World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap: 7 out of 10. Sometimes free is the sweet spot price for a game. Not that Deathtrap is a worthless game or some sort of free to play fluff. Far from it. It is I just imagine a large portion of people who play this game are doing so after getting it free with the Games with Gold promotion. Promoting this game beyond the hardcore Hack and Slash and Tower Defense fans certainly work in the game's favor.
If Deathtrap has a major fault it is that it definitely does not put its best foot forward. For a game that is based on an established fiction (World of Van Helsing natch), the threadbare story could not be less engaging nor more muddled that is presented here. Now I hardly need a deep fiction for my Tower Defense play through. A simple cartoon with a princess, a dragon and some orcs with a tepid voiceover would easily foot the bill. What we get here is the Apple videos from Assassins Creed, mixed with Lovecraft and what could be some lesser known Hindu deity.. If that sounds interesting do not fear. It is truly muddled in such a way to prevent any attempt to care about the narrative.
In addition to the opening narrative, the opening levels also fail to impress. This is not unusual for many games let alone Tower Defense games. There is barely a hint of the delights to come. The game is a combination of real-time Hack and Slash and Tower Defense. Where the game shines is the delightful choices in traps that start becoming available about a third of the way through the game. This really opens up the strategy and fun and, unlike some of its Tower Defense brethren, there is no situations where only one path/choice is the right one which often turns a fun strategy game into a boring puzzle game.
While it takes its time to get its hooks in you and its story is a missed opportunity Deathtrap eventually does get its hooks in one and with a decent amount of content. Deathtrap provides very fun hack n slash and Tower Defense entertainment. Especially if you got it for free.