Sanctum 2 - A Decent Tower Defense-First Person Shooter Hybrid

Sanctum was one of those games that fused together different genres; an approach that is so rare that you won't be the one to blame if you thought it has never been done before. The sequel, Sanctum 2 was released in 2013 and retains the team-based sci-fi style of the original that is mixed together with the elements of tower defense.

Sanctum 2 is a futuristic sci-fi shooter that takes place in a fictional planet of Loek 3 where a human colony has settled down, but the native creatures of the planet known as the Lumes are unhappy to have their lands rudely infiltrated. The game plot mainly revolves around a team of special soldiers called the Core Guardians as they move from base to base and defending them from the attack of the Lumes.

Things are getting out of hand here.

The game may have a story, but it's clearly not its focus. Every chapter opens up with a comic strip that narrates the progress of the story, but to be honest, most of the time I have no idea what's going on. But the objective is clear though: your aim is to defend a mechanism that is vital for the survival of the colony known as the Core from the waves of attack of the Lumes. There are 4 classes available to play and each of them have different main weapons although they do share the same secondary weapons, which, of course will be unlocked as you progress.

Now the interesting thing is that everytime your main weapon overheats, you must switch to your secondary weapon and let the overheated weapon recharges (actually you can wait til it's fully recharged, but why wait when you can switch and keep blasting?). Once your secondary weapon overheats, switch back to the main weapon and let the secondary weapon recharges instead, and the cylce goes on and one the entire game. The weapon switching can be annoying at first. It feels like a hassle to switch weapons every time they overheat and your secondary weapon isn't that good either. But once you get used to it, it will be an advantage, especially after you've unlocked more powerful secondary weapons. It is pure joy to not have to pause to reload and really helps with the continuity of action.

Sanctum 2 is a hybrid of tower defense and first person shooter. Basically, it's more of a tower defense but from the first-person perspective. Your main task is to defend the Core from the lumes who are out to destroy it. At the beginning of every round, you're given supplies to construct stationary turrets and walls in the manner of a tower defense game. Of course, there are various kinds of turrets for you to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Visually stunning at times.

Lumes don't really pay attention to your turrets, but bosses do and they can destroy it. There are aggressive lumes, especially the bigger ones that will attack you if you get too close. Then there are smaller but faster lumes that will ignore you and are clearly dedicated to attacking the Core. All lumes have a critical spot, which is easy to notice (it's bright red). There are tougher lumes that take absolutely zero damage unless you spray bullets into their critical spot. At first, they can pretty much of a pain not only because they're tough, but because your turret might focus uselessly on them instead of on the smaller lumes. But later on, you can unlock the ability to devise turret targeting system. Besides, you can also aggro these enemies so that they would reveal their critical spots for the turrets or your friends to blast in to.

I love the fact that this game isn't all about mindless shooting. It's an FPS-tower defense hybrid, so strategy matters too. Arranging turrets in a way that you can maximize their proximity to the enemies is vital. You can also construct your walls in a maze-like fashion to slow down the aggressively approaching lumes. Plus, you have the freedom to upgrade the towers as well as deconstruct them and regain all resources you used on them without any penalty, which is great, in case you need to the resource to construct another tower somewhere else on the map.

You see, for every round, the enemies that storm your base aren't always the same. For example, in the last round you faced a swarm of fast smaller lumes accompanied by a huge tank lume, while in the next round you'll be facing a swarm of aggressive lumes aided by air troops. So, before each round, you can devise a plan and strategy on what turrets to use and where to place them. Maybe in the last round, your turrets work great, but in the next round, they might not be as effective. Besides, there are several spawn points on the map and the lumes storm out of different points in different rounds. So, it's the matter of rearranging your placement of turrets as well as your choice of turrets. Aside from the turrets, there are also bot squads that will help you but they look more like space engineers than formidable space marines. 

What if that's a lice, and this planet is just a gigantic human head?

That said, this game is best played with friends. From round to round, your job is basically the same, defend the core. Although you can unlock different weapons and perks for your characters, none of these will keep you interested for long if you just play solo. By the way, I like the art style of the game, which reminds me so so very much of Brink, one of my favourite first-person shooter (no matter how much it tortured me with instability, damn I still like that game). As for Sanctum 2, well get your friends, and it'll be a hell lot of fun.