Gremlins: Spellforce

Typical. You wait around for ages for an action-defence title and two come along at once.

Unlike last week’s Defend or Die, Gremlins: Spellforce takes the player into a fantasy world filled with magi and, well, gremlins, as opposed to army men and trenches.

Unfortunately, Gremlins: Spellforce, despite the similarities with the former title, lacks the same furious gameplay resulting in a game that feels oddly disappointing to play.

That’s magic!

There’s no plot to concern yourself with. All you - as a plucky young mage - must worry about is defending your castle from the packs of marauding Gremlins, which attack in neatly predetermined waves.

Being a fantasy setting, the gremlins in question use slingshots and, well, dynamite to burst through your steadfast defence. Dynamite is pretty fantastic, so we’ll let that one slide.

Unlike Defend or Die, which gives you a rifle and dropped special weapons on the floor to defend yourself with, in Gremlins you’re reliant on your magical shield to deflect attacks (a la Pong), and a range of destructive spells.

That’s disappointing

The initial problem with this new setup is that the magical barrier meant to deflect attacks back never seems to rebound the bullets in a particularly useful fashion.

Instead, it’s far more common for a pellet to harmlessly drop off the playing area, making it feel less direct and instantly rewarding than DOD’s ‘fire and throw back grenades’ setup.

Like the deflection mechanic, the magical attacks at your wizard’s disposal has its own issues as well.

That’s an odd design decision

Powered by mana reserves that are built up as you (finally) destroy the gremlins on screen, the spells are activated by pressing the left soft-key, which pauses the game for you to choose the right tool for the job.

It’s a bit stop-start when it should be action-action, breaking up the flow as you choose to use the massive firestorm or heal spell for the hundredth time. Why these couldn’t have been assigned to the diagonals on the keypad is a mystery.

It’s also a mystery why there are so many (six) to choose from when only two end up being in any way useful – the aforementioned firestorm and heal.

While the setup will be instantly familiar to those who’ve played DOD, Gremlins: Spellforce’s disconnected deflection system and stop-start spells prevent it from reaching the same levels of intensity as its superior stablemate.

Gremlins: Spellforce

A strangely unfulfilling fantasy riff on Defend or Die, Gremlins: Spellforce never reaches the former’s level of enjoyment due to flaky deflection and unsatisfying spellcasting
Score
Will Wilson
Will Wilson
Will's obsession with gaming started off with sketching Laser Squad levels on pads of paper, but recently grew into violently shouting "Tango Down!" at random strangers on the street. He now directs that positive energy into his writing (due in no small part to a binding court order).