Tower 57

Tower 57 is a twin-stick, top-down shooter developed by Pixwerk and published by 11 bit studios, and the developer has really tried to capture the nostalgic feeling of games from the Amiga and DOS-era. They must have cast a wide net, because the haul is pretty damn good!

The story revolves around the titular Tower 57, one of the towers housing what's left of humanity after some sort of dystopian catastrophe. We and our league of extraordinary gentlemen and women are sent to the tower to investigate all of the shady things that are presumably going on, as above so below. The story istold mainly through case files, news terminals, and in-game dialogue, so you're going to have to be fond of reading if you're going to get anything out of the game, narrative-wise at least.

Fortunately, you don't need to read a novel to appreciate the adrenaline-fuelled action, the well-made levels, and the annoyingly catchy music. We have had the soundtrack on a loop for days now, and there's no way we're ever going to tire of it.

You start out by putting together a team of three specialists. There are a total of six available; The Don, The Scientist, The Officer, The Beggar, The Diplomat, and The Spy. We went for a Scientist-Officer-Spy-combo and went to town. Or Tower 57.

After a short introduction we were sent down into the sewers (ugh), and have to find a way through them. Before too long our very first formidable foe makes an appearance - a scary, pink... blob! A quick one-two with the ol' sawn-off shotgun takes care of that, and we continue on our way. Only, the blob has brought its blob friends and now they're going to eat everything. Or at least pepper us with projectiles. We go down with style, but our death is not the end of our story, merely a short pause (at the end of a clause) as the torch is handed over to the first of our three specialists.

We deal out bullets and damage like it's going out of style, and barely manage to avoid the damage that's dealt out in return. The more advanced the enemies become, the more challenging it gets.

A lot of the challenge lies in the fact that almost every object that offers up some sort of cover can be destroyed, often spectacularly so. Chaos reigns and the confusion that follows often leads to the words Game Over lighting up, mocking us, goading us on, making us angry. Sweat has begun to form on the forehead, and there's a weird vein throbbing in our temple. But as with all roguelikes, it's a good type of anger. We want to beat this game. We want to beat it so badly.

After a few choice words and some turns of phrase that would make you wonder if we kiss our mother with this mouth, the words "Game Saved" appear at the top of the screen, and we can exhale. We have bested the sewers and her beasts, and are rewarded with a visit to the game's hub, where we may perchance acquire some weapons and upgrades, and mayhaps revive a team member or two if we've the coin for it. We partake in a bit of gambling before we get our next mission briefing: It's back down to the sewers for us!

As we traipse around in the sewers (we do make it out of them eventually and make our way further up into the tower) we are impressed by the level of detail the game offers. Seeing our character with shiny new metal legs, after having her legs bitten off earlier, was, admittedly, pretty cool.

The game is not without its flaws, however. The difficulty level combined with save points that are few and far between makes for an experience that may only be enjoyable to fans of the genre. You have to be motivated to push forward. The amount of visual chaos during enemy encounters makes it hard to follow just what on this flat earth is going on and makes some deaths feel a little unfair. You can also get stuck very easily - suddenly you find yourself ammo-less before a big boss fight, or worse, you have plenty of ammo, but no arms to operate your weapons with. When that happens it's easier to just restart the whole level.

At the same time, the upgrades you can get (if you can afford them) are pretty powerful, which makes things a little better. You'll be well-rewarded if you're the curious and explorative type, as you'll find a lot of cool toys to play with.

We also tried playing the game in co-op mode, which makes any game ten times better in our opinion. But not Tower 57, however. Sharing the game with another player just amplifies the flaws - ammo, health packs, and money are now split between two. It also doubles the chaos, making it almost impossible to tell what's going on, who you're shooting at and who's shooting at you. It's a bullet bonanza and you're standing smack in the middle of it. Add to that the fact that the screen is locked on an approximation of where the two of you are, so a lot of enemies will be off-screen but still very much able to kill you.

All in all, this is a solid homage to the Amiga-era, which sucks you in with a combination of frustration and sense of accomplishment. But this is definitely a game you should play on your own, once or twice, before inviting a friend to join.