Dungeon Defenders: A Completely Out of Context Review

[RetroRomper]

Purchased Dungeon Defenders as part of the current Humble Bundle (also includes praised but otherwise trite titles such as the Legend of Grimrock and Shank 2) and am really digging it... Its basically a refined, casual version of Dungeon Keeper with the entire Keeper portion removed. This keeps the focus on Defending as opposed to Keeping and the game excels at the Tower Defense formula. The lack of reason to build up a base is somewhat aggravating: I'm not invested in my design by the end of the level.

The lack of dynamic options during the build phase are a bit perplexing as other aspects of the game are creatively drawn (if not a bit formulaic: classes are cute and funny however except for one or two, the rest are plays on the normal DnD / LotR fantasy cliches) but where are traps? Triggers? Exploding goblins or weird toys to play with?

As the fact every single genre now has examples of Diablo inspired loot progression (Borderlands 1/2, Mechwarrior 5 and now Dungeon Defenders) it's difficult to wonder why these development houses invest themselves in developing a grinding system for the player (currency of choice in DD being mana which upgrades weapons, armor and enables the purchase of special skills and pets) instead of developing an interesting, meaningful and unique play environment?

Digressing a bit, the challenge levels and co-op are quite fun and keep my stimulated though the campaign becomes generic and repetitive after the first three or four missions. Shame, but it was worth it as a bundle that included five other titles for $7.00.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I haven't always played the games in question that get reviews, but I do appreciate you taking the time to let us know what you thought, man.