Double Fine Studios’ newest release “Trenched” takes a historic time of peace and prosperity and turns it into a chaotic scene of soldiers and robotic monsters in an alternate realty.

“Trenched” is a new take on the classic tower defense game familiar to most iPhone gamers. The goal of these games is to prevent enemies from reaching a target by strategically placing shooting towers in their paths, but the player rarely has direct control over any of these towers.

“Trenched” alters the formula and allows the player to place towers and control a customized mech, or armored vehicles. After deciding upon your mech’s weapon and employment loadout, the gamer ships off to a level to prevent waves of threatening robots, called Tubes, from destroying an important location.

The game’s stand out quality is its innovative approach to an old genre. The tower defense elements work very well in the spin-off, and the third-person gunplay adds a welcome change of pace to the action. This also helps to drastically increase the game’s replay value.

The player assumes the role of a soldier at war with the evil genius Vladmir Farnsworth. Driven mad by a mysterious radio broadcast, Farnsworth created the vicious “Tubes” to conquer the world. Where the game lacks in complexity and character development, it makes up for in a bit of good-natured silliness.

There are multiple ways to win each level, and discovering the best method adds compelling variety. “Trenched” also allows up to four players to fight together; while this does decrease the difficulty of the game, it adds yet another element to the spin on the tower defense genre.

With a variety of playing options and seemingly limitless ways to win the game, “Trenched” is a war worth conquering.