In Trenched you protect humanity from the evil Monovision menace in this mech shooter. Use a  combination of mobile firepower and stationary defenses to turn the tide of war in our favor.  I got a chance to try out the demo for Trenched, twice, at E3 2011.

When Trenched was first announced I had the impression that it was a tower defense game where you played as a moveable tower.  I was mistaken though as Trenched is really a mech shooter that has some tower defense elements.  When you start off you have a choice of 6 chassis and 3 legs types for your mech.  The larger bodies have more powerful weapons but fewer turrets they can call in.  I got a chance to play with two different builds.  The first was a large style build that had a massive cannon and a machine gun for its two weapons, and it had two turrets it could call in.  The other was a smaller build that had a machine gun and a sniper for its two guns, but it has four different (and more powerful) turrets that could be called in.

To buy turrets you spend the resources you gather from dead enemies.  While the turrets are helpful in softening up enemies and watching the flanks most of the work is going to be done by the players with their Trench. The enemies come in waves like a tower defense game and after each one you have a few seconds to gather resources and build/upgrade turrets. While each Trench is mobile there is an option to lock down your unit into a set position.  This allows you to fire more accurately, reload faster and do more damage.

Visually Trenched is really bright and colorful with the different enemies’ colors representing what their primary focus is.  The red ones will attack your trench while the blue ones go after the structures you are defending.  The game definitely had Double Fine’s sense of humor with the soldiers drinking and lighting cigars with their pistol after they win a round.  The game play was a lot of fun and with 4 player co-op support it will be great with a group of friends who can work together.