Comet Crash Review

The PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade have been a great incubator for independent game development on home consoles. Comet Crash is no exception. This tower defense game (you read right) would seem better equipped for a PC, but surprisingly it works extremely well on the PS3. They took a concept that is not new, although hardly ever used on consoles, and made it their own. The finished product is one of the better exclusives on PSN.

In Comet Crash your main objective is to defend your base while destroying your enemey’s. A lot of tower defense games just send swarms of enemies for you to survive through. Adding the offensive units is a unique idea that gets executed nicely. You get speedy units with low health, slower yet bulkier units in the form of tanks, a Thief that can convert enemy units into your units by touching them and so on. Still, the enemy will always start with a developed base and units on their way to obliterate you. This means that you will (at least start off) playing more defense than offense.

The only real rule when it comes to placing your buildings is that you have to at least leave one viable path for the enemy to reach your base. You can arrange the path however you want. It is certainly wise to make it as long and winding as possible. Early on in the game you unlock these handy crystals that only let your units pass through them and not the enemy. This can create a shortcut for your units while maintaining a safe distance from enemy units.

Eventually you will get air units on top of your ground units. This means that you will also have to defend against air units in the form of lasers and bombers. The air defenses, such as the laser, primarily acted as a quick way of disposing of asteroids for cash, but now must be considered in the arrangement of your base to protect it from attack. Before you know it you will be building a base with every enemy unit in mind as defense and offense go hand-in-hand in Comet Crash.

Speaking of designing a base, you do so with a ship that hovers over the map. You buy buildings, upgrades and health for your structures by shooting at asteroids (your towers, not the ship). Your ship can get upgraded with blue plus signs from these asteroids. This increases the range of your ship’s tractor beam to pull in asteroids for cash. I find that it is easier to achieve a high score if you constantly pull in asteroids near a structure capable of shooting into the air as cash supplies can get tight fast.

While the single player (which can be played in co-op as well) is 28 levels total, there is also a multi-player element, as you would expect from a tower defense game. You can battle with up to four people. Unfortunately, this is offline only. It doesn’t really make sense to make a game like this without an online component (leader board not included), but they did. That said, there are a total of 12 different maps to choose from. You get to choose the max number of hits your main building can take from as low as 1 to as high as 100.

Some of the best games this generation happen to be simple downloads on the PSN and Xbox Live. The strong support from independent developers like Pelfast ensure a creative flow of games at a price that is affordable. While I was definitely disappointed to not have online, it’s not a deal breaker. Comet Crash is one of those games that I think everyone should at least try. You will probably get hooked, whether or not you like tower defense games on the PC.