Game Review--X-Morph: Defense (Switch)

"Beginning the next phase of planetary assimilation.  This area is populated by another aggressive tribe called the Americans."
--X-Morph representative, X-Morph: Defense


X-Morph: Defense is an indie tower defense game that lets players control an extraterrestrial faction which uses machines to harvest resources in hopes of terraforming Earth.  While it is deficient on the level of storytelling and replay incentives, the gameplay cleverly combines strategic use of resources with diverse weaponry.  It succeeds as a science fiction real-time strategy game (with aspects of other genres or subgenres appearing as well), but it unfortunately accomplishes little else.  Moreover, even the DLC only adds a few hours of single player content to the already brief campaign.

Production Values

The strongest aspect of the production values is certainly the clear graphics that practically never hinder the framerate.  Whether one enemy is onscreen or the screen is dominated by dozens of attacking units, the game, in my experience, runs smoothly.  The voice acting behind the human characters is mediocre compared to the visuals, and, although the voice of the alien leader sounds appropriately foreign, the best of the sound is the noise generated by the technological weapons.  Unfortunately, the potential of the premise is squandered, as players are informed of the story almost entirely by in-mission lines from either faction.

Gameplay

The extremely simplistic story may be the weakest part of the game, but the gameplay mechanics are quite strong, blending RTS and shooter elements without either gameplay style displacing the other.  Players control a single alien spacecraft that can cycle between a total of four primary weapons and alternate fire modes, also having the ability to place various offensive towers to protect the map's harvester.  Some of the more unique weapons include gravitational singularities and "Dark Matter bombs."

Some enemy units, such as shielded tanks, are only vulnerable to certain weapon types.  One weapon cannot even be used to target enemies on the ground!  Occasionally, a level will involve a climactic boss fight with enormous human machines that can easily destroy towers with their footsteps or launch missiles at the harvester from another side of the map.  These opponents can take numerous towers and several minutes to kill, and the best way of ensuring they are defeated is to only let them out of one's sight unless it is necessary to remove a tower that is no longer in range to get resources back--or destroy devastating missiles before they reach the harvester.

Story

Spoilers are below, but there is little of a plot to spoil.

An unnamed alien species, which seems to be a "transhumanist"-like race in that their consciousnesses are integrated with harvester devices, begins planting resource harvesters at key points on the planet's surface, hoping to completely assimilate the human homeworld into their dominion.  As the invaders drive the human presence out of one location after another, the defenders become desperate enough to use experimental weapons unprecedented in the known history of warfare--and to eventually stage an evacuation to the moon.


Intellectual Content

The story scarcely begins to tackle any of the existential, epistemological, or moral issues that could be associated with the discovery of a hostile extraterrestrial race, but the gameplay itself requires players to be observant, strategic, and quick.  This is the nature of a real-time strategy game, so anyone familiar with the concept should easily see the intellectual challenge that can be offered at higher difficulty levels.  The DLC levels are particularly difficult and require even greater attentiveness.


Conclusion

X-Morph: Defense is far from the worst indie game on the Switch, but it is also not the best.  Its excellent aspects are matched by its lackluster ones.  A potential sequel could easily expand upon the core mechanics while situating them in the context of a deeper, more thorough story.  However, the heart of the gameplay is a triumph for the developers: the mixture of tower defense, real-time strategy, and shooter elements is the one thing that is utilized well on a consistent basis.  For Switch owners looking for a game in the tower defense genre, X-Morph: Defense is not the weakest option.


Content:
 1.  Violence:  Alien and human vehicles fight each other with various projectile weapons.
 2.  Profanity:  Human military leaders use variants of "damn" on some occasions.