While Sanctum 2 is still a tough game, it’s tough in smart substantive ways that add up. Opting for this instead of the punitive approach that Sanctum was built on has made for a far superior product in the form of Sanctum 2.
Sanctum 2 is an incredibly clever, incredibly fun game. Setting up your towers is intellectually challenging, and mowing down enemies is a wonderful blend of mindless excitement and strategy. It's great to have all these elements together in one game.
First of all - If you like Sanctum 1 you will like it too (for me as minimum), it's same game with amazing improvements (characters, weapons, towers, maps, modern FPS RPG style atc...) + good story line for game this type, it becomes more active in Character gameplay and didn't lost "Sancum"s deep Tactical gameplay.
Second, if you don't know what I'm talking about - it's the FPS tower defence, where you must make tactical decisions, build towers and also need to shoot enemies, it's amazing and deep Tactical game with FPS elements, where wins smart choice and teamplay, RPG style character improvements gives this game more strategic/tactical freedom (what skill to take, or what tower-weapons).
Shortly - it's amazing game with quite cheap price for it, Really, 100% Recommend...
Definitely a fun game. There are so many different weapons, towers and maps that you have a lot to try out. If you don't want to play the game normally, you can still mess around with the sandbox mode or try an additional challenge by playing with the feats of strength. Also, you can play with up to 3 other people, so this game is really worth the money.
While the first game was an enjoyable proof of concept, Sanctum 2 is that idea realized. A great experience all around, it brings the best of both the shooter and tower defense worlds together. Try to bring along a couple of friends for the adventure though, as they will make it exponentially more enjoyable.
Sanctum 2 is a good blending of two very different genres. Just keep in mind that you need a great passion for challenges and strategy to enjoy it at its fullest.
Sanctum 2 may not be the most original tower-defense game or even the one with the most depth. But it doesn't change the fact planet LOEK III is still a very appealing planet to visit. Although you're going to have to wield an arsenal of big guns to survive the stronger growing alien hordes that want you dead as soon as possible.
It looks like Sanctum and it sounds like Sanctum, but it plays totally differently. While the more devoted fans of the first game might take issue with a lot of the changes, and while it doesn't match up to that game's heights, there's still a lot to enjoy in Sanctum 2.
Very good hybrid. BEST GAME EVER! Not much more to say its a fps tower defence game. Pure genius and runs good graphics on bad computers. Some monsters get annoying but the quality of the game makes up for it
First-person tower defense co-op shooter with Borderlands-like graphics that can also be played solo.
It's a decent tower defense game but the shooting mechanics are subpar at best—all weapons have tiny magazines that require constant reloading and some feature tremendous knockback that often sent me hurtling through one of the countless gaps in the terrain. It's all manageable while the map is on relatively flat terrain but it's on quirky terrain that I died dozens of time per map.
I found the game really easy even on the hardest difficulty, simply maze to the max, find a perch and snipe everything.
The story is presented through comic panels and barely makes any sense but it's a tower defense game after all: monsters are coming, kill them.
Playing Sanctum 2 with friends could be fun, I guess.
-1 for poor shooting mechanics
-1 for being too easy
-1 for poor story
7/10
[Posted December 9, 2013]
Pros: Incredibly unique concept and done near-perfect, wide range of customizable features, refreshingly new style of game, overall visual quality
Cons: Lack of diversity for enemies, tower building only from first person
When I first heard about Sanctum and what the gameplay is like my initial reaction was “Yes! Yes! Yes!”, never did play Sanctum however as Sanctum 2 was just being released and whatever people may say about the first I have to say that the 2nd does not disappoint. Sanctum 2 is a unique and refreshingly new concept of mixing the tower defense / tower grid concept with FPS. It’s a bit of RTS as well in that you place your towers with the tower grid and then you play a unit in your own FPS and become a soldier on the ground during the battle.
