On the shadow of colossal game releases such as Mass Effect 3 and Final Fantasy XIII-2, few games have had the ability to widdle through the cracks. Most of these games, such as Twisted Metal and Resident Evil, have been part of long-going franchises, already holding a great background. Needless to say, deep, deep in the shadows of these games has arisen a tiny giant celebrating over one million copies sold. If I were to leave this forum open to guess this title, I guarantee a few could tell me.

Valentine’s Day marked Trendy Entertainment’s amazing achievement of over one million copies sold of Dungeon Defenders. I came across this game while browsing for an easy quick game to play on the Playstation Network back in early November of 2011. This game is genius! The developers went back to what games used to do. They entertained without all of these impressive graphical features and complexities. Dungeon Defenders is so basic that it will drive you crazy.

Mixing a combination of classic tower defense and action style games, the gamer is able to adapt to his own style. The game can be played with up to four players offline, online, or something in between. Yes, that is right, you can play your main story over the internet or logged off at home with a group of friends. The game has pros and cons to each playstyle that can be favorable either way. It is genius really. Every single trophy can be acquired online or off and simply put, its the same game. Unlike many games, up to three people can jump into your solo game if you choose so.

Beginning on cell phones, the game was met with a lot of critisism that it should be on a PC or console system. The game is available through the iOS or Android but I will agree that it is much better with a controller in hand (or on PC). Once the game was marketed on the PC/ PSN/XBLA, fans went crazy and the developers released patches and updates to reward their loyal fans. Every single holiday since mid October, there has been free DLC or low priced days. Because of this, characters are rather unique and offer their own qualities. (Which I forgot to mention!)Every owner of the game can have unlimitied amounts of characters amongst the four classes the game offers.

Dungeon Defenders’ base character is the Squire. The Squire is a defensive character that is rather slow and cumbersome but excels with his towers. The towers he can build all do non-elemental damage and can be very tough to overcome. Like all characters, you can develop numerous stats to change him to anything you want but typically he is used as your defensive character.

Next is the Apprentice. He is a slightly quicker character with long range magical attack abilities. He can build strong elemental towers and barriers which can help set up fortification.

The Monk is another playable character that is usually a speedy, powerful role who can build defensive or offensive auras. These auras can be built on top of existing towers to provide additional elemental damage or strength reducing capabilities. He also can set up healing auras in which players can heal themselves without using mana.

The final role is the Huntress, she is the next most common used character in the game. The great thing about this game is that she alone is not too great but once a protective barrier is established, she can yield massive amounts of damage. For this reason, almost every player uses their huntress as the DPS character (This means their character that can do the most Damage Per Second).

With great incorporating classes, Trendy Entertainment did not want to force you to have to play online or with friends. It is ok for all of you loners out there! Trendy made it possible for you to switch your characters between waves in the game allowing you to quickly build towers and then whip out your high wielding attacker.

Speaking about the specifics of the game, I have failed to mention the main part of the game. Dungeon Defenders consists of multiple maps in which you must defend your Eternia Crystal from wave after wave of enemies. As the levels get harder, more crystals are incorporated to acquire your defense. This is half of the game. The other half is a series of challenges that are played upon the very same maps but yield high final rewards (great weapons) for their completion. Each map in the game can be set for Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane (or Nightmare with the recent PC update).

Overall, Dungeon Defenders will definitely earn at least one great title in my mind. It is the best 15$ I ever spent. That is right, the game is only 15-20$ as a downloadable game. The game keeps growing and developers are adding additional content and updates (usually free of charge) by the month. There are so many other great things in the game but I will let you expierence it for yourself. Trendy Entertainment struck gold with this premier release and have given rival games a run for your money. Mass Effect can go back on the shelf, I just want more Dungeon Defenders.

(P.S. I have tried to support the game to many friends of mine but no one has yet to commit or even give it a chance. If anyone wants to try the game and needs help or just simply wants to talk about this great game, my PSN name is FF49erG.)

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