Age of Darkness: Final Stand Review (*GearHead*)
8/10 For base/tower defence game I have had a blast with Age of Darkness ("AOD") and can happily recommend it to any who are looking for that mix of RTS and Tower Defence that 'They are Billions' ("TAB") is famed for. This game will feel so familiar if you have played TAB before but it does enough things differently to not feel like a reskin.
Before getting in to specifics of what I like or dislike, I feel I should first defend the campaign. You will see from many reviews that the campaign is almost universally reviled but I think people are expecting, perhaps, too much. The campaign does exactly what you would want it to:
1) It slowly introduces new mechanics so you get to learn as you play; and
2) It tells an interesting (enough) story that isn't winning awards but equally gives some backstory to this games' setting and world; and
3) It plays significantly differently to the main 'survival' mode that it feels refreshing.
To compare the campaigns of AOD and TAB, the former smashes the latter out of the park: TAB's campaign is a series of 'normal' survival maps interspersed with small hero focused missions (that are also generally despised). AOD's campaign is an actual narrative and has you fight against humans and nightmares (the games' horde creatures) over its run time. I have enjoyed my time with the campaign and think that it makes the game stronger, not weaker.
Turning to the core of the game: survival mode.
Like TAB, you need to survive against increasingly difficult waves of enemies and, when you beat the 5th wave, a massive final wave attacks from all previous entry points together. You are encouraged to expand out into the map as much as possible to horde resources and continue building an elite force to defend you.
Much like TAB, towers are actually a noob trap and the best defence is a vast army. Like TAB, once you realise the whole game is made trivially easy with the spamming of a single unit type, it takes something away from the magic. The game has reasonable unit variety but, no matter which faction you play, the only thing you will ever need is T3 walls and Impalers. Nothing else matters; Impalers are everything.
This is where I think TAB has the balance down a bit better because, in TAB, whilst certain units are very powerful (and you can spam one unit type to win the game -snipers-) every unit is viable; even at the end of the game. In AOD, if you don't build Impalers, you will likely lose. You can try with other units but you would need thousands of them and an ungodly amount of walls to try and slow the enemy down. Impalers do all that with only tens of them.
To sing some praises before concluding:
1) AOD has three factions which adds to the replay-ability (they could do with being a touch more visually distinct but that is not to take away from them)
2) You can call waves early in AOD if you feel ready which gives you more control on events.
3) You get powerful heroes in AOD that TAB doesn't have. They are EXTREMELY powerful and will be your main weapon for most of the game.
4) The voice acting is really high quality.
All in all:
- Extremely recommended if you loved or liked They are Billions
- Recommended if you like RTS or Tower Defence