Game Review: Tower of Doom

Tower of Doom is a game where you build a tower in order to bring doom. Who would have thought?

In the game, it's pretty obvious that you're the villain. How so?

How many good guys seek to destroy a happy green island nation?

And how many build a red, sinister tower with an evilly glowing red crystal atop it, with a ticking clock proclaiming total destruction?

None that I can think of, anyway.

Hapless humans of several varieties do their darnedest to destroy your tower, which starts off helpless. However, by spending some form of currency (the meter seems to indicate it's magical energy that you siphon from the humans when they die), you can upgrade the tower with new sections that are capable of counterattacking. (They don't increase or alter health or armor, however.)

As each level progresses towards destruction, the sky turns red, tinting the grass into a sickly color and creating a sense of doom-a nice touch.

In case you were wondering, when they say "total destruction, they mean it-check out the little island, the tutorial level, after it's been completed.

A game like this wouldn't be complete without a little variety, and it exists here in the form of additional tower section types besides arrows-magic fire, magic ice, and magic... purple stuff (which is actually generically called magic).

The upgrade menu clarifies an interesting point that's hinted at by text in the "You lost this level" screen: Your character apparently has an underground mobile fortress at his/her disposal, and the tower is merely a minor extension of it. If you lose a level, it's not a big deal to the character-s/he just rebuilds. This little island kingdom? Totally doomed.

Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, but there's no point in explaining it-the game does. (And it's a short game.)

What's nice is, no matter your health, if the time on the clock runs to zero, you win.

The game is actually a survival game by nature (you have to live a certain length of time, and it becomes harder to do so over time), but ironically, it's pitched completely backwards from that, and that makes this game fun.*

That, and the fact that you're apparently evil incarnate and intent on wiping out a hapless little kingdom simply for the sake of wiping it out.

*A bit less fun is the survival level, where the clock, naturally, goes up, and thus it's endless. I have no idea how the user "pornhub.com" (yes, seriously) racked up over 3 million points.

-Signing off.)