Tower Defense games are a dime a dozen. How many Tower OFFENSE games have you played? That’s right, instead of putting up the cannons that blast the enemies, you direct them as they make their way to the end point. 11Bit Studio’s Anomaly – Warzone Earth is unique among its kind. In Anomaly, you take control of a commander as you thwart an alien invasion by leading your convoy towards huge domes that have appeared throughout Baghdad and Tokyo. You’ll direct their route, changing it on the fly when needed. Your battle suit gives you a selection of powers, such as the ability to put up a smoke screen or repair your vehicles. While the controls are shaky and take time getting used to, the gameplay manages to stand out and add an interesting twist to the tower defense formula.

Raventhorne is another indie Xbox game, which brings back memories of games like Actraiser and Castlevania. This 2D side scroller cast players in the role of Raventhorne, a recently slain Viking cast who finds himself in the underworld. How was he killed and why is he not in Valhalla? This is for you to find out. Along with your fighting stances, you’ll make use of several magic spells, and you’ll level up as you go along. While there isn’t a lot of variety in the game’s enemies, the game’s combat mechanics and art style make it a must buy for indie gaming fans, especially since the game is only $1. With more independent games of this caliber, we might be seeing developer Milkstone Studios’s games on Xbox Live Arcade pretty soon.

From our coverage of Pax East 2011, we talk to Mike McCain of Moonshot Games about the art and gameplay of their first title, Fallen Frontier.

A little background: this entire interview happened only because I was waiting a while to play this game. It wasn’t until I was reviewing this footage today that I realize the person taking so long before me was Tim Schafer.

aDam and I played for about 15 minutes and we were both really impressed. The game played smooth and the level we went through was really huge with lots of options for taking on enemies.

Split screen seemed really odd at first, but totally natural once you played it. Most games will split top/bottom or left/right for two players, but Fallen Frontier splits at an angle, and the line will move or tilt based on which way the players are heading and what they’re doing. When you rejoin, the line disappears and you share the screen again. Really cool idea.

Moonshot still has a long way to go on this title, but its clear they have some good ideas in place already. We can only hope they deliver on our expectations!

Our coverage of PAX East is still trickling in as I take a look at the Independent Shooter-Racer game, DYAD for the Playstation Network.

Check our other PAX East 2011 coverage HERE.

Created by Finland development studio Rovio Interactive, Angry Birds is undoubtedly last year’s Plants vs Zombies. That is, a game developed for casual audiences that gets over with mainstream gamers, finding intensive success, to the point of becoming a pop culture icon. Why are these birds so angry? Simple. Green-skinned pigs have stolen their eggs, so now the birds are ready to cause some serious damage to get their revenge. By controlling their slingshot, you launch the birds at huge wooden structures in an attempt to destroy the pigs within. When you complete a level, you gain extra points for eac unused bird and each part of the structure that’s destroyed. As you progress in the game, you get to use birds with different abilities. This is available on Iphone OS and Android (2.1 and up), but the company is seeking to bring it to PSP, Xbox Live Arcade, Wii, Windows Phone 7, and PC. There are also two stand alone spinoffs. Angry Birds Seasons, which contains holiday-themed levels, and Angry Birds Rio, a free entry based on the upcoming film of the same name which sees players trying to free birds who have been kidnapped by poachers. There are also plans for a TV show and movie based on this new franchise. Angry birds is proof that independent games are becoming bigger than ever, and can even give mainstream games a run for their money. It’s only a dollar, so check it out.

Galcon Fusion, created by developer Phil Hassey, is the latest in the Galcon series, a series of games that started as a 1987 PC shareware title and has been remade as a browser game, Iphone app, and a desktop game. Short for Galactic Conquest, Galcon Fusion can best be described as an arcade-style real time strategy game. The object of the game is to use your fleet of ships to colonize other planets in the galaxy while watching out for other players. By capturing planets, you enable them to create more ships, which you then direct at other planets in an attempt to conquer teh galaxy as fast as possible. It’s simple to get into, yet like most casual games, it gets addictive. There are several different modes, including online multiplayer, and you can post your high score to the game’s leaderboards. It’s available on steam, and it’s cheap, so check it out.

Like Defense Grid, Sol Survivor is an independently developed tower defense title. Also like Defense Grid, Sol Survivor adds its own twist to the tower defense genre, making it stand out amongst similar titles in the genre. Oh, and just like Defense Grid, Sol Survivor is a good game that is available for a low price on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade. Sol Survivor takes place in the distant future. The galaxy is under siege from an alien race known as The Ascendancy, a group of creatures whose society is powered by the souls of sentient beings. This obviously doesn’t sit too well with the Sol Paragon, an organization of humanity tasked with defending human colonies. You have your pick of one of several commanders, each with their own selection of towers, as you try to defend your colonies from the aliens.
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While most other independently developed games feature a quirky art style, Defense Grid features high production values and an interesting twist on the tower defense genre. Designed by Age of Empires 2 lead designer Mark Terrano, Defense Grid is an easy-to-play tower defense game which makes use of the Gamebryo engine (used in Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Civilization IV among other titles). You team up with a sentient computer artificial intelligence in order to thwart an alien invasion. You place a variety of towers, and as needed you can upgrade them provided you have the right amount of resources. Space on the grid is limited, so it’s up to you to figure out what towers to place and how to place them. The base game has only 20 levels, but you can replay them in challenge mode. There are also map packs available for .99 each which extend the game, although it would really benefit from a level editor. On Steam, you can purchase the game and all the map packs for $15 making this a good value. Defense Grid is a fun and addictive game, and at its low price, it almost manages to give most full-priced games a run for their money.