Parents' Guide to Fortified

When aliens attack, sometimes the best offense is a good defense. At least, that's the case with Fortified, a downloadable tower-defense game for Xbox One and PC. You play as one of four heroes facing off against wave after wave of weird Martian robots trying to destroy rockets launching against the bad guys. Before each wave, you have a little time to set up some defenses, and once the waves start you get to run around each map and shoot whatever your defenses might leave behind. There's a lot of shooting and a lot of action, but somehow the game still feels a little light.

One of the biggest problems with Fortified is repetition. Although the enemy robots come in all shapes and sizes, each level still plays exactly the same. The earlier stages offer some good challenge and strategic thinking, but once you've leveled up enough, the game becomes a cakewalk on normal difficulty. Increasing the difficulty reduces your build time before each wave and only makes enemies tougher, not smarter. It's fun playing online with others, but unless you're playing with someone you know, it can be hard to coordinate moves with teammates. With strangers, a lot of times, your "help" just tends to get in the way. Even with these frustrations, Fortified still does a good job of putting together a pick-up-and-play, arcade-style game that, in a different world, might enjoy a steady diet of any kid's allowance in quarters.