tower-defense
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Strike down enemies with Tower Rush Lite
Tower Rush Lite is a free tower defense game that challenges a user to protect a portal from monsters. Players put up towers where you can safely throw weapons at the enemy until they die. It is set in medieval times and located in a castle where toads, orcs, and monsters roam around waiting to be attacked. There are no ads or in app purchases. Tower Rush Lite is designed for iPhone and iPad. It requires iOS 4.0 or later and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It's really easy to navigate even for a user that typically does not play games like this. The interface is very simple and user friendly and it takes only two seconds to go back to the menu and restart the game if you make mistakes early on. This encourages players that might need to practice before getting deeper into the game play and makes it much less frustrating for everyone learning to play. There is a great deal of impressive detail in the design of the portals and the characters. A user can easily zoom in by pinching out in order to look closely and see the design work Wonder Gum has put in. The satanic grunting sounds from the characters are really intimidating and funny at the same time. The background music is an upbeat keyboard track that keeps the game atmosphere feeling energetic and fun. A user must defend their portal by purchasing towers with coