Whoo boy look at those Goblins
The pretty purple princess from somewheronia was doing her thing until Goblins hauled her off to a dank castle on the other side of the yard. The princess rescue operation was put into immediate effect and before long four heroes managed to bust her out of the goblin castle. Problem is the Goblins weren't exactly thrilled so by the thousands they pursue with the sole intention of punishing the princess and maybe giving the heroes a good thwacking if they get in the way.
Protect Me Knight is the latest game from former Sega developer Ancient. These guys have been away for awhile and unless you remember titles like Beyond Oasis as well as its sequel Legend of Oasis you're not going to have the faintest idea what Ancient is all all about. Well none of that matters now cause this game is a part of that hot new genre everyone is always going on about. What's it called again? Oh yeah Tower Defense. If you're like me Tower Defense is the sort of thing that makes your skin crawl, your blood boil, and maybe your water breaks. See I don't know exactly what it's all about or why it's a big deal but there you go. In any case this game takes a different route with what I like to call "Princess Defense". I guess she's sort of like a tower only cute and you're the big hunky warrior that has to protect her. The simplest way to protect the person you love is to build walls around them and this game is similar as the goblins can't do anything to harm her when walls are in the way. They will however knock those walls down eventually so the best defense in this case is to distract the enemy with walls and then come out swinging.
Whether you're an unfortunately-attired Ninja, a hot-blooded Berserker, a sexy-bikini Amazon, or just a plain ol' Magician you've got a melee weapon and a killer attack that will take the fight to the ugly brutes. Each of the four playable characters can move freely around the battlefield and whomp approaching goblins with much ferocity. Upon death Goblins have a habit of flying through the air and juggled perhaps endlessly by attacks from both the good and bad guys. This is a good thing because when things are getting hit combos are created. When combos are created magic is made and the princess shares her love with the heroes.
Love is a beautiful thing cause it makes the heroes of Protect Me Knight stronger and more capable of building walls to hold the enemy back. In-between each stage the heroes can upgrade their stats from HP to strength or make their killer attacks better. I always tend to focus on killer attacks cause in the long run the princess is the main target and if the heroes can't protect themselves what good are they to the princess?
Rather than bother with the rhetoric let's talk about killer attacks. These special moves cost MP but they're so much fun. Each of them are unique to their corresponding warrior so if you're like me you're fond of boomerang chakrams that circle around you like the windmill shuriken from Ninja Gaiden. These shuriken go in circles and cut their way through many a goblin. This can lead to big combos quite quickly and there's hardly anything more entertaining than brutally beaten goblins being flung through the air by the dozens. The other three warriors have their own killer attacks that function in similar ways. It's up to the player to find the one that suits them best and get with the defeating of f@#$in' goblins.
It's not all simple though. Goblins for some reason are friends with Minotaurs, giant centipedes, dragons, and even the Succubus. All these fine folks want a piece of the princess so each stage results in waves of these foes and the obligatory boss that comes along to cap it all off. Still if you can keep the princess out of danger you just might qualify for the elite ranks of "Over Protect Me Knight" and attain tons of points at the end of a playthrough. It's a short game at 30 minutes or so but rest assured it's not over until you've beaten the "Hell" difficulty and gotten the highest possible rank.
Even if you're the Master of Protecting that doesn't mean you should be a loner. This game offers support for up to four players and while that's not online that's all the more reason to get out there and make some flesh & blood friends. This game is a hoot and a half by oneself but imagine the amazing levels of excitement and entertainment that can only come from four warriors playing Goblin volleyball.
To put it bluntly this game is a steal at $3. It's one of my picks for Game of the Year of 2010 and the word of mouth on this one has been amazing so far. You'd be doing yourself a huge dis-service by continuing to sleep on this one so by all means give it a look and you'll find that for a developer that hasn't made a game since the Saturn days Ancient is still gold.
