Steampunk Tower 2 Review

Steampunk is an art style which boasts intrigue and visual splendour. The vigorous portrayal of a world dominated by steam-driven machinery and unimaginable weapons of war, allows for a vision that is pure candy for the eyes. Steampunk tower II doesn’t hit all the marks in several terms of gameplay and its visuals may not entirely display how engaging Steampunk can be, but it nether then less provides a good enough experience for fans of tower defence based gameplay and item management.

Steampunk Tower 2 takes place in Europe, where machinery has become part of everyday lives and massive airships rule the sky. The continent is in a state of turmoil, as each country is at war with other steam-powered factions. With the aid of other characters such as a headstrong engineer, the player must expand their territory and research facilities to combat these forces inside every country. 

The gameplay is split into two connected sections. The first takes place over a map of the European continent. Each country is split into separate sectors and it’s the player’s job to drive out the forces that control every one of them. Beginning in the south of Spain, players must construct a series of buildings to improve their weapons and machines, as well as to research entirely new equipment to combat the ever-increasing number of enemies on the battlefield. These include building new turrets that could cause more damage, or could simply attack specific enemy types. Upgrades and equipment are created by spending crystals and coins that are acquired after completing missions and extracting them from working buildings. New buildings are built be obtaining Blueprints, which could be gained throughout the map. Upgrading equipment and exploring the map for new equipment is blueprints is a rewarding experience and greatly improves the overall pacing of the game by not immediately over or under powering players. It’s also fascinating to see the kinds of new weapons you will be able to build. While some of them may look very similar to weapons you already own, it’s still interesting to see what they can do, not to mention how you should use them in future battles.

The other half of the gameplay takes place on a chosen battleground, where the player must defend a large tower from oncoming waves of enemies until all have been killed. The tower is dropped from a huge Airship, with the equipment and guns that were selected on the campaign map. Here, a number of waves of enemies approach from both sides and their numbers and variety gradually increase. The tower starts with four platforms, two for each side, which can hold two turrets. Depending on the types of enemies you might face, the game encourages players to choose their weapons carefully so that they may have sufficient firepower against all enemy types.  Aside from that though, the game can essentially boil down to watching your turrets gun down enemies from a distance and the only time you will need to look out for them is if you need to move them between the stages so that they can take out enemies more suited to their abilities. Because of this battles could begin to get repetitive, especially in the earlier parts of the game. It’s satisfying to blow some enemies up and sweep across the map with your newest equipment, but it’s definitely possible to find the gameplay repetitive as you progress.

Visuals and sound are serviceable but can be inconsistent. It’s rather easy to be put off by the use of still images to portray characters and the lack of voice work for dialogue can make the experience feel quite hollow. The diversity that is shown through the monologues from each character help to distinguish each character and some of them are reasonably engaging. The absence of voice actors may be a missed opportunity for these characters, but their individual dialogues manage to keep players engaged enough as they progress through the game.

The portrayal of the world provides a solid depiction of a world which has changed both for the better and worst. Areas on the map very often come off as rather depressing due to their baron landscapes and poor buildings show the prices ordinary humans have had to pay, as they are forced to live in old caravans and live in poverty. Despite the portrayal of the characters and some of the rough edges surrounding the relatively basic and bland display of the battlefield, the style shown on the campaign map is solid and provides a great sense of what a steampunk world may look like and the costs it would bring to everyday lives. The score however comes off as bland and underwhelming as it devolves to simple jazz music throughout the campaign map and hardly provides a sense of intensity in the game’s largest battles.

Steampunk Tower II is an overall solid strategy game that provides a solid progression system, interesting weapons and defence mechanics and serviceable visuals. The game doesn’t meet the standards of other Steampunk-themed games and many of its mechanics could be improved by adding more player interactivity, but with its small price, you may still get your money’s worth.

REVIEW CODE: A PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.