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Defense Grid: The Awakening

EMAIL PRINT xbox360

8.9 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 12 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Hidden Path Entertainment

Developer: Hidden Path Entertainment

Genre(s): Strategy, Simulation

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)

Release Date: September 2, 2009

Summary

[Xbox Live Arcade] Strategically place your towers on the map to prevent alien enemies from stealing your power cores. Play for just fifteen minutes or several hours! This award-winning game includes 10 hours of story play with 20 unique maps in the Awakening campaign, four bonus Borderlands maps, a wide variety of tower and enemy types, an interactive soundtrack, plus over 100 unlockable challenge modes adding dozens of hours of additional fun. Protect the Cores. [Hidden Path]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Digital Chumps

One heck of a buy for $10. For anyone who has yet to venture into the Tower Defense genre of gaming, it provides a uniquely appealing style of RTS/puzzle gameplay that is sure to addict most everyone who gives it a go.

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Gaming Target

It’s a great buy but be warned: once you place your first tower, you’ll be hooked for many, many hours of alien blasting fun.

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TeamXbox

The pinnacle of design for tower-defense games, and not just because of its fancy Gamebryo-powered 3D graphics. It’s challenging and complex without breaking the same simple rules that all tower-defense games follow, even the most unsophisticated ones. Taking a simple yet classic game design, then adding depth and polish to it, is probably the purest way to make a great game.

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GamePro

Overall, this game is for you. Intimidated by a tower defense? Don't be. It requires some heavy thinking and brain power, which is good for everyone. Since no one reads books anymore, you mind as well play a game that requires you to think on your feet. Defense Grid: The Awakening will love you if you love it.

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GameFocus

I never would have expected such as basic game as “Tower Defense” to be given such a great make over with some gameplay tweaks and be such a worthwhile and addictive game. While you can play a very basic version of this type of game on thousands of websites, if you enjoy playing them this is one of the few commercial ones that is worth your gaming dollar.

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Gamer.nl

Defense Grid is one of the best Tower Defense-games and offers a great introduction to the genre on the Xbox 360. The game is well build, very addictive and even a pleasure to watch.

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IGN

A great value on Xbox Live Arcade. It's a fantastic tower defense game, costs half what it does on PC, and throws in bonus levels for us. Strategy games aren't everyone's cup of tea, but if you count yourself a devotee of the genre you won't want to miss this one.

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My Gamer

If you are a tower defense fan, you need to download the full version of this game. And if you are a not a fan of the genre, Defense Grid just might have enough in its bag of tricks to convert you.

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Official Xbox Magazine

One of the finest examples of the burgeoning tower-defense genre on Xbox 360. [Nov 2009, p.70]

Planet Xbox 360

Defense Grid: The Awakening is not overly original within the tower defense genre, but does everything so exceedingly well in an anemic XBLA genre that it is impossible to resist.

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Gamervision

It's half the price of the PC version and comes with a few extra maps after the original campaign is over, adding even more value where, in all honesty, none was needed.

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Console Monster

Defense Grid provides all that is great about Tower Defense games and suffers from none of the pitfalls.

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Game Over Online

Defense Grid takes about five minutes to learn, then slowly gives you more tools over the course of campaign mode.

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Gamers' Temple

If you don't like tower defense games, then Defense Grid won't change your mind about the genre. However, if you do enjoy the occasional tower game or enjoy strategy games in general, Defense Grid is definitely worth your time.

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Gamer 2.0

Defense Grid: The Awakening offers what is easily the best tower defense game on the Xbox 360 and is a game that anyone interested in that genre should check out.

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GameSpot

This exceptionally balanced tower defense game will keep you coming back to fight off the alien invasion for just one more wave.

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X360 Magazine UK

Satisfying, to say the least. [Issue#51, p.104]

Official Xbox Magazine UK

Completely towers over the rest. [Dec 2009, p.107]

Gaming Age

A nicely put together game in an increasingly crowded genre.

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Gamer Limit

Defense Grid breaks the mold enough to awaken dreary tower defense fans, but a few key issues keep it from achieving greatness.

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Gaming Nexus

With enough content to make it worth the price, but not enough unique content to make it stand out from other free titles you can find online, Defense Grid: The Awakening is a slightly above average tower defense video game.

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Teletext GameCentral

It's still just another Tower Defence game, but at least this one requires some genuine strategy.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Anthony P gave it a9:
Excellent game at a fantastic price. This game, with 4 fewer levels, retailed on the PC for $19.99, and I strongly considered buying it. Coming out on the Xbox for half that price makes it a fantastic deal for anyone who might even consider liking the tower defense genre. I'm a big fan of those games so I'm slightly biased, but this is an excellent example of TD design. It does have a lot of the normal towers (fast machine gun, splash damage, "poison", slow, anti-air, etc.), but they work together very well and have a few non-standard towers and features as well. The presentation is excellent and it feels much more controlled and well put together than the similar Savage Moon on the PS3. It does have a few interface hiccups (I should be able to easily see what medals I have an haven't earned), and I have no idea why there isn't a "get gold in everything" achievement, or why their scoring system is so strange, but all that said there's a ton of content at an unbeatable price. Inclusions of fast-forward and flash-back buttons are welcome additions, though the flash-back does risk making the game a bit easy. I would have liked to have seen some "extreme" difficulty above the "challenge" modes. Either way, check out the demo - if you like it then the game is definitely worth buying.

Mike T. gave it a9:
This is one of the most addictive games I've come across in a while. I forgot about life for 3 days while I obsessively played thru the campaign mode of over 20 levels. Simple yet engaging gameplay, crisp beautiful graphics and high replayability. Heavy on the strategy and challenging without being impossible. But it still manages to stick to the genre definition without getting boring or repetitive. Awesome value for the money and a great addition to the XBLA library. I'll be holding my breath for a sequel.

Jack B. gave it a9:
This game pretty much has all the reasonable things to expect from a quality game. the graphics are good, the concept is solid (although an unoriginal one), but executed well. i have a few other similar games to this, Plants Vs Zombies, Ninja Town, Locks Quest, Crystal Defenders, and i have tried Savage Moon, but this game still kept me interested all the way through. if you like this type of game then i really do recommend getting this, it really is that good even after playing through many other similar games.

Merf M gave it a9:
An utter bargain and delight of a game. its a great tower defense, probably only beaten by Plants v Zombies in the genre. This is closer to the traditional tower defense games and has top notch presentation, lots of levels, challenges & depth. there have been some amazing xbla titles recently but for only 800pts this is the pick of the bunch for me, yes its even better than Trials HD.

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Defense Grid: The Awakening

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