''Fortress'' is a

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a Video game genre, subgenre of Strategy video game, strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usual ...

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Pipe Dream Interactive and published by

Majesco Entertainment Majesco Games Corporation (formerly Majesco Sales Inc. and Majesco Entertainment Company) is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, an ...

for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

(GBA)

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

. It originally released in North America in August 2001, and later in PAL regions on November 23, 2001. It was originally announced as ''Fortris'' for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

by developer Prometheau Games, but was acquired by Majesco and moved to the Game Boy Advance. The game has players building and defending their fortress against either another player or a computer using falling blocks to build it up and falling weapons to fight back against opponents. Since its release, ''Fortress'' has received mixed reception, holding a 64 out of 100 on ''

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

''.

Gameplay

''Fortress'' tasks players with creating a stronghold using pieces that fall from the sky. These pieces include both walls and weapons, which are used to defend from and attack opposing fortresses respectively. The game can be played

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the gameplay. Video games in general can feature several game modes, including single-player modes designed to be played by a single player in add ...

against a computer-controlled opponent or

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

against another player. It has multiple modes of play.

Development

''Fortress'' was originally announced in June 2000 as a

and

game under development by Promethean Designs with the title "''Fortris''". In January 2001,

announced that it had acquired the game, then titled "''Fortres''", alongside nine other titles for release on the GBA. The game was given a final name change the following month. Development moved from Promethean Designs to Pipe Dream Interactive, Majesco's internal developer. Majesco announced in July 2001 that ''Fortress'' was to be published in

PAL region Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25& ...

s by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

as part of an international publishing deal between the two corporations.

Reception

''Fortress'' received generally mixed reception, holding a 64 out of 100 on ''

''. ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' writer Stardingo felt that it was hard to control due to not being able to see your entire fortress, but still found the game fun to play. ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' writer Craig Harris felt the game was unfinished, though he appreciated some of its "clever ideas" and wished he could see a better version of it someday.

References

2001 video games Cancelled Dreamcast games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Game Boy Advance games Game Boy Advance-only games Majesco Entertainment games Tower defense video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in the United States Pipe Dream Interactive games {{Strategy-videogame-stub