First impressions weren’t great I must admit, Fortified didn’t seem to have much of a story and graphically it looks like it wouldn’t be out of place on a PS3 or 360. If I had just watched a trailer or preview this might have put me off, but I’m glad I got to try it because I was pleasantly surprised. Basically you’ve got to save the Earth from an alien invasion, and you do this by playing through around 12 levels using troops and structures (such as anti-aircraft guns) to protect your base.
Fortified is really fun to play, and the inclusion of four player online co-op is great! I didn’t have any friends online at the time, so I created a public game and within a wave or two the game was full and luckily everyone in my team seemed quite competent so we breezed through the few levels that we played.
There are four different characters to pick from each with different abilities, and it does feel like they compliment each other quite nicely. You start off each level with a small amount of cash, and troops and structures cost a certain amount each. You earn cash during waves and can spend it whenever you like. As you level up you gain access to new troops and structures, which can be unlocked via the armoury from the lobby screen which you go to at the end of each level.
Although I didn’t try it, there’s an invasion mode where you and your friends see how long you can survive for, so it would be quite fun to play again and again to try and beat your time/score.
Summary
I can’t really recommend this for anyone going solo, as the levels get quite tough even on normal, they’ve really been designed for multiplayer. For £11.99 I’d say Fortified is little on the expensive side for what it is, but I’d definitely recommend grabbing this on sale for a fiver if you’ll have friends to play it with.