There are a few main classes that have set perks and primary weapons, then a list of universal secondary weapons, towers, and passive perks. For sure there are lots of options with towers and perks to adapt to a very wide variety of play-styles. And the multiplayer coop allows for interesting blends of play-styles or an all-out stacking of a set style with synchronizing to get the most out of the various perks.
Overall it’s a brilliant game, and I for sure recommend it. I think the build phase being only in first person is a mistake however, would have liked the choice to view the grid and place turrets from a bird’s eye of the entire grid instead of having to constantly refer to the mini-map to make sure I’m placing things in the correct square. Also the enemy units are immediately redundant so while there is a huge range of variety on the player side with perks and weapons there is just the same few enemy units (the DLCs seem to address this – as well as add even more weapons and perks!). No difficulty option but the game has five “Feats of Strength” options to make it both harder and give greater rewards, similar to Bastion’s “Idols”.
All in all the wide range of turret types, weapons, and perks are all blended and balanced nicely to make a very nice RTS / FPS blend that – and I cannot state this enough – was soooo refreshing to play. Indie games like this or something like Frozen Synapse that push the boundaries of the gaming development “norm” will forever be welcome in my gaming libraries, they are fantastic. The RTS to place the walls to funnel enemies into pinch points and U-turns while placing the proper turrets to take advantage of the situation then starting the wave and going into the battle yourself in an FPS with your own highly customized class unit is something that will not get old quickly for me.
Sanctum 2 is by no means an improvement from the first. It feels like smart, balanced, challenging Sanctum devolved into something stupid and often annoying. Not a single mechanic in Sanctum was actually improved in Sanctum 2, and most of those mechanics are arguably, no ARE worse than the original's. The only exception is the implementation of a new CoD-like crosshair with the ability to aim-down-sight, which some people may or may not like.
The game feels like "Sanctum-lite". Yes, the graphics are better and it is nice to have a selection of "classes" to choose from between the characters. I also like how you can see over the walls and you don't get trapped in the maze you make but can easily vault over the blocks or shoot over them. I also like the idea of the perks (even if a lot of them are useless). But other than that I do not see much that was better than the first game and many things are actually worse.
For one, you are limited to 10 towers in all the levels I have played, which is a far cry from the first in which you were limited only by your design.
You can't ever swap your primary weapon. Like the look of your toon and like their ability? Too bad, you are stuck with their primary weapon. But you can change the secondary as you unlock them, which is nice. Oh, and no weapon upgrades of any sort either. That was removed as well.
Only 1 person can pick up the tower blocks or money. Let me tell you how much of a bad idea this is for playing PUG on multiplayer. Hell, it is a pain sometimes when you are with your friends. I can't fathom the reason for this change as if you aren't the person who picks up the resources you just sit there and get bored while they plot it out without you. I can't stress enough of how much this is a terrible idea because it takes 75% of the team out of the building phase to do nothing more than twiddle thumbs.
The levels are EASY and there are far fewer mobs than in any of the previous game's levels. There are some waves that are challenging, but then you get two or three waves of 2 soakers (which as the name implies are nothing more than bullet sponges) or a handful of mobs. *yawn*
You are also limited in the number of blocks you can put down, starting with maybe 4-10 in the first wave and then a handful every wave after. The maps also seem smaller, but that could just be me.
I see where they were going with this and I get that they wanted to make this more of a shooter, but that is not what made the first Sanctum so special and fun. The FPS gameplay is not fun enough to have the majority of the mechanics lean on it, and taking away the very thing that made it a tower defense game. Now it is more like a second-rate FPS with some turrets you can place. Really disappointing and all it did was make me want to buy and play the first one again.
SummaryIn Sanctum 2 players assume the role of one of 4 elite soldiers, each with his own unique abilities and weapons whose mission is to protect the Cores from hordes of mysterious alien creatures on the human colony planet, LOEK III. Melding elements of the tower defense and first-person genres, players are challenged to protect the Cores. ...