As the tower defense genre grew in popularity on both the PC and consoles, a few decided to differentiate themselves from the pack. South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play was one of the first to provide an active participant on the field that players could control. Sanctum did the same but brought things to a first-person perspective, and Orcs Must Die pulled back the camera to play from a third-person view. With the genre being a blip on the current consoles, Fortified stands to get more attention, since it's the first on the Xbox One to include the active participant in a 3-D tower defense game. It's too bad that the game is very average.

The premise moves away from the medieval fantasy and distant planet landscapes. Fortified is set in 1950s America, when the nation is visited by Martians and humanity learns that it's not alone in the universe. Shortly after the Martians' arrival, the mechanized aliens attack and prove to be a formidable foe both on the ground and in the air. Enter a task force that's headed up by four specialists (agent, captain, rocket scientist and space cowboy) to save the world from intergalactic domination. As simple as the pulp sci-fi it is inspired by, the plot doesn't get any more complicated.

If you haven't played any of the games mentioned earlier, Fortified plays like a third-person shooter with tower defense elements thrown in. You start by choosing from one of the four character classes. From there, you select your loadout, which consists of two weapons you can switch between and up to six different structures. Enemies attack in waves that you initiate, and in between, you can place structures on walls or on the ground. As with any tower defense title, enemy kills generate cash that you can use to build more structures, and the builds occur immediately instead of forcing you to wait for it to slowly build up before it becomes useful. At the end of each level, you gain XP for your character, and leveling up gives you unlock points to open new structures, weapons or upgrades.

The four characters differ in quite a number of ways. The weapon loadout is initially different, though a few of the guns are shared between them. The same goes for available structures and the special powers that are activated once a certain amount of kills are made. For example, the agent's special power enhances weapon strength while his structures and weapons rely on experimental stuff to push back light ground enemies. The captain relies heavily on military power and personnel to fight the Martians as he sets up specialty troop outposts on the map and fights with standard weaponry. He also heals anyone he comes in contact with, which is useful since the regenerative health system sometimes isn't fast enough to withstand a brutal attack. The rocket scientist is more explosives-oriented, and her special power gives her flight capabilities and infinite ammo for a limited time. Finally, the space cowboy is about crowd control; his structures and weapons call on slowing down enemies while his special ability is about freezing large groups of enemies.

If you're looking at Fortified from a third-person shooter perspective, then the title is pretty competent. Shooting is more arcade-like in that recoil isn't present, and every weapon has unlimited amounts of ammo. You have secondary abilities for some of your guns, usually a more powerful charged shot or stronger piece of ordnance. You have to reload your guns, but that's handled as a cooldown if you do this automatically. This opens up a strategy where you completely drain a gun, switch to your other weapon, and switch back to a freshly reloaded weapon. Get the hang of the weapon switching and cooldown system, and you can fire nearly uninterrupted.

Though the game works fine as a shooter, the tower defense portions feel underdeveloped, particularly regarding structure placement. The idea of limited viable spaces used to build structures is a staple of the genre, but the game doesn't make it clear why some spots aren't available. You can argue that wall units have enough of a visual cue since they can't be placed on doors and windows (though many buildings are nothing but doors and windows), but ground unit placement is more finicky. The rules about why a structure is good for this part of the ground and not that one could be made much clearer.

The game comes with two modes. The campaign mode lets you choose a character and try to get through 12 stages to reach the end. As expected, the stages have enemies that scale in difficulty as you progress. You may start with spider robots that come in close to initiate a melee attack and basic bipedal spiders that sometimes fire lasers and end up fighting robots that dive forward and shoot one more time before they explode, flying kamikaze orbs, UFOs, and large steel balls that roll through defenses before transforming into turrets. As you get closer to the end, the level designs start to feature multiple pathways for the Martians, and you'll be required to defend more than one base.

There are two issues with the campaign mode. Though it's a solo mode, the structure mimics multiplayer enough that you can switch between characters before entering a level. While it is expected that individual character progress isn't carried over once you select someone different, campaign progress isn't carried over, either. If you reach the fifth stage with the agent and want to try the captain, you need to go back to the first level to do so. While it effectively gives the player the chance to lengthen the game, it feels like a cheap way of doing so.

The second issue people will find with the campaign is that the difficulty level spikes pretty quickly. Getting through the first three levels can be rather easy. You won't get through them unscathed on the first try, but you won't feel too challenged. By the time the fourth level comes around, the game throws tons of things at you at once while more formidable foes come from all directions. Even when you consider the limitations with the tower defense system, getting the right layout to beat a level requires lots of luck or tons of replays to figure out. Patient players can deal with this well, but others may throw in the towel before the games ramps up further.

If you're feeling stuck in the campaign, you can switch to the endless mode, where you'll fight countless waves of enemies, each one increasing in strength and variety. It sounds fun, but the mode has a few issues. First, there are only three stages. The maps are different from the campaign, but they only vary in terms of how many places the Martians can spawn from. The paths from spawn point to base are pretty straightforward, so there's not much strategy to employ. Because you don't have a true victory, the amount of XP gained is very small, so even going through double-digit waves nets you an XP amount that's not even close to finishing a mission in campaign mode. You might be better served ignoring this mode if you want to become powerful enough to handle the later campaign levels solo.

While Fortified is a slog for solo players, it's much more manageable with others. Even after tackling some of the higher difficulties with low-level players, it's apparent that the game is much more manageable for two or more players — when at least two different classes are present. The XP gains in the single-player modes apply to multiplayer as well, so you'll find more people replaying the campaign missions instead of going through endless waves before their inevitable demise. The only complaint is that the online population is quite small, so finding a game can be difficult. During these situations, you'll wish that a split-screen mode was available.

Graphically, the game looks quite average. The environments may portray the setting and time period well, but they're rather lifeless. Buildings are nondescript with the exception of the movie theater, and while one won't get lost in the levels, the nearly uniform look of each stage doesn't help. The Martians look quite nice, but the humans look stiff by comparison. This is mostly attributed to their plastic appearance, which is more apparent when illuminated. There are a few times when the effects feel modern, but explosions and snowfall look old and sparse.

The quality varies on the sound front. The musical tracks aren't plentiful, but they're good for conveying action and impending fights when a wave begins. The effects are also quite good, though they rely on more modern effects instead of emulating the stuff heard in that time period. The voices vary quite a bit in quality. The lines are fine, but they're not audible sometimes because the other effects are louder. This is especially true when you fail to protect your base, as the collapse of your rocket and the volume of the failure melody make it so that you might not notice your character was speaking. Some of the line deliveries are pretty bad, either because they sound bored or the inflections are wrong.

In the end, Fortified is a decent tower defense game. The classes add some variety, and the shooting is fine, but the tower defense portion could use more work. It plays well with others, but there isn't much balance available for the solo player, especially since XP progression can become a grind. Coupled with an average presentation, it's decent fun with buddies but not something worth pursuing if you're looking to play solo.

Score: 7.0/10