Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault (PlayStation 4) Review

Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault works as follows: story>build>battle>repeat. The story is told in the JRPG style of portraits explaining the need for the rebuilding of small defensible cities after Earth has been decimated by aliens. The cities are constructed in ever-larger rings, with the inner circle having about 6 tiles, the next having 11, the 3rd with about 17, and so on. Battle is then a timed affair, with waves of enemies coming at every direction. The player has to rotate their rings to bring the best weapons to the right direction, often with very little time.

That's the basics, but there is some surprising depth to it. The city is a very light simulation where population and happiness must be managed, and in return higher taxes (money) are earned to buy better buildings with. Later in the game, there are multiple cities that have to be managed to make sure the populace stays happy.

The clever part of the game comes from the fact that buildings can be 'linked' together - if 2 or 3 rings line up with the same type of building, they become far more powerful, so a small missile building becomes a huge launcher that covers a third of the field. There are holes within each city, so there is never a 'perfect' build to be done, and because of the rotational aspect, often the perfect setup only lasts until the next rotation.

The story itself is nothing amazing, but its true strength is its characters. The writing is not going to win any awards, but the characters are different enough and interact enough in very believable ways that it is interesting to see what happens next. There is never any overarching plot that comes to fruition, so much as banter between the characters, but it is something players can relate to more and is a positive overall.

Battles come in two different styles: those that are easy because the setup worked and those that fall apart. In the building phase, structures can be placed in an ideal setup to maximize links, and in some battles where enemies come from the right directions, this leads to a boring affair of stomping them out very quickly. Sometimes though, they attack from the wrong direction, and you have to rotate certain rings to combat them, which then breaks the link and makes the original direction no longer defended. At this point, trying to minimize damage becomes very hectic, as the single buildings are far weaker and likely to get overran.

Lastly, there are different 'jobs' the characters can be assigned, and they have different skills that trigger, such as more money or faster shooting. It is only a little effect, but it helps immersion by adding a type of personnel management system. Singularly, the elements are nothing special, but they connect to each other in a very successful way. The city you build is the one you actually fight with, the characters talking are the ones yelling in battle. The sum is definitely greater than its parts.