Drop Wizard Tower review - A sequel that builds beautifully on what came before
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Drop Wizard Tower is a sparkling sequel to the original Drop Wizard. It's meatier, it's got a little more swagger, and it weaves some excellent ideas into the mix.

You're still playing a wizard, you're still dropping from platform to platform in order to kill critters and earn points, but there's more meat on the bones here.

Throw in some roguelike elements and a smattering of intelligent boss battles, and you're left with a really, really good game.

Drop it like it's hot

The game involves moving around single-screen levels, killing all of the monsters that get in your way. Every time you drop down to a platform you'll fire out a magical blast.

If this blast hits a podgy monster, it'll stun them. Smack into a stunned monster and they'll shoot off. You can collect whole rumbling avalanches of dying beasts if you're smart.

There are different wizards to unlock, and they have different balances of skills. They've got their own special moves too, which charge up when you've collected enough gems.

You'll advance as you go through each level. Get enough XP and you can spend a point to up one of your skills. You can get an extra life, speed up your pace, extend the length of your stun, or toughen up your magic.

It's a pretty light system, but it adds interest to every delve into the upwards dungeon. Changes don't last between runs, so every time you play you're going to have a slightly different experience.

The levels are random too, so it's not so much about learning patterns as it is reacting to the situations that the game throws at you.

Wizardry

And there are a lot of situations. With 50 levels to work through, you're going to be spending a lot of time with Drop Wizard Tower. And it's going to be time you're going to enjoy.

This is a short-burst arcade game that flows with neat ideas and charm. It might not be the juiciest rogulike out there, but the extras it adds in make it an experience you'll dip in to time and time again.

Drop Wizard Tower review - A sequel that builds beautifully on what came before

An excellent retro arcade blast that improves on the original in pretty much every way
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.