CastleStorm

Genre: Tower Defense / Arcade

Players: 1-2 Co-Op / Competitive (Local Split-Screen / Online)

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Review:

CastleStorm is a game that combines elements of multiple genres. At its most basic, this is a side-scrolling Tower Defense game, but there’s a bit of Arcade-style action here, and even a few Real-Time Strategy elements. This game was originally released on multiple platforms in 2013, but has since then spread its own unique brand of cartoony medieval fantasy siege warfare to pretty much every platform in existence.

However, while it came to the Nintendo Switch in 2018, a half a decade behind everything else, the Nintendo Switch version is undoubtedly the definitive version of the game, including all of the expansion content, support for touchscreen and motion controls, local and online co-op and competitive multiplayer features (though the online lobbies are deserted at this point). And features aside, this is an overall excellent port – it touts a lovely 60FPS framerate with 1080p resolution docked and 720p resolution in handheld mode (albeit with the framerate taking a noticeable dip in split-screen multiplayer). If you haven’t already gotten this game on another platform at this point, the Switch is definitely the place to get it.

Surprisingly, despite being over a decade old, CastleStorm looks very good. It’s not going to floor anyone with its graphics, but it has an appealing, exaggerated cartoony look in 3D environments that are highly-detailed with a lot of background animation, and some very good animation for its characters. The soundtrack here is pretty catchy (although it can get repetitive), and my only real complaint in the presentation department is that the characters are mostly silent when talking, using only short catchphrases and grunts to communicate. Also, the story here is largely throwaway fantasy garbage with a goofy, cartoony exterior – it’s mildly amusing at times, but doesn’t really carry any significant weight.

That’s okay though, because the star of the show is clearly the gameplay. CastleStorm’s campaign gradually introduces you to its many elements, almost acting as an extended game-long tutorial, and this is pretty much ideal since there are a lot of moving parts here and the game makes sure you understand each of them before moving on. Players have three main ways of interacting with the battlefield – they can summon different kinds of troops, they can use a large ballista to fire various projectiles at the enemy troops and castle, and they can use a variety of magic spells to assist them, including summon spells that allow them to temporarily take control of a hero character on the battlefield. Each of these commands is mapped to a face button (Y for troops, X for Magic, A for ballista), with players tapping that button once to enter the menu, cycling through options with L and R, and then pressing the button again to use it.

Making things more interesting, every troop has a unit cost in food (a resource that’s always gradually increasing as the battle goes on), while every ballista projectile and magic spell has a cooldown, meaning that players must manage resources wisely to make the best use of what they have. Making things more interesting than that, players are able to change their loadout in between battles, customizing their arsenal to their own personal preference. Making things even more interesting than that is that players can also build their own custom castle, which not only provides bonuses on the battlefield, but also must be structured in a way to guard the barracks for your various troops. And making things more interesting than that is that the game provides multiple win conditions (save for some special campaign battles that have their own conditions) – players can win by busting down the enemy gate, retrieving their flag, and returning it to their base, or they can win by leveling the enemy castle.

This wealth of options is like a dream for strategic gamers – do you focus on small units you can make in great number to overwhelm the enemy? Do you focus of powerful ballistics to level the enemy’s fortress? Maybe include fast mounted units to make it easier to steal the flag without getting caught? How about castle-building – do you fill up your castle with every upgrade to get the edge on the battlefield? Or do you use the limited space you have to build up defensive walls to protect your most important assets? There are multiple valid strategies here, and I can definitely see this appealing to players who take all sorts of different strategic approaches.

There are a few issues I feel I need to point out. Firstly, aiming the ballista must be done manually, and it can be fiddly work, especially if you’re trying to get your aim juuuuuust right for a headshot. What’s more, controlling the hero characters isn’t especially great – they’re somewhat slow and unresponsive, and have a somewhat awkward control setup.

Oh, I need to address this game’s multiplayer play. As I mentioned before, the online lobbies are currently deserted, so if you’re looking to play online, you’d better be playing with someone specific. However, if you do have a friend to play with either online or locally, you have some really good options. This game is wonderfully set up for multiplayer competitive play, and the game also has a few co-op options, including one where one player takes command of the ballista and troops and the other plays as the hero character. In fact, the only thing I feel it’s lacking is a full-fledged co-op campaign, but even without this, it’s still a wonderful game if you have someone else to play with.

Before finishing up, let’s talk about a few of those Nintendo Switch-specific features. Firstly, the motion control – it works, but this isn’t really a game that works well with it, and especially in the heat of the action I felt it was too distracting to be helpful. However, the touchscreen is another story entirely. This is a game that benefits greatly from touchscreen support, which is integrated perfectly into the game – players can touch an icon to instantly select that menu or menu uption, and touching on the screen automatically targets that spot with the ballista. What’s more, players can use the touchscreen to move the camera, or use pinch-touch to zoom in and out. And while the Switch isn’t the only platform that the game has that uses the touchscreen, it’s not loaded with microtransactions like the mobile game and this version is more feature-complete than the Wii U or PlayStation Vita versions.

Overall, CastleStorm is a wonderful game with multiple complex game systems that give players a lot of strategic options, but it does a great job of breaking this down so the player can process it all. It has a mostly superb presentation, some great multiplayer options, and makes excellent use of the Nintendo Switch’s unique features to make it the definitive version of the game. It has a few minor control issues, but these small complaints aside, if you are a fan of strategy games or looking for a multilayered game to play with or against a friend, CastleStorm is a superb choice.

tl;dr – CastleStorm is a side-scrolling Tower Defense game with Arcade-style gameplay elements where players can customize their own castle and then war with opponents in other castles, commanding troops and firing using a ballista to control the battlefield. This is a game that gives players a lot of freedom to make strategic choices, and does a good job making them easy to understand through the game’s campaign. What’s more, this is a fantastic multiplayer game both in co-op and competitive play, local and online (though the online lobbies are empty now), and the Nintendo Switch version is the definitive version of the game, with its excellent touchscreen controls in portable mode. If you enjoy Strategy games and don’t already have this on another platform, you should absolutely give it a try.

Grade: A-

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