Trenched is another great arcade game brought to you from your friendly neighborhood publisher Double Fine.
Trenched is an age old story we’ve all but heard before, Frank and Vladamir, two WWI buddies were listening to army radio communications, when a strange broadcast goes over the airwaves frying everyone’s brains but theirs, and giving both of them super intelligence. Frank uses his brain for good, Vladamir for evil. Frank creates mechs for the Marines called “trenches” to battle Vladamir’s television-esk monovisions called “tubes”. Ok, so you haven’t heard this song and dance before? Neither have I, and I love it.
As for the gameplay, I like to describe Trenched as a tower defense/RPG. If you’re looking for games to compare it to, I can only think of MNC (Monday Night Combat) and Borderlands. The customization in this game is so in depth, from what legs you want on what size chassis, to what specific weapons you want to accomplish certain tasks. Yet Double Fine somehow makes these choices so easy to perform. Each chassis class: assault, standard, or engineering, has up to 6 weapon slots, and has specific “emplacements” to choose from for each class. There’s a large range of weapons and “emplacements” to choose from also. These choices become extremely important in co-op.
Let’s talk about co-op. This is where Trenched really shines. Seeing what map your playing and planning your “trench” customization according to your other teammates “trench” feels very rewarding. They could go a large class that does a great deal of damage, while you’re a small class that builds “emplacements” and picks up extra “scraps”. Who would have thought teamwork could be so rewarding and fun?
The leveling system is simple, but I’m not sure if there’s a level cap. Killing tubes with different weapons gives you rewards to customize your Marine, and loot boxes drops randomly from enemies giving you weapons with added attributes.
Trenched is a VERY solid arcade game, it can be found on the XBLA and is well worth the 1200 Microsoft points. Sorry PSN users, this looks to be an Xbox exclusive. /sadface
Trenched scores an A.
I am always looking forward to seeing what the minds of Double Fine and Tim Schafer can come up with. For extra love, check out the turn based RPG candyfest Costume Quest, and the refreshingly creative Stacking. I’ll gladly review those beauties upon request.
Burke
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