Defenders of Ardania

Tower defense has been around forever. But what if you were simultaneously building the waves of creeps trying to break through your opponents' lines? Allow this video and batch of screenshots to explain.

Defenders of Ardania challenges players to play both sides of the traditional tower defense paradigm at once. Choosing how to invest your money between attackers and towers of your own is the key to victory in this Majesty-branded strategy title.

Paradox hopes to make this much more than yet another coffee break tower defense – there are dozens of examples of that available for free online. Players will also have access to magic spells that serve both offensive and defensive purposes. Some environments have interactive portions as well, which will affect the flow of a match.

Defenders of Ardania features some "mazing," where players define the paths that creeps take as they move along the map rather than placing towers along a pre-set course.

On offense, you don't choose your creeps' targets – they mindlessly charge toward pre-defined objectives. When two waves of opposing creeps meet, they take a swing at each other and keep going. This isn't like DotA, where armies smash together in the middle of the map until one gains an advantage.

Twenty-four each of units and towers are spread across DoA's three factions, all with a slew of possible upgrades.

The game offers a single-player story-driven campaign, but Paradox is upfront about the fact that DoA's focus is on multiplayer – or at least playing the competitive modes against the AI, possibly with friends in a team scenario.

Multiplayer offers three modes that put different players in charge of offense, defense, or both. As mentioned before, up to four players can play at a time online or in a LAN. My bet is that two-player co-op versus the AI turns out to be the most popular mode, but we'll see.

Defenders of Ardania releases this summer for PC, PlayStation Network, and iPad at a planned retail price of $14.99.