I've been playing this mostly in single player mode. I've got a few hours of enjoyment out of it before I started getting a little bored and my arm started getting tired. I would have thought I'd tire of it sooner, but the game has a simplistic appeal similar to shooting balloons in Wii Play. My only complaint so far is the limited variety of attackers. It seems like they could have easily had more variety of opponents. My kids are busy enjoying Boom Blox at the moment; when they start looking for a new game I'll start them on the multi-player verson of DYC. WWW's rating of "7" is probably a good judgement. I wouldn't call this a must buy game, but it's a good cheap and enjoyable choice to buy if you've got a few hours to burn and you're looking for something new to play.

At level 40 you do get catapult enemies. It's meant to be played in spurts. The difficulty drasticaly ramps up.

Thankfully if you get a game over and retry the level the points and converts earned in the failed battle get carried over to be added to the castle's archery, stone mason, wizard or one shot used in the demolitions tower. The points can be used to improve the wall hitpoints. Have to spend some to repair the castle from it's wiped out health state but odds are you well have enough left over to add a hundred or so hitpoints to the castle to try again. .

@sailing
didnt know that (since I only died once and was ready to quit) Thanks
I'm at Stage 45, playing for 4-5 hours in the first 2 days. 500 pts=ideal price
Great game, even single player, but prepare for sore wrists after the harder levels.

Outstanding review. This is one I'm going to try when things slow down a bit.

Outstanding review indeed but the final score reflects more of a tilt. Should have been written with firsttimers in mind, mostly but otherwise great job. But the game deserves an 8 at the least.

I just downloaded this! I love it much more than the original! Highly recommended.

Does anyone know how to get more options for magic? Is the eraser the only spell? It seems a bit nerfed to cost 40,000 points! I've added 26 men to my magic tower, but I haven't unlocked any more magic. Help! EDIT: Nevermind! I figured it out. Just keep adding wizards.

I've played the flash version and I really wouldn't class DYC as a shooter.

This game is awesome. Enough said.
I never played the original, just heard about it and the element of blood turned me off. This... this is just so well-done and perfectly tailored to the Wii audience/market. Perfect!

I wrote my own review of this at wii.ign.com
I gave it an 8 outta 10.

great review! this game is slow at the first 10 rounds but once you get going, it becomes really fun and addctive. deffntly worth the 5 bucks!

@DEMON212: im with ya on that. i'd class it as more as a action game with RPG ellments

7/10 is far too generous, in my opinion. A game this simple needs some amount of hidden depth to it to keep the player in for the long haul, but this game just doesn't have it. Not enough new elements showing up as you proceed through the levels, and the incredibly small amount of strategy you put into the doesn't deepen very much. It's just a mindless, shallow game.

@ash - At 35 wizards, you get a spray can that can convert enemies. At 100 wizards, you get explosive magic. At 901 archers you get an invincible castle. And then there's the various strategies of taking care of the Catapults and Giants without losing your castle.

The basic gameplay is pretty simple, but it DOES have some hidden depth. I wonder if there's a dragon hidden in this version somewhere...

@thewiirocks
901 archers=invincible castle?! Really? Thanks. I'm on stage 46.

Does it have an end? I'm in stage 40 something by now..
Thanks.

@Bungawunga - There's no end in the game. The levels simply get more difficult with more crazy attackers. (It starts looking like a particle engine rather than a game somewhere around level 60.) However, it does keep getting more interesting. And since you get to keep all the goodies you saved up while playing, continuously replaying a level lets you forge ahead.

@Objection_Blaster - I should probably clarify the "invincible castle". To be precise, the archers take out all enemies near the left of the screen. The catapults can still push forward as they are unaffected by the rain of archer fire. However, they are extremely easy to defeat without cover, and tend to be destroyed by the constant explosions anyway. So in effect, your castle becomes invulnerable.

