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Deadly Tower of Monsters Review

By: Omar (@siegarettes​)

• The Deadly Tower of Monsters
• Developer - ACE Team 
• Publisher - Atlus
• PS4, PC (Steam)

If there’s one thing that keeps me coming back to ACE Team games, it’s their ability to channel aesthetics from all kinds of places into eye catching locations for digital violence. That’s still true in The Deadly Tower of Monsters, a top down action game that takes inspiration from B-movie special effects. It’s a fitting tribute; ACE Team games seem to occupy similar spaces among their peers, banking on the appeal of their art and design while leaving certain seams revealed. 

The aesthetics here are spot on as well. The Deadly Tower seems keen to hit something from the entire breadth of its genre, with stop motion dinosaurs, giant apes, space aliens, invisible men, and brain monsters all showing up. Each of them is also given an authentic low budget feel, with the several creates animated with a shortage of frames to emulate stop motion, men in suits with the zippers visible, and specters that appear to be hand painted onto the shot. It’s outright the most thorough replication of both the design sensibilities and special effect processes of the genre I’ve seen. 

This is all framed within the “director’s commentary”, running narration through the game being recorded for the DVD release of the fictional film of the same name. It’s not the most seamless implementation of the technique I’ve seen, but it provides a steady source of gags to accompany the action. Most of these focus on the haphazard production of the film, with the director repeatedly showing himself to be out of touch, incompetent and self-deluding. They occasionally take some shots at structure of videogames and the conversation surrounding it, but most of the gags are done at the expense of the director and the low production values of the films. Which is just as well, as these jokes tend to fall flat, using tired topics that already feel outdated. 

In fact, the commentary as a whole feels a bit insincere. ACE Team have put so much effort into replicated the camp appeal of the genre that the repeated jabs at the low budget productions become wearisome by the end of the game. There’s obviously a passion behind these recreations, but the tone of the narration gives the impression of a game that doesn’t believe those films can be enjoyed without a heaping helping of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 style mockery. The only point where the commentary really comes together is in the final act, where, like all good genre flicks, bring in a twist to flip the premise on its head. It still has some tonal problems, but it feels less reserved and considerably more fun by the end. 

As for the action itself, it’s competent if uneven. Towers always present a reliable arc of progression, and ACE Team employs several tricks to remind you of your altitude. Areas continually fold back onto themselves, having you drop back to lower areas to open up new areas before returning to the top. Enemies will occasionally approach from below, signaling you to hug the edge of the foothold you’re currently on to eliminate them before you arrive. Bosses will also occasionally take you with them for aerial freefalls, as you take the final shots to seal their demise. The tower is also dotted with targets and rings to dive through, and because you can instantly teleport to the last foothold or checkpoint you can indulge your instinct to fling your character from the highest ledge without losing progress. It’s particularly satisfying near the end, as the music cycles between the various musical themes of each section of the tower. (The music deserve a special mention here as well, as it captures the weird tones and alien overtunes of the genre perfectly).

If anything, that sense of height is where The Deadly Tower succeeds best. Towers are easy settings for games because of the aforementioned sense of progression, but they rarely go out of their way to remind you of that sense of height the way The Deadly Tower does. It’s the most consistent part of the game. The combat is serviceable, with some decent feedback on attacks that makes it fun to whale on enemies, but there’s an imprecision to everything that makes building up a good rhythm difficult. Guns auto aim to a degree which often throws off your intended shot, ironically, and mapping the parry move to the same button as the dodge makes it messier than it should be to use. There’s also multiple characters with slightly different abilities, upgrades and a big arsenal of weapons, but there isn’t much distinction between them. 

There might be a good chunk of options there, but The Deadly Tower never feels like it can support each of them. For the most part you’ll end up picking whatever variation you like and sticking to it until another weapon comes along to make it obsolete. It’s definitely not enough to hold your attention by itself, leaving the spectacle of the next monster or area to keep you motivated. 

That’s the appeal of The Deadly Tower of Monsters in a nutshell. For those with fondness for the camp and production of old sci-fi and monster movies there’s enough here to hold you until the finale. ACE Team’s sense of aesthetics is once again spot on. The journey itself is a bit wanting, but maybe it’s enough for those with an eye for the spectacle.