Review: Army of Darkness Defense (IP)

There are a small handful of films that I can watch at a moments notice, and end up watching for literally days straight. Whether it’s the deplorable, yet charming Dungeons & Dragons, or the somewhat underrated, though somewhat dense Titan AE, these few films always take me back to a time where things weren’t as troublesome. The one movie I find myself constantly returning to is Army of Darkness. Before Spider-Man was swinging his way into theaters across the world, Sam Raimi had his hand in a franchise of horror/comedy titles called The Evil Dead. While Army of Darkness was never necessarily labeled solely as Evil Dead 3 by fans, the story of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) and the Necronomicon continued from the cliffhanger ending of Evil Dead 2. The battle between Ash, King Arthur and his knights against the armies of Deadites made for a thrilling, oftentimes hilarious climax to the film, and apparently the franchise. As the years passed, several Evil Dead video games were released, with just about all of them suffering from too many gameplay elements to make them worthwhile, regardless of the fact that Bruce Campbell voiced over Ash in each game.

After several years of dormancy, it seems as if another developer wanted to take a crack at making a video game out of this cult classic franchise. Instead of making an unofficial sequel to the final film of the trilogy, developer Backflip Studios set out to make an Evil Dead game based around one of the more iconic scenes from the trilogy (the battle between Ash and Arthur’s knights against the army of the dead during the third act of Army of Darkness.) Never heard of Backflip Studios before? If you’re a console gamer, you more than likely will not have, as they are a developer on the iPhone platform. Regardless, is Army of Darkness Defense (AoDD) a captivating tower defense game that revolves around the hilarious cult classic, or is this yet another uninspired cash in?

The authenticity to the source material is apparent on many levels. Sound clips and musical interludes are all taken from the film, all with a commendable amount of clarity. There are over a hundred different lines of dialog from the movie that play at various points, from Ash delivering his whimsical one liners after defeating a wave of deadites, to certain units being called out by name when selected, such as the Torch Boy. While the variety of music is lacking, they are plucked from the battle in which AoDD takes place, so it furthers the authentic feel that Backflip Studios was going for. There’s nothing revolutionary about the audio as a whole, but the fact that each clip and tune are clean rips from the actual movie, as well as the comedic value of Bruce Campbell’s lines of dialog help immerse players into the battle more-so, whether they are familiar with the Evil Dead trilogy or not.

As with the audio, the game world of AoDD retains a faithful representation of the scene at hand, perhaps to a fault in some instances. There’s only one “stage” to play in, though the look mimics the movie battle well enough, with no real alternatives to be had. Each of the enemy and ally avatars are more of a quasi-chibi look than anything, with miniature weapons and such. Just about every deadite one would remember is present, from the flute blowing skeletons, to the “she-bitch” witch that tried to kill Ash and King Arthur near the end of the first act. Even the possessed Sheila makes an appearance towards the end of the game. The main character himself though, is a bit off. While the Bruce Campbell chin is still there, as is the attire, metal hand and chainsaw hand, it oftentimes doesn’t feel much like Ash. It’s not really an issue though, as everything gels together quite well, with some solid animations to boot.

While I’m not a tower defense expert by any means (my only previous review within the genre was from the Xbox Live Arcade title Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders) I am comfortable enough with the genre to know what I am doing most of the time, thanks to a helpful tutorial. With AoDD, you really don’t get that luxury, as you’re thrown into the castle, charging the gates right off the bat. Moving around is as simple and holding your finger down on the left most or right most side of the screen, while each unit is a press away along the bottom or top of the screen. While this could be considered a cardinal sin in regards to haloing ease new players into the title and the genre in general, the difficulty early on is more than lax. Actually, that’s putting it mildly; in the 50 waves provided by the main portion of the game, I died once before the 45th wave (based completely off a mental lapse unrelated to the on screen madness.) There’s no real emphasis on challenging the player whatsoever….until you hit the 45th wave. Unless you played through the game once to understand the perks of each class and power, you’ll likely end up replaying waves 45 through 50 multiple times before you earn enough gold to upgrade what you should have upgraded waves ago. While it does get a bit frustrating towards the end, it’s all manageable, especially given the fact that with each loss, the player will understand a lot more clearly, what powers and units need to be utilized and/or upgraded. There’s also an option to purchase gold to help quicken the advancements of upgrading units, though there’s a major flaw to this philosphoy, which will be explained shortly.

Most of the first 40 waves will conclude with a new power or unit being unlocked for the player to use in battle. Every token weapon, unit and personality from the film will aid you in battle. Ash can upgrade his own health and attack power, as well as unlock his chainsaw for added melee power when things get up close and personal. Shielded knights will be introduced towards the beginning, which offer a layer of defense for Ash to sit behind and either blast deadites with his Boomstick, or hack them up with his trusty Chainsaw. Archers will seek refuge behind other units and pelt the advancing armies of undead with their arrows. Torch Boy even makes an appearance to be a….torch boy….lighting up ally arrows with fire to add an extra layer of damage. Even Ash’s car, the Deathcoaster, is a power that can be unleashed by Ash, sending his vehicle of destruction plowing into the groups of enemies ahead. There’s quite a bit of depth within AoDD with both the friendly and enemy AI, with plenty to learn throughout your race to the 50th wave.

The welcome part of the depth is the fact that there’s rarely a dull moment throughout. Even while coasting through the early stages and learning things on the fly, there’s a charm to the entire package at hand. The hilarious lines Ash spouts off during and after each battle, the number of enemy classes, the unit powers and upgrading are all woven together in a way that has to make players stand up and applaud the care and dedication put into AoDD. As a somewhat newcomer to the world of iOS gaming, I’m blown away withthe attention given to both the gameplay and the franchise its self.

That’s not to say there are a few “bad Ash” moments to be had. As mentioned, AoDD will not challenge even the most novice of tower defense players until the very end. Even if there’s no real tutorial available, “just winging it” is eased out, with nothing overwhelming and everything explained simple enough. If the difficulty curve were adjusted better, the fun factor would have definitely been elevated more than it is now, though even still it’s an exceptional foray into the tower defense genre. The length of the experience is a little disappointing as well. I took a few breaks here and there, and still ended up defeating the all 50 waves in about four hours. Thankfully an Endless mode opens up upon the completion of the 50th wave. Unfortunately it takes the place of the regular game, with a “Reset” available in the option screen. In short: beat the game, have an endless set opened to you (complete withyour already powered up protagonists) and nothing else, or “reset” the game and lose both the Endless set and all the skills and powers acquired, not to mention the gold purchased via real money. The one thing Backflip Studios should patch in is the ability to play either or right after the final stage is conquered, and maybe even add in the bonus of selecting what stage you want to play on, just for kicks.

Army of Darkness Defense is one of those rare titles that comes out of absolutely no where, and ends up trumping even the biggest of behemoths released earlier on in the same year. With the technical limitations of the platform at hand, Backflip Studios managed to carve out a title that not only impresses on it’s platform, but can stand toe to toe with some of the other quality releases in 2011 thus far. Though the experience is brief, the Endless mode will provide further thrills, especially how the random factors of the mode end up adding an extra layer of difficulty sorely missing from this tower defense title. What’s even more appreciative is the fact that you don’t even have to be an Army of Darkness enthusiast to find a worthwhile and addicting tower defense game here. Moreover, if you’ve never played a game within this genre, Army of Darkness Defense is a fantastic launch pad into what’s both an addicting, and occasionally complex genre of video games. As of May 16th, 2011, you can pick this gem up for 99 cents on iTunes which, even at a $20 price point, I could wholeheartedly recommend for purchase.

Rating: 8.5