Prime World: Defenders doesn't feature a spectacular storyline. You begin the game by learning of a war that is spreading throughout the land that forces most everyone to take up arms against one another for control of a valuable resource know as Prime. However, your group of treasure hunters represent a neutral party that enters a Prime rich location to find and recover large portions of the substance while fighting off hordes of monsters. There are also promises of ancient artifacts in the dangerous Primezone, and you'll face off with plenty of deadly bosses while searching through the area to acquire these new items. The storyline never really progresses past this point, and the game has little to no character development unfortunately. Bits of narrative are spread thin between the different missions in the game, but there are a few noteworthy cutscenes that will keep you interested for short periods of time. There are also several bosses introduced throughout the game that do a good job of pushing the story forward as you wait for the inevitable showdown, but the real attraction here is grinding through missions to create a better deck of towers and spells. The eventual release of Prime World will likely branch together the storylines of all three games, but we wouldn't expect much more than a quick explanation of treasure hunters and their involvement with recovering Prime in the upcoming release.
Starting up a mission is Prime World: Defenders is simple. Players will choose a set of towers to use in matches as well as one or two spells. Each tower and spell in the game is represented by a card that can be attained through purchasing packs of cards in-game. There are two types of currency in Prime World: Defenders, neither of which cost any real life currency thankfully. Silver is earned through completing missions, while star points are typically earned by leveling up or acquired through purchasing packs of cards. Currency can then be used to acquire additional packs of cards or to strengthen existing cards. Cards come with a predetermined level cap that can be reached by fusing together many cards into a single card or by evolving with two of the same card. Each way of leveling cards comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, but creating powerful cards early in the game will go a long way in making the game more entertaining than frustrating. All of these different gameplay elements work well together to create a well balanced experience that is easier to understand than it sounds.
When an actual mission begins, your deck is loaded into the game, and towers can be placed by using a pool of Prime that is increased by defeating waves of enemies or destroying enemy towers. Powerful magic spells can be summoned to deal damage to enemies as well, but these run on a timer rather than relying on Prime as a means to activate. There are a variety of enemies in Prime World: Defenders from tiny trolls and goblins to large ogres and flying harpies. Each type of enemy has different weaknesses that need to be exploited in order to ensure success in ever increasingly difficult missions. Mission objectives and stages alternate allowing one mission to simply require allowing few enemies to reach the end of a stage, while others will challenge you to take down a powerful boss enemy. Side missions tend to repeat often between the main storyline quests, though this is a minor complaint. It's also worth mentioning that completing missions will always earn extra cash and experience points for the player, and additional star points can be acquired by completing optional tasks for each mission such as saving a large amount of Prime by the end of a stage or by not using a particular type of tower to complete the mission.
Prime World: Defenders is a fine enough looking game but lacks a great variety of enemy models and stages. You'll quickly notice many enemies use the same model with different color palettes, and stages are often repeated during missions with only the camera angle changing from the previous time you played through the same stage. The game's soundtrack also repeats itself through many missions, though the game features pretty good themes that you'd expect in an epic fantasy setting such as this. The in-game cutscenes feature comic-styled illustrations that help bring the world to life and keep the player interested in what is happening in the game's storyline, though voice acting throughout the game is average at best. Overall, Prime World: Defenders features an adequate presentation that is pretty good for an indie title and strong enough to bolster a great foundation based around the tower defense genre.
If you're a fan of collectible card games, tower defense or even grinding out levels similar to classic RPGs, there is a good chance you'll love Prime World: Defenders. The game doesn't feature the strongest storyline or presentation, but building and customizing a deck while strengthening particular towers in undeniably addictive. In total, the game features over 20 unique story quests in addition to the numerous side missions of varying difficulties, so there is lots of reason to keep coming back. The game is constantly updated with new packs of cards, and you'll unlock a daily prize just for turning on the game. Prime World: Defenders is one of the most addictive PC games we've played all year and a worthy entry into the Prime World universe. Check out Prime World: Defenders on Steam for PC today!
Prime World: Defenders is now available exclusively for PC via Steam for $14.99. Prime World: Defenders is not yet rated. For more information on the game, check out the official Prime World: Defenders website.
Game Features:
Game Information:
Developer & Publisher: Nival
Available exclusively for PC
Release Date: June 5, 2013
Score: 7 out of 10
