I like a good Tower Defense game; at least, I like it for about half an hour before I get bored sitting there just building structure after structure. If I wanted to do that, I’d have been an engineer. Why can’t I have it both ways, killing waves of baddies with my towers and killing waves of baddies with my BARE HANDS? Having just announced their first original game, the action-strategy (read as tower/trap defense with third-person action) game, “Orcs Must Die,” the guys over at Robot Entertainment seem to agree.

The premise is simple: Defend your fortress from invading orcs (and orc allies). You can do this by setting various traps throughout the keep in much the same way you would in a Tower Defense game or by joining the fray and greeting the waves of orcs with a more personal touch. The game seems to be designed with a combination of these two methods in mind. I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, to beat the orcs with only one of these two gameplay options, otherwise why bother building the game the way they did? I think it’s very likely that physical combat earns whatever currency or mana is necessary to build additional traps, while the traps thin out the orc hordes enough to be manageable in physical combat. This would give a good balance between the two types of gameplay Robot has put in Orcs Must Die. Us common folk will have to wait until PAX East to get our hands on it at the Robot Entertainment booth (Booth 761).

Prepare to set your traps and unsheathe your sword this summer, when Robot Entertainment releases Orcs Must Die as a digital download for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Check out the great gameplay trailer and large selection of screenshots below.