Tower Defense games have seen an explosion in popularity ever since the first Flash game was released. They’re now practically everywhere, from consoles to the Iphone, however, only one game based on the Tower Defense concept can be found on the Xbox 360, Crystal Defenders from Square Enix, which was never that good to begin with.

Defense Grid: The Awakening is the second Tower Defense game on the Xbox 360, and it’s one of the best tower defense games to date, not just on the Xbox 360, but on all platforms.  Defense Grid was originally released on the PC last year, and even though the XBLA edition includes bonus maps, it retails for half the price: $10. In case you’re new to Tower Defense games, the player must build defense towers of all kinds of towers — usually certain towers are best against certain enemies — and wait for the enemy to arrive. The enemies travel alongside paths, and must not reach their destination, as it’s up to you to take them out before they do. While there usually is no story to such games, at least Defense Grid tries; it’s a story of humans vs. aliens, and you need to stop them from reaching their goals.

The story unfolds a bit as the campaign progresses, so we won’t reveal everything here (not that there is much to reveal). The gameplay plays out well in terms of Tower Defense standards, aliens will pour out from different location on the map and will head towards the “power cores”, which they need to steal and exit with (you’ll win if you can keep only one power core, but you’ll get extra points if you manage to keep more of them). It’s your objective to stop them from doing so, and you’ll have a variety of different towers to your disposal. There are ten different towers in total, all have various abilities, pros and cons, and like all other Tower Defense games, it’s about getting the correct towers for the correct jobs. And there are always plenty of choices to be made. And made quick, as they enemies will be coming at you relentlessly.

The campaign consists of 20 levels, which can be replayed in “challenge” and “survival” modes. In addition to that, there are 4 bonus levels which were not included in the original PC version. Technically, the game looks great and is definitely one of the best looking Tower Defense games out there, albeit the level design can get a bit repetitive. The tower and enemy models and animations are great as well, and the sounds and music fit perfectly. It’s definitely an addictive game — as addictive as any great Tower Defense game can get. If you’re into these games, then Defense Grid: The Awakening is definitely something for you, as it offers hours upon hours of gameplay for a mere $10 bucks.

The Good:
Great visuals
Cheap
Lots of gameplay value

The Bad:
Level design is a bit uninspiring

Overall score: 9/10