When the WiiWare service launched earlier this week, all anyone seemed to talk about was Lost Winds. And while the prospect of virtually blowing a little boy for a couple of hours certainly sounds appealing, the call to arms in Defend Your Castle was just too loud to ignore. And so this past Monday. I launched into my week-long love affair with WiiWare’s lowest priced launch title, Defend Your Castle.

Judging by the name you might assume that Defend Your Castle would fall into the tower defense genre. If it does, it only does so in the loosest of terms. DFC doesn’t require you to set up weapon towers, change maps, or develop new strategies. Instead it let’s you set up a few basic defenses between turns and then puts you right in the front lines.

The crux of the gameplay has you picking up the invading hordes one by one — either by yourself or locally with friends — and dropping them to their early graves. As the stages increase so does the challenge, with both the types and sheer volume of invaders skyrocketing. It’s simple and it’s repetitive, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun.

The basic defenses that you set up in between turns, although set in pre-determined locations and limited in number, add some much needed variety to what would otherwise grow into a stale title. Each kill earns you points and these points are spent on the defenses in question. Things kick off with the Pit of Conversion — a paint bucket you can drop the opposing forces into to convert them to your side.

Each of the remaining upgrades — archers, masons, magic and demolitions — require staffing from this group of recently converted baddies. Each of these upgrades adds a different flavor — archers just chill in their tower picking off invaders one by one, masons slowly work on repairs, demolitions (which requires you to send one of your converts out of the castle) sends a suicide bomber on his merry way, and magic allows you to add some new tricks to your own personal repertoire.

The magic that’s added certainly compliments the best feature of Defend Your Castle — the art style. The invaders are all stick people etchings — your magic? An eraser. In later levels when pop bottle lid ogres invade, your magic erases the body while their metal head comes crashing to the ground. The spirit and visual style of the game make it feel like the doodles in the margin of your 6th grade math book come to life. Clouds made of cardboard hang from the sky on strings. Bad guys use popsicle sticks as battering rams. The health bar is mislabeled “helth.” The whole thing smacks of childlike fun.

Sure it was based on a flash game, but the WiiWare version of Defend Your Castle was reworked from the ground up. Visually it’s distinct and well beyond charming. Gameplay wise there’s just enough variety to keep things from getting stale early on, and as the stages progress the overwhelming number of baddies will keep you on your toes. To top it all off, DFC offer 4-player co-op multiplayer and — most surprising of all for a title like this — the ability to save your game progress. All in all, Defend Your Castle is easily worth the entrance fee of 500 Wii Points.