The first-person tower defence game is back and better then ever!

So, let's start on what is new and defined. In the first game, it was a little hard to make defences. You had to get the ball out and place a box, then place the defence. It was not that simple. In Sanctum 2, this is simple. There is no ball in this one, you just put down defences. So now it's simple which gives you more time to make a good stand.

Another thing that makes this game different from other first-person shooters is that the guns do not have a reload. You know the animation of putting a magazine in your gun? The key to this game is to switch back and forth between weapons. One other thing is left control is to look down the sights, and this change works. Right mouse-click is secondary fire, so making the sights left control is odd, but it works.

All right, now that that is out of the way, let's meet the awesome characters - Skye Autumn, Sweet Autumn, Simo, or Haigen Hawkins. They've each got personality. Not a lot, but enough to notice. I am always picking Skye. She's got an assault rifle, and she is the squad leader. Sweet is the heavy. She's got a missile launcher called the REX. Simo is the sniper. And Hawkins is the point man, and he has a shotgun.

This game has a levelling-up system. I got up to level 10. Getting to higher levels gets you newer defences and perks. One of my favorite perks is the one that heals the core by 13%, or allows you to shoot any enemies close to the core for double damage. I got up to level ten alone, and playing it alone is possible, but the game has very smart AI which attacks you and not just the core, which is what you are protecting. I got to a point where I needed to find some friends, so I found one guy and he helped me out. He just joined out of nowhere. The game has 4 player drop-in/drop-out co-op, and to get higher and beat the game, I suggest hopping into an online match. The enemies can be pretty tough in later levels.

All in All

They made some really good improvements from the first Sanctum game. From the music in the game, to laying down defences, getting in an online match. I know I put a lot on there, but these little things add up and make the game more fun. There's less to worry about. The classes feel very balanced, and no one feels like they could be better. And you can get better weapons and perks when you level up. There is one weapon that is special for each class, but you can unlock guns and defences to use with anyone. The game also runs very nicely on my computer. I have a pretty low-end machine, and the game still runs very well.

Sanctum 2 is $15 on Steam, XBLA and PSN. This is a review of the PC version, and it is a very good game. I will be playing a lot of this after it is out. These game improvements make the game, and that is good thing. See you online on the PC!

4 stars  thank you Coffee Stain Studios!