14 DAY TRIAL // 
CastleStorm is another video game that takes the tired genre of tower defense and revitalizes it by introducing a set of new mechanics.
The experience created by Zen Studios manages to deliver an interesting set of gameplay ideas with some unique moments.
The story of the game isn’t too important to its gameplay, but it sets up the premise: Knights battle Vikings for control of a city and the player needs to combine various types of assets in order to make sure that the enemy troops are all killed before they are able to achieve their objective.
There are some colorful and bumbling characters that guide players through the single player and the team at Zen Studios tries to infuse their antics with some humor but the cutscenes are somewhat undercooked and I have often just skipped them to get to the good part of CastleStorm.
The game starts out as classic tower defense, with the player controlling a ballista that needs to fire projectiles on enemy forces in order to keep them away from a castle gate.
As the game progresses, gamers will get access to a wide variety of new projectiles, including an exploding apple, a spiked ball and sheep that have the ability to take down enemy fortifications.
Soon after, CastleStorm introduces friendly troops, ranging from paladins to mounted knights and archers, who march across the screen to the enemy gate and try to capture and bring back their precious flag.
Once he enters a level, CastleStorm shifts perspective and allows the player to assume control, using sword, bow and shield to take out enemies faster for a short period of time.
The three distinct mechanics require more attention than a standard tower defense and offer more variety.
They also create a very fun experience, a festival of destruction where I needed to constantly explore my options in order to deal with the various enemy types, make sure that they stayed out of my castle and that my flag was protected.
The game also offers a castle building layer and equipment screen where abilities, attacks and units can be upgraded with gold for improved efficiency in the field.
When a stage seems too hard, one of the quickest ways to improve your chances is to simply take a look at the castle and optimize its defensive layout.
CastleStorm enhances the gameplay, at least when it comes to the campaign, by introducing unique twists for some levels, withholding certain units or abilities and forcing the player to get out of his comfort zone.
The challenges created by Zen Studios are pretty solid and I have often failed to complete a stage before I actually used some strategy and chose my unit types and attacks to match the weaknesses of the enemy troops.
The title also allows gamers to play a skirmish against the enemy and there’s also the option to enter two wave-based modes, one that gives players access to all their tools and one that’s focused exclusively on the hero.
Both competitive and cooperative modes are really fun, especially the hero-based one, and players who have at least one buddy who owns Castelstorm will find that fighting a human enemy will show how much depth the game offers in terms of tactics.
The only problem with CastleStorm is that it can be overwhelming at times and some of the enemy types seem to be overpowered specifically to frustrate the player.
CastleStorm also looks good, with a graphics style that is suited to its light fantasy theme and a level design that allows players to always understand what’s happening while also giving them a chance to notice small details like the death animations of the Vikings.
The sound design is a little weaker, with the music suited to the overall concept but a little repetitive and with limited attention for the voice work.
Multiplayer matches are easy to set up either locally or using an Internet connection and playing them really made me appreciate the core design even more, although at times, Versus matches have a tendency to move towards stalemate.
With CastleStorm, Zen Studios has managed to create a unique experience, blending elements from many genres, and it’s interesting to see what’s essentially a strategy game launching on the Xbox 360 as well as on the PC.
