StormWinds is a more action-oriented take on the ol’ “Defend the Castle” theme, letting you man up to four turrets to take down waves of flying/rolling contraptions. Turrets gain levels during battle and can be upgraded between waves. There are two types: active (which you control), and passive (which you don’t).
The game is beautiful, and really polished, but the actual gameplay feels repetitive. Unfortunately, the variety of options and opponents is fairly limited (although it can be expanded for $5 by buying the deluxe version). It gets most interesting when, in later campaigns, finding enemy weak points becomes more important to winning. I wish there were more tactical situations like that.
A lot of the fun of these types of games comes from the progression and upgrades. “Can I make a castle so impenetrable that I don’t even have to do anything myself?”
I appreciate that StormWind is trying to make a more active game, but to make it truly compelling for me, the action has to be much more interesting.
(Source: Jestyr, via Sensible Erection [NSFW])