BTW, a tip for getting to 901 archers: Stop adding masons somewhere around 100 masons. They stop being an effective defense. Focus almost entirely on your archers and some on your magic. (You'll need to improve your magic so that the spray can recharges faster. Faster recharge == more converts. ) Don't bother using suicide bombers, either. The horde will soon be sending so many bombers that you'll have no trouble blowing them up. And once you get the upgrade to the magic bomb, you'll be able to cause a few detonations without sacrificing your men.

This game actually looks to have a slight edge over Lost Winds at the moment.

There seems to be much more replay value here, in which I would not mind playing 1/2 to 1 hour per day.

Also, the ability to save, will allow me to experience a much deeper part of the game, that I could never see on the PC version?

Can anyone confirm whether or not you were able to save and then restart on the level you lost on, in the PC version?

Also, at only $5, it should not be hard for Defend Your Castle to climb to 2.5 hours of gameplay.

Finally, it is a pretty unique style of gameplay, whereas the VC is loaded with platformers!

It has more content somewhat improved better graphics, four player action.

It endlessly repeats. Honestly past level 50 unless you have friends over it's not worth playing an hour each day.

Platformers? Funny I thought it was said to be loaded with shumps and rpgs.

@sportymariosonichybrid sez... Also, at only $5, it should not be hard for Defend Your Castle to climb to 2.5 hours of gameplay.

I've easily gotten 5+ hours out of the game already. And I haven't even touched multiplayer yet.

I've been playing 2 player co-op (It get's crazy!) and I've gotten to stage 57. I have already played about 5 hrs and I could easily see myself playing for another 5. 9/10, especially because of the low price.

"It endlessly repeats. Honestly past level 50 unless you have friends over it's not worth playing an hour each day."

Is that because it is not possible to win or because nothing changes past there?

And does anyone know how the save function operates?

Save mode just saves the game in the stage you stopped playing.

It's the only WiiWare game I've downloaded so far and it's pretty awesome. I'm on level 30 right now.

@Everyone who asked something in the last 5-odd posts
You save at the level you are ABOUT to begin, then go to the upgrade page. If you die, you may spend your points you earned and try again until you win and THEN you can save. After level 50, I don't think much is added, just slightly harder and your castle is amazingly tough with way too many people. I have played about 5-6 hours (mid to late 40s now) and 1-2 hrs multiplayer. Herioc is evil, BTW, or maybe it was just because my friend was a noob
@wiirocks When does the magic bomb UPGRADE as you said? I have like 200 odd mages right now

You should have the magic bomb already. 100 mages is all you need to upgrade your magic to include the bomb. Sadly, the bomb is the last bit o' magic you're going to get.

any news on a european release yet ?

@BDPatVCR

We're working on it.

Great to hear for you guys.

XGen, I'm excited to hear about the other titles you plan to produce but rest-assured that if blood is involved, I'll be passing no matter how fun it is.

I'm glad you guys took the market into great consideration when you developed the project and for that I'm grateful.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but my money was better spent on this game than LostWinds. Sure, the gameplay isn't as deep and the sound and graphics aren't as good either, but DYC is more addictive than LostWinds and longer. I've barely even tried the multiplayer, but I've already chalked up four hours of gameplay, one hour more than my completed LostWinds game, and DYC is five bucks cheaper.

Yeah, DYC isn't mind-blowing or a must-have, but for five bucks and compared to its competition at the same price (NES, MS, and C64 for some), there's really no question whether this is a good buy or not. It's an awesome way to be introduced into the WiiWare world.

For 5 bucks this game is hard to not recommend. It starts a bit slow (like the first 30 levels) but it has an addictive pick up and play quality. The creativity in the graphics is superb. it's just a flash game at heart, like the countless others you can play online for free, but you can play it on your couch, and it's obvious that they put the effort into upping the quality enough to justify the 500 points.

I agree with the last posts. I haven't played this much after getting MLAAK but I still have 5-6 hrs. chalked up on my own and even got my Dad (who only liked Wii Sports) to play ahalf-hour of it. He laughed almost the whole time while bouncing the stick-figures off the walls until they plummetted. Thanks XGen

Has anyone found any of the Easter Eggs that XGen talked about earlier?

dont even think bout gettin this game!!! 500 points ($5) is way 2 much 4 this game cuz u cud just play it on internet channel or on cumputer 4 free!!! (light comedic slap across face)

I agree w/ Kingston, co-op is awesome. Me and a friend just sat and did nothing but play DYC for 5+ hours and got past stage 60.
P.S. This game IS better than the computer version b/c of the co-op (glares at comment above )

@ Jona - how old are you? Reading you're comments makes my head hurt. I had to read this one several times as my brain refused to process it.
MayB it tym 2 4mat ur cumputa homes.

@Jona- the internet version does not feel nearly as satisfying and deep as this game. and for only five dollars, where can you wrong. i got 5 hours and 39 levels in one day. Xgen, great game.

@ Quimby- wat iz ^ wit u dawg.
dont B hatin on my brudas.

i am on level 50, and my castle is starting to get really good. i have almost 300 of each people for my upgrades. this game deserves at least an 8 as it provides hours of entertainment and is hard to get tired of.

scratch that last comment. after hours of work, got to level 101.

You so did not, strade32!

yes i did. 4 hours it took. now i am invincible because i got 901 archers. you do not want to see how many people i have for my upgrades.

MY GOD that is impessive strade32!! Now I want to go back and play DYC again, I got stuck somewhere in the 60's.

This game is definately better than the flash version, and that's saying something since nearly everyone in my DDP class(design and drawing for production,all you really need to know is that everyone has access to acomputer) got addicted to this game, once our teacher's dad died and we had a sub for 2 weeks, whom everyone convinced we had nothing else to do and to let us use the computer until the teacher was back from the funeral.

Oh, and Objection_blaster, do you review for IGN, or do you just do reader reviews? Since it seems like you have more than a limited understanding of the game you are reviewing and have the ability to adjust your expectations based on the curcumstances, I'm guessing it's the latter.

@mr.niceguy- thank you.

@MrNiceGuy
Why thank you. I am glad you enjoyed my review. No, I am a reader reviewer at IGN. I just started posting my reviews there. The reason they are thought out is because I have been writing for a very long time and I always play the game for a lengthy period of time before reviewing it. (Usually beating it first) Look for my review of My Life As A King on IGN very soon!

Thanks, I will!

@MrNiceGuy
My review is up (But not on IGN). Since I dont want to double-post, you can find the link at the wiiware-world FFCC:MLAAK review page under my comment there!

I went against my better judgement and spent the 500 points on this game, to go about describing this game it's nothing new to the Defend your Castle series. I really wasn't expecting much so it didn't it hit me like a brick thrown through a glass window, what was disappointing was that the only thing that they added was demolitions, the overall design was different and enjoyably pleasant, using the Wii remote gave good control over what was being done and was easier than using a mouse. Around 6-8 hours of game play later I found that no matter what strategy I chose it seemed to get to the point of impossible around level 55 and just plain gave up after 5 tries. I can't help but fell that more should have been added, a way to purchase troops, more upgrades and a way to post your scores to give a chance to put your name up for all to see. nothing new but if your looking for some quick addicting fun, I'd recommend it.

@objection_blaster

Very nice review. While there were parts that felt like an faq or a guide rather than a review, and a general statement about the game somewhere towards the beginning would have been helpful so the less-informed reader would've had a better understanding of what the game is about before they read the rather long review, it was otherwise a very informative and well written review.

@mrniceguy
thanks for reading and the constructive criticism. i will keep it in my mind for my next review: Lost Winds!

@mr.niceguy and objecion_blaster- wow, for a second here i thought we were talking DYC, not some reader reviews on IGN. what was i thinking?

@strade32

We were talking about DYC, we just happened to be talking about reader reviews at the same time.

Speaking of DYC, I was wrong, I was stuck on level 51, not 61-ish. Now I'm stuck in the 60's(or at least that's when I decided to stop). I also tried the heroic mode, and it kicked my arse! I only got to level 4! This game is really hard, even on co-op, though, the only time I did play co-op was at level 40, thinking starting from the beginning would be too boring(I didn't realize the game jacks up the difficulty when you play co-op), and basically convinced my brother to never play this game again.

Oh well, guess that's how the cookie crumbles, or something like that. I'm going to go doodle some comics and pretend that it's studying so I can play this game again undisturbed".

the flash game is very fun. i play it a lot. is it worth it to get this game? i know its a little different, but does it really make it that much better?

the wiiware version is definately worth it. the online version is nothing compared to this one.

Yes, pApEr y0sh!, It is worth 500 Wii points to buy this game.

@strade dont be annoying...the first review is one i wrote ABOUT DYC. Don't need to raise a trumpet if one thing connects to something else, even if something else isn't DYC. No wonder you are starting to tick some people off.

it was just a joke. i put smily faces to show that. but i can see how you would take that the wrong way, sorry.

It seemed sarcastic raher than joking but alright, no hard feelings . Just that sometimes mods take that topic seriously...and i always make a point to stay on topic.

well, it was sarcasm but in a joking way. i didn't mean to offend you. i usually try to stay on topic too, but sometimes i stray away.

Defend Your Castle is a suprising masterpiece if you ask me. It's simplicity draws you in and its hidden depth hooks you! An amazing achievement that is rare in this modern era of gaming. Bravo, XGEN Studios, bravo!

When I post, I generally try to be both on topic and off topic at the same time, so that way I can add to a mini-conversation, or try to start my own, while still adding to the overall topic. It's a great way for me to get everything I want to express in one post, even if some of it doesn't quite adhere to the topic.

great game, so worth the 500 points

First game I got from wiiware. It's fun to play in short bursts, but it can get boring in extended play sessions. I also don't like how this game doesn't have as many items to buy as the flash game original, which makes the game more boring in extended play sessions methinks. The 4-player co-op is also quite nice. A bargain at 500 points, though I wouldn't pay much more than that for it.

Plus, It's easier than playing the original game on the internet channel, which I tried .

@Mr. Cheez

Wow, I never thought of trying that. Good to know it's not worth trying though.

great game

i read some of these posts, and i am really concedering buying it, however, if you have internet channel, you can just go to the site and play, it isn't as flashy, but it is still fun

God I hope this comes to the european wii ware on friday

@kirby. Well, its coming Aug 1 for Europe.

Aaaaaaah, at last it finally comes to Europe.... about bloody time.

It looks like absolute garbage. But for 500 points, I'm sure plenty of people will buy it.

@calculon Not at all. Give it a try. Its very addictive and has fun multiplayer. THATS why people are buying it. Its at #3 in N,A.

Yeah, it's great fun, and IMO it's better than the flash version. I bought myself a whole load of games recently, Final Fantasy IV DS, Soul Calibur IV and Trauma Center 2, yet I seem to rack up more hours with Defend your Castle. I'm just that silly, lol.

i bought this game same time i got, my aquarium

ive manage to get to level 48, but now its becoming tricky, is it just me, but, my hand & wrist becomes sore with constant picking and throwing, its shame they didn't add little extra stuff, like more weapons and more options to ungrade your castle. But as it stands it cheap and fun and great when you get 4 people around helping out. I find i can only play it 4 couple of minutes, here and there though, maybe they bring sequel out with new ideas, more upgrade options or even online leader boards or, mode were you could fight castle to castle online and see who survive's. maybe???

i decided to play the game again after not playing it for a few months, and i ended up playing it for 4 and a half hours lol. i lost my save data for it (stupid corrupt sd card >.<) so i started over, and i'm at around round 65 now, with 400 archers, 500 mages, and about 350 stonemasons. it's getting really hectic now in the game. if i was to stop doing anything, i would probably be dead in about 10 seconds 0.0.

overall, it's still fun, even after a few months of leaving it to collect dusts.