I still remember the days when I was hiding in bed and playing tower defense with the little screen light of PSP. There were no heroes or big moves at that time. I just put the turret on the ground and watched the mobs kill people one after another, and I felt very satisfied. Later, "Defense Formation" on the NDS kept me playing until dawn. The energy of thinking about "putting a speed reduction tower here and a high-damage turret in that corner" was just as exciting as when I was secretly playing GBA and studying "Pokemon" moves.
I accidentally downloaded "Tata Empire" two days ago. When the opening CG came out, I was stunned for three seconds - this picture, my God, compared with the mosaic tower defense of the PSP back then, it is simply the gap between the Overlord game console and Nintendo. 😭 The hero walks so coolly, and when he zooms in on his moves, the whole screen glows. I can't help but sigh, is this the tower defense king of 2021?
But to be honest, for people like me who come from the pixel era, the biggest fear of playing tower defense is that it will change its flavor. When I first entered the game and saw the full screen of the suit system, hero development, and peak matches, I felt a little bit in my heart: Is this another krypton gold-based reskin that is trying to sell someone else's skin? As a result, once you get started, you will find that the core tower defense gameplay is still the same - monsters are coming from all intersections, and you have to count your gold coins and time to decide whether to upgrade the turret to three levels first or build an additional reduction tower. At that moment, I almost threw away the skewers in my hand. Isn't this the same nervous feeling I had when I played "Defense Formation" on the NDS all night long, thinking in my mind, "I will raise the turret after one more wave"?
Of course the difference is quite big. In the past, when playing handheld tower defense, each map only had a few maps, and only a few levels were broken. However, the random levels and endless corridors in "Tata Empire" are really the next wave. Let's just talk about the Endless Corridor. It's really like “If I had known that this wave of monsters were of the flying type, I shouldn't have piled all the turrets on the ground.” When I was beaten to the point of crying for my father and mother, I suddenly thought of it. Isn't this the same as evolving into the Stone Cave without bringing any ground units and being forced to return to the village to replenish my health?
There is also the terrain mechanism system. I remember that when I was playing, there was a level where fire would spit out on the floor. I thought it was just for decoration, but when I saw the monster coming over with a wooden shield, the fire spurted out and burned them all to death. I slapped my thigh and said, "Okay, old man, this is called strategy!" It's much more impressive than Plants vs. Zombies when they put up a wall of nuts.
The only thing I am not satisfied with is that I no longer have the pure feeling of plugging in a cassette and being able to start at any time. Although Tata Empire now has cool graphics and explosive skill effects, the various mobile game elements such as physical strength, sign-ins, unions, and daily tasks sometimes really make people feel like clocking in at work in the game. I couldn't help but whisper: Old friends, do you still remember when you played "Iron Crisis" that you didn't need to charge 6 yuan to unlock the hidden levels? 🤣
But how can I put it, the times are advancing, and tower defense must also keep pace with the times. Nowadays, you can buy a Tata Empire wherever you go with your mobile phone. This in itself is already a "future science fiction" that I could not even dream of when I was a child. The monsters we called "Iron Rats" that we fought on the PSP back then are now 3D models jumping around on the screen, which is actually quite friendly. As a 40-year-old handheld player who still cares about old craftsmanship, I want to say this: classics will always be classics, but new things can really stick to your heart.
Youth is probably about finding your teenage self secretly playing video games late at night in a new game. 😌