Sanctum is a sort of unique take on the tower defense genre. The game is played out entirely from the first person perspective and features co-op multi-player(a feature I wish more developers would embrace). The game is built on the unreal engine (presumably UDK) and so the first person controls and the net code provides a stable base around which the game is constructed.
The games graphics, while not mind blowing in this day and age, are sharp and professional. Animations are fluid and the creeps look great running through the maze. Audio and music while not exactly memorable are also professional in presentation and well mixed. The overall production value is quite high for an indie studio.
The game play area is split into three zones in the two maps available in the beta client and presumably in the rest of the levels. A spawn area that allows you to use your player weapons to plink at the creeps before they enter your maze. A player build-able area that is set up as a grid. Finally the core that you are attempting to defend which features a small killing field so that you can attempt to take out any stragglers before they reach it.
After each round (which had randomized mixes of creeps in the co-op games I played) you are given advance warning of what is coming next round and allowed to build additional towers.Resources seem to be round based increasing by a set quantity each round. There are more than a few creep types, many of which have very specific methods of being killed. Some have only one weak point, others can only be shot from behind, some resist small arms fire, and the list goes on. The list of build-able towers isn't as varied but has your standard mix of weak/fast and strong/slow towers, area effect towers, and anti-air towers. In addition to the towers and their upgrades (which are just a linear progression of strength) players can choose to spend their resources on their own weapons.
The player is a very critical part of the defense in Sanctum. The after action report indicated that our maze was only responsible for around 50% of the damage we dealt to the creeps. So the player can't sit back and let the maze do all of the work. Player weapons are upgradeable just like the towers are, featuring a linear progression of increased damage and a higher ammo capacity. Smart usage of the player weapons is definitely important. The weapons we had access to in the beta were an assault rifle, sniper rifle, and freeze gun. All of the feature alternate fire mode and it's the alt fire modes that become critical. The freeze gun's alt fire is especially powerful as it launches an area effect freeze that roots all the creeps in range for several seconds. Giving your partner and your towers extra time to chip away at their health. This makes for a nice combo with the assault rifles grenade alt fire.
The game came off as very polished and decently challenging for me and my friend (of course neither of us are what you call elite players). Never managing to make it more than a handful of rounds in before being overwhelmed. The game does have a few flies in the ointment. We had several crashes over the course of our three hour play session and at one point I lost the ability to move. If Coffee Stain manages to get the bugs ironed out over the three weeks until launch I would highly recommend Sanctum to anyone who enjoys tower defense games but is looking for a little more action in their diet.
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