First Impressions: Sanctum

There are some games that have interesting concepts and yet fail to pull them off. This is not one of them. By that I mean that it manages to pull of its interesting concept, really, really well. And that interesting concept is a tower defence game with FPS elements.
Like all tower defence games, you have a map and a path that the enemies will move through as well as a base (or core) that the enemies are trying to get to and an entrance that the enemies are entering through. And, like all tower defence games, you have a certain amount of resources available to use to buy and upgrade towers. However, the way you place them is slightly different. This is because, rather than the top down view of most tower defence games, you, instead, control a character in first person view and have to run around the map and place towers.

The towers are varied and useful without being overpowered (although the Violator does appear to be going that way) and you also have the option to place fields that can slow down enemies, power up tower shots or kill enemies. But before you can place any tower (not fields) you have to place a block which can also be used to disrupt an enemy’s movement line (something that I'm not particularly good at). The final type of tower is the Televator which can be used to elevate you to the height of the towers or teleport you across the map. Then, once you've placed and upgraded all of your towers, the battle begins.

The enemies are also varied (if a bit unbalanced - I'm looking at you flying units) and all have different weak-points and weaknesses that you will have to learn if you are to destroy them. And by you I really mean you. This is because of those FPS elements I was talking about earlier. That's right, as your towers shoot the living daylights out of the enemies, you can also run around the map and shoot the living daylights out of them. You can only bring 3 guns into battle (all of which are varied and fit a certain playstyle and event) which range from an assault rifle to a sniper rifle all the way to a freeze gun and a Tesla gun. You cannot die (unless you fall off of the map, in which case, you will have to teleport using a Televator) but will be pushed along by the enemies so I'd recommend keeping your distance (although, make sure your close enough to shoot them as you will do a hell of a lot of damage). It's this part that makes the game so fun and is brilliant when you’re with a couple of friends (especially as the DPS master is decided at the end of each round).

Overall, Sanctum is another great take on the tower defence genre and looks to be a brilliant game in its own right. And, most importantly, it's great fun to play!

Goodbye for now, Harry