You really have to hand it to companies like Double Fine, they’re like the anti-Activision. While the majority of developers are focusing on sequels, prequels, remakes and rip offs they’re a studio not afraid to hang their junk out there with an original and unique title. Trenched, the third in their series of original download games, is a straight shot of pure, original, cartoon fun. Like Costume Quest and Stacked, it’s a title easy to pick up but excruciatingly hard to put down.

I’m going to be a little biased in what is about to be an aching love letter to Trenched, when it should be a review, but I believe I have precedent to argue that this game was actually made for me. Firstly, it’s about walking tanks which, despite being completely impractical from an engineering and physics point of view, are still way cool. If you want me to buy your product put a tank with legs on it and I’ll throw money at you. Second, it’s set in an alternate history version of World War I where a mysterious alien signal has turned two men into engineering geniuses, one creating a race of weird, creepy monsters called Tubes to spread The Broadcast, the other creating the Trench’s; armoured mechs designed to fight the Tubes and stop The Broadcast. I love almost everything in that last description. Thirdly the game involves a level of mech customisation very reminiscent of, albeit a far more simplified version of, an early Xbox 360 title called Chrome Hounds. It’s the kind of customisable toy box mechanic that makes me drool geek goo on my sandals.

Plus you can dress your Trench pilot up in hilarious military get ups

The world of Trenched is a tongue in cheek version of World War I based on the propaganda style magazine covers that littered news stands in the twenties. It’s a showcase of cigar chomping, chest beating men who drink scotch, punch each other in the face for fun and in this alternate world, pilot walking tanks. The between mission lobby is aboard a huge aircraft carrier where you can speak to the general mounted on the deck in an iron lung (with a martini and cigar holder attached), outfit your Trench with weapons, or head to the radio room to pull in a few more players over Xbox Live. Up to four players can join you on the carrier and take part in missions.

Big Willie, one of the most formidable of the Tubes, births exploding spike balls that chase you round the level and destroy your emplacements

Trenched manages that balance of simplicity and enjoyment without getting derivative or boring. The gameplay boils down to third person shooting action with tower defence elements. After selecting your mission and outfitting your Trench you’re dropped into the warzone and given a target to defend. Tube spawn points are visible on the horizon and players can focus on blasting them with their Trench and dropping various defensive turrets around the map. These turrets can be basic types of gun emplacements, classic tower defence elements like a ‘slow down’ device, mine field or a utility tower that can repair your Trench. The enemy attack in waves with the remaining number of waves indicated by a dial on your HUD along with your Trench health and the health of the buildings you’re defending. Different configurations of your trench can focus on firepower, turret management or whatever combination of the two you can imagine, there’s a lot of opportunity for experimentation.

Like many tower defence games the battles are fifty percent preparation and fifty percent shrieking panic

After much soul searching I can only come up with two issues with Trenched. The shop window makes it difficult to tell if you all ready own an item before you buy it, which is a little annoying, and the game is way too short. Although I confess I’m not sure what length of time I would have considered satisfying. Maybe somewhere in the region of a billion years. Okay, I will add that the game can be quite challenging towards the back third when you don’t have friends to help you out. Playing coop is the preferred option so heartily encourage all your friends to get the game. It’s not an absolute necessity but it does alleviate the difficulty a great deal. The games I played were with US players and were quite laggy when the battles heated up. The ideal option would be to have friends all ready keen to get the game and buy it together.

So yes, I suppose there is an argument that this entire review has descended into a spiral of hyperbolic bullshit (recall my earlier caveat that this might be a love letter as opposed to a review). And at some point I have perhaps gone a little crazy over Trenched. But I really do love the pants of this game. Like Monday Night Combat before it, Trenched has become an Xbox Arcade obsession for me; I just can’t stop playing it. I’m having too much fun, just way too much damn fun. It’s another one of those titles that proves that games don’t have to be multi million dollar franchises to be good. Sure it’s not as deep and as lengthy as full priced games and once you’ve unlocked every piece of equipment and gold medal scored every mission there isn’t a lot to keep you playing. And I’m sure there will be other titles that wow me this year, that thrill with big set pieces and explosions. But I struggle to imagine having as much consistent fun playing them as I do playing Trenched.