra, a librarian. You must be going "why the fuck am I playing some dumb librarian chick." Don't worry you meet your first ally within seconds. Slak the berserker. He's smelly, he's crazy, and he's hilarious. As you progress you start getting more and more allies and the bickering between your team is entertaining. Its not all fun an games though as you learn more about the pit and how everyone that ends up here eventually becomes fucked up from all the shit they see on a daily basis. Some of your party are insane, some are bloodthirsty murderers waiting to stab you in the back, but they all have one thing in common in following you. To get the fuck out of the pit.

However, you only get half the story by playing the game. After you beat the game you unlock new game+ which adds extra missions to learn about the characters and the diary. The diary is constantly updated as you complete missions and it expands on the world and character a bit more from the eyes of Azra. Its entertaining and very well written.

The combat is fun but sometimes, a little lackluster. Its basically a tower defense game. You have one or more targets the enemy will head towards. This is usually Azra in the very end of a maze. There will be one or more spawns that will spawn enemies. You must then summon in teammates onto the wall of the mazes. Each character has different abilities and range. You will start off with some PSI, but every time you kill an enemy you will gain more. PSI is used to summon in teammates, magical spells, or to upgrade your teammates giving them bonus range, damage, skills, etc. In normal mode you basically just have to stack archers and they will snipe down everything. In new game+ you'll require a bit more thinking.

Basically don't judge a game by its shitty graphics. For an indie tower defense game this game is actually pretty fun.