Please don’t eat me | Sanctum 2 Review

<p>Have you ever been chatting to someone who’s not really listening&quest;  Someone with a glazed look in their eyes&comma; who keeps checking their phone&comma; keeps looking around at other things&comma; as you attempt to expound the finer points of anthropoid limb dismemberment&period;  You certainly get the feeling that they have better things to do than sit there talking to you&period;  Just like many game developers fail to listen to their consumers&period;   But not <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Coffee Stain Studios" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;coffeestainstudios&period;com&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"homepage noopener noreferrer">Coffee Stain Studios<&sol;a>&period;  I love those guys&comma; because listening and learning is their speciality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Firstly&comma; they listened to what people did&sol;didn’t like about the first Sanctum&period;  What was over-powered&comma; what was useless&comma; what needed streamlining&comma; and even how people like to purchase any add-on content&period;  Thus was born Sanctum 2&period;  Yet far from releasing and retiring&comma; Coffee Stain are still at the forefront of their fanbase&comma; responding to feedback&comma; and constructive criticism&period;  Very shortly after launch&comma; the rather unwieldy and unfair method of resource acquisition has already been revamped&comma; in reaction to fan feedback&period;  And the game is a much sweeter deal because of that&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For Sanctum virgins&comma; the series is a tower-defense game&comma;  which is played in the first person&period;  That means you get to build defenses to defend against the enemy swarms&comma; then you get to fight alongside your towers as you attempt to stem the inexorable flow of fierce baddies that want to destroy your core &lpar;the heart of your base&rpar;&period;  Your input is certainly not negligible&semi; your actions will be integral to bringing down some of the more powerful baddies when your towers are overwhelmed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231940&sol;Sanctum-2-1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignright size-medium wp-image-47331" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231940&sol;Sanctum-2-1-300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Sanctum 2-1" &sol;><&sol;a>Sanctum 2 has brought a number of new features to the table&period;  Firstly&comma; your character gets RPG style level-ups&comma; meaning they will get better abilities&comma; and unlock some mighty fine weaponry and towers&period;  There are also perks you can use to enhance the abilities of your character&comma; and these little boosts can really help tip the balance in certain maps&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Resources to build towers are now kept separate from resources for tower bases&period;  This simply means that you cannot set out a vast network of tunnels to channel the baddies down&comma; right from the start of the level&period;  Instead&comma; owing to the limited resources which are slowly accredited as the level progresses&comma; you must keep adjusting your setup with each round to maximize your available resources for each wave&period;  It sounds like a small addition&comma; but it works very nicely to keep the challenge high throughout all the waves&comma; rather than just the later ones&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A splendid touch is the addition of bosses&period;  These gargantuan creatures are generally far more powerful then common baddies&comma; and will even start to destroy your previously invincible towers&comma; should they so desire&period;  Although the creatures themselves may be taken down&comma; they could also knock a hole in your meticulously constructed tower path&comma; leaving a shortcut for all the common baddies to gleefully scuttle straight through to your vulnerable core&period;  So tower layout requires even more thought and planning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231927&sol;Sanctum-2-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-47332 alignleft" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231927&sol;Sanctum-2-2-300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Sanctum 2-2" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"168" &sol;><&sol;a>Weapon upgrades have been removed as part of the streamlining process&comma; meaning you can focus purely on your towers&comma; and getting them as deadly and efficient as possible&period;  At first this was a bit of a disappointment&comma; as I enjoyed having uber-upgraded weapons of mass destruction in Sanctum 1&period;  But after playing for a while&comma; you can see that this omission does help to add consistency to the gameplay&comma; especially in co-op mode&comma; where players would have different ideas about what to spend their money on&period;  Now with just towers to focus attention on&comma; the skill is in getting the optimal tower build&comma; rather then relying on over-powered weapons&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Having completed the game&comma; you can replay each level with special difficulty modifiers enabled&period;  These will make the enemies stronger&comma; faster&comma; and badder&comma; which will ramp up the difficulty to create a challenge for even the most advanced Sanctumites&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Adding a little more structure to game progression&comma; there is a story-driven campaign with comic-strip introductions to each level&period;  Don’t expect anything special&comma; it is all generic sci-fi waffle which is eminently forgettable 5 minutes later&period;  Something about codes&comma; computers&comma; fighting&comma; and the square root of tedium&period;  But nobody is playing Sanctum 2 for the storyline&comma; so this is not really an issue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231916&sol;Sanctum-2-3&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"alignright size-medium wp-image-47333" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;06&sol;05231916&sol;Sanctum-2-3-300x155&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Sanctum 2-3" &sol;><&sol;a>Sanctum 2 is polished&comma; and will become even more so as the devs keep tweaking and refining to edge the game even further towards perfection&period;  The concept is simple&comma; but with such a good execution&comma; it will keep you playing for well beyond its natural shelf life&period;  It is safe to say that this sequel has surpassed the original significantly&comma; and in such a number of different ways that it truly does merit being a sequel&comma; rather than a glorified add-on pack&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is comforting to know that Sanctum 2 listens&period;  It stares deep and lovingly into your eyes&comma; and snuggles you with a warm embrace&period;  When you bring down a colossus of an enemy within spitting distance of your core&comma; when you set up the perfect tower arrangement to annihilate the hordes&comma; when you frivolously dance between the boisterous baddies&comma; you realize that Sanctum 2 is granting you a deep sense of fulfillment&period;  It has tailored itself to be as much fun as it can be&period;  I hereby request that you buy this game&period;  You won’t regret it&comma; unless you have an abnormal aversion to fun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"zemanta-pixie" style&equals;"margin-top&colon; 10px&semi; height&colon; 15px&semi;"><img class&equals;"zemanta-pixie-img" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;img&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;pixy&period;gif&quest;x-id&equals;adac5fb8-5b4d-48cb-a5ff-0850b4a3b3aa" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;