The idea behind the TouchArcade Game of the Week is that every Friday afternoon we post the one game that came out this week that we think is worth giving a special nod to. Now, before anyone goes over-thinking this, it doesn’t necessarily mean our Game of the Week pick is the highest scoring game in a review, the game with the best graphics, or really any other quantifiable “best" thing. Instead, it’s more just us picking out the single game out of the week’s releases that we think is the most noteworthy, surprising, interesting, or really any other hard to describe quality that makes it worth having if you were just going to pick up one.
These picks might be controversial, and that’s OK. If you disagree with what we’ve chosen, let’s try to use the comments of these articles to have conversations about what game is your game of the week and why.
Without further ado…
Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville
I was just finishing up high school when The Powerpuff Girls show from Cartoon Network took the world by storm. I remember seeing and hearing Powerpuff Girls everywhere I looked, but for whatever reason I never really had an interest in checking out the show. Years later I’d finally catch an episode or two, and come to find out what a truly witty and humorous show it was. Still, I’d never consider myself a massive Powerpuff Girls fan or anything. So that made it extra delightful when I fired up Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville ($3.99) when it launched earlier this week and found an action-packed Metroidvania adventure starring the trio of superhero girls.
My surprise might have been lessened had I realized that Defenders of Townsville was developed by Radiangames. They are known for some unique puzzle games, but much more so for their excellent stable of dual-stick shooters. At its heart, Defenders of Townsville is a dual-stick shooter Metroidvania. It’s a 2D platformer for sure, but your ability to fly makes the perspective almost irrelevant and much of the game plays just like the top-down shooters we know and love from Radian. It’s not a terribly long game, nor is it overly-complex. But it has a near-perfect progression system, always rewarding you with new weapons and abilities that allow you to uncover just a bit more of the level maps right when you’re ready to see something new.
What I’m driving at is, if you were in a similar position as me and figured that Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville was either a crappy licensed game or you weren’t interested because you figured you’re not much of a Powerpuff Girls fan, I definitely recommend you give the game a look. It’s fantastic whether you’re a fan of the show or not. And, if you ARE a fan, it does good fan service with voiced dialogue, a decent little storyline, three playable characters and even an option to play with the 2014 rebooted looks of the girls or the “classic" versions most people know and love. People in our forums have been digging it too, so definitely check it out.
