Previews

Hands on with Prime World Defenders on iOS and Android

Prime time tower defence

Hands on with Prime World Defenders on iOS and Android

Russian developer Nival’s first game may be the casual-focused Emaki, but the studio is also gearing up to unleash a series of titles that will appeal to the more ‘core’ gamer audience over the next few months.

One of the most striking is Prime World: Defenders - a tower defence game based in the same universe as upcoming (although already released in Russia) PC strategy game Prime World.

Combining PC-quality graphics with modern variations on the rapidly aging genre template, Prime World Defenders looks set to put up quite a fight when it launches later this year.

Cross heading

The graphics are what stick out first - they bear more than a passing resemblance with the full-fat PC game. Indeed, most of the creatures you’ll be shooting down, as well as the towers themselves, are taken directly from the desktop version.

While other tower defence titles tend to funnel enemies in one direction towards your base, Defenders’s system has enemies needing to not only breach your defences but also to escape with your ‘prime’ - the energy that fuels the world.

This can sometimes involve them doubling-back on their previous path, but it can also mean them taking another route out of the map - splitting your tactical choices in the process.

Cross heading

These tactical choices also extend to the towers and spells at your disposal. You can invoke spells at any time during a map, but they're subject to often lengthy cool-downs.

The spells are particularly handy for taking down boss creatures and monsters with special powers such as the ability to heal their allies or - dangerously - speed them up.

Adding to the tactical layer is the addition of Enchantments, which act as temporary boosts to your towers. If you find yourself with an underpowered construction, for instance, a strength enchantment could mean the difference between success and failure.

Cross heading

Veterans of the genre should be interested to learn that the game comes with two additional difficulty levels to keep the strategic pondering to a maximum, with Portal mode being the most interesting of the three.

In Portal, not only do you have to take on waves of enemies (that can, naturally, be sped up should you want even more of a challenge), but also portals that pop up on the playing area and start belching out huge demons until destroyed.

In all difficulty levels you’ll have to contend with enemy buildings on a map, and these leave currency behind when you destroy them.

Speaking of currency, Defenders contains IAPs should you require a bit more help in beating the game’s 20+ levels, although Nival assures me that this is intended as an optional aid - the game hasn't been designed around such purchases.

We’ll find out if Prime World: Defenders can hold the line when the game launches on Android, iOS, Tegra 3, Mac, and PC (it’s a Unity game) later in the year.

PC version of Prime World pictured. We're currently waiting on images from Prime World: Defenders.
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).