First off, Happy New Year! I mean, sure it’s mid-January, but it’s still okay to say Happy New Year, right? Regardless, I’m here to share the gloriousness of Ace Team’s upcoming action adventure game, the monster movie-inspired The Deadly Tower of Monsters. This sci-fi themed intergalactic planetary voyage it out today on PS4.
How would I describe the game? I would say it’s very similar to one of life’s greatest guilty pleasures. You know what I’m talking about. It’s 3:00 AM, you’ve got the late night munchies, but you’re not moving away from the TV. You’re going deeper and deeper into the Netflix rabbit hole, desperately searching for… the one.
Before all hope is lost, you see it — nestled in the depths of the Sci-Fi section — the perfect movie. It’s a lowest-of-the-low budget 1970s B-movie full of amateur actors, dialogue written by someone who once met a person that went to film school, laughable production values, second rate special effects, monster costumes courtesy of a local flea market, etc.
Sure, it may not have won Oscars or have some profound message, but darnit, it’s just the thing for your spaced-out, late-night state of mind.
The Deadly Tower of Monsters has you playing inside that kind of movie, where your controller guides all the acting queues and fighting choreography! The game is framed as a 1970’s sci-fi film — directed by Dan Smith, and starring actors Jonathan Digby as the valiant space explorer Dick Starspeed, Stacy Sharp as the fiery Scarlet Nova, and a poor uncredited actor as the trusty co-pilot, Robot.
Dick Starspeed and Robot crash land onto the hostile planet Gravoria where they eventually team up with Scarlet Nova. Long story short, players must guide Dick Starspeed and company up the eponymous Deadly Tower of Monsters in order to confront Gravoria’s cruel emperor (Who also just happens to be Scarlet Nova’s father… dun dun dun!).
It won’t be an easy task for our intrepid space heroes. A flood of horrible beasts, gross abominations, and creatures from out of this world populate the tower. We’re talking horrific monstrosities such as stop-motion dinosaurs, gross slime creatures, giant nuclear (that’s “nukular”) ants, vicious lizard men, and diabolical puppybots galore! If you can see a zipper or some human feet, just uh… ignore that.
The good news: Dick, Scarlet, and Robot have an arsenal of weapons and skills to zap, whack, burn, and disintegrate their way up the tower. But wait, there’s more! Due to the lax insurance concerns and actor safety regulations of the 1970s, players can freefall off the tower to find secret areas and treasures without fear of death… unless they’re not careful. Plus, you won’t want to miss director Dan Smith’s “insightful” commentary on the filming process as he explains his genius: “There’s something so invigorating about the freefall shots! Like sticking your head out of the sunroof on the freeway!”*
The Deadly Tower of Monsters is truly an homage to classic Ed Wood-ian type schlock films; and kudos to Ace Team for making looking bad look so good on the Unreal Engine — from the film grain effect to the non-claymated claymation animations. So if you love deliciously cheesy sci-fi B-movies or have a knack for a solid action game, you can’t go wrong with The Deadly Tower of Monsters. Good luck out there, and don’t feel too bad for the stuntmen. It’s their job.
*Atlus USA cautions readers to not stick their heads out of sunroofs while driving on the freeway as it is probably dangerous.
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