Gensokyo Defenders

I'm not what you would call a big fan of the tower defense genre. It's not that I disliked Plants vs. Zombies or PixelJunk Monsters, but there was never enough of a hook to keep me invested after the first few levels. I think that's why I was so surprised by Gensokyo Defenders. By combining the tower defense genre with fast-paced dual-stick shooting, the developers at Neetpia have managed to create a speedy little action game that is tough to put down. And while I'm not a huge fan of the anime characters and bland story, I want to state right from the start that this is my favorite tower defense game since Iron Brigade.

As the name suggests, Gensokyo Defenders takes place in the Touhou universe, so you should go into this game expecting a bevy of young girls and sugary dialog. If you were also expecting level after level of bullet hell madness, then you may be surprised to see that this is a slightly more strategic Touhou game. But don't take that to mean that things don't get intense, because this is one of the most exciting tower defense games I've ever played.

Like most games in the genre, the goal is to keep the bad guys from taking over your base. In this case we're talking about an army of anime girls and cute fantasy monsters that are all part of an elaborate "war games" sport. These adorable bad guys will come in mostly predictable patterns, so the trick is to lay down a bunch of traps and then shoot the rest the stragglers that bust through your defenses. Once you've completed the wave, it's time to lay down more traps, fight more enemies and then keep at this dance until you ultimate beat a boss to finish the stage.

While that's not all that different from the typical tower defense game, I like that there's a real emphasis on the dual-stick shooting. This is not one of those games where laying down a few traps will get the job done, because most of the time it just slows down the bad guys and makes them a little easier to kill. A lot of this game is about shooting at enemies, and I think that's why I like it so much. The shoot 'em up gameplay is surprisingly strong, giving each of the more than twenty characters a bunch of different attacks and special moves. This is a world full of magic, and I like how they incorporate all of this into the dual-stick action.

Another thing I like is how the game keeps throwing new traps, characters and stories at you. It often feels like you're unlocking something new after every single battle, and it's not always the things you're expecting. You'll go from upgrading the different traps to pouring points into the character attributes. Later, you'll run into branching story missions and side quests. There's even an online multiplayer mode, which I certainly didn't expect to see. Gensokyo Defenders is full of surprises.

Unfortunately, there are a few things that hold this game back. For one thing, the story isn't all that interesting. You'll get a few lines of dialog setting up fights with the ladies of Scarlet Devil Mansion or tussles with the Bamboo Forest princess, but it's not very deep and mostly worth skipping. The story has absolutely no impact on the battles and mostly felt tacked on at the last second. I'm also not a huge fan of the young anime girls as characters, but that may have more to do with personal preference.

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There are also times when the game isn't especially clear. A good example of this involves the power-ups, which are these floating UFOs that change color. We're told that the different colors will power-up certain things, but the game never bothers to explain what each color does. It's only after trial and error that you figure it out, and even then I was still thoroughly confused by one of the colors. Game developers need to remember that just because it's obvious to you, that doesn't mean it's going to be clear to everybody else.

And it's worth once again saying that this is, at its core, a tower defense game. Yes, Neetpia has done a great job of adding a lot of shoot 'em up action into the mix, but there's no question that the action can get a bit repetitive over time. Even with the different characters, traps and level designs, there's a sameness to the structure that got boring after a while. And this isn't helped by the lame boss fights. The fact that you can beat every one of them by spamming the same cheap attacks is a sour note at the end of an otherwise exciting stage.

Minor complaints aside, I really enjoyed Gensokyo Defenders. Although I found some of the tower defense elements to be a bit repetitive and the story could use some punching up, I was thoroughly entertained by the dual-stick shooting and the intense action. I especially like the large cast of characters, the helpful traps and all the things you can upgrade. This is a fun shoot 'em up that just so happens to be a tower defense game.