CastleStorm by Zen Studios

During the PS3 era gamers worldwide were introduced to Zen Studios‘ pinball games. This developer managed to serve fans pinball versions of some of the world’s most beloved franchises in pop culture. Franchises Star Wars, Avengers, X-men, Spiderman ect. If you have played a pinball game on either PS3 or PS Vita chances are good you played one of Zen Studios‘ games.

With Kickbeat the indie developers over Zen headquarters proved their ability to make an original IP, and show that if anything the studio wants to deliver on games.

On the November 5th in North America and November 6th in Europe, PlayStation gamers can wage war against each other in CastleStorm.

Gameplay

CastleStorm is about two kingdoms who wage war against each other on a 2D plain.

Part RTS, Angry Birds and Tower Defence, CastleStorm constantly has players divide their attention between trying to decimate the opposing castle and issuing troops and spells. Now I can already hear the moaning of the “hardcore gamer audience” out there. “How dare you”, “Angry Birds is not a game”, “Chop is head off”, “Casual gamers must burn” ect. but hear me out. 

Castlestorm is a gamers’ game with some surprising depth to the gameplay and brings loads of content with it.

You start the campaign as a knight tasked to defend your kingdom and thus your castle against the Viking invaders. These Norse are after the jewel that keeps the lands at peace.  (If you ask me the jewel’s batteries should be checked because clearly it isn’t doing its job)

To ward off the assailants the player has a ballista to his disposal as well as magic spells, units and heroes. The objective is to either destroy the opposing castle or to kick in their front door and take their flag home for a win.

The whole idea is rather simple but a lot of fun and leaves the player with loads of tactical ways to try and beat his opponent.

Wait, before I continue let’s watch the video below to clarify the battle system a little bit more.

Castlestorm also provides its players with a Castle Editor, so players can build and tweak strongholds of their own that suit their tactical plan for winning the battle. Everything from the castle, spells, heroes, units, or weaponry can be upgraded and players can only choose to bring a selection of those into battle.

The story in itself is rather funny and has the same tone as seen in Fable or World of Warcraft. This game knows that in terms of story it kind of goes down the beaten pad but in doing so it pokes a little bit of fun at itself, which I can appreciate.

More important is all the content the game has to offer. The campaign serves as a way for the player to get familiar with all different types of equipment (troops, spells, magic and heroes) and thus let the player play though missions as both the Kingdom and Norse. Add to those side missions and a system where the player’s efficiency is graded with stars an online co op and versus mode and this game becomes a nice little timewaster to hold you over until your Next Gen pre order is here.

Graphics

The game looks great; while your view of the battlefield is from the side (2D) the game has 3D assets. So I guess the popular term would be to say 2.5D. The soundtrack is ok but not great.

At the price of $9.99 or €9,99 this game is definitely worth its price. While It does take some skill to handle the aim of the ballista it is great to decimate your opponent completely.

What do you say does the game have your interest is it a jay or a nay. You can show your support for this kind of review by sharing through the usual social suspects; aka Google+ Twitter Facebook ect.

You can contact me directly on twitter @italkgame or leave a comment below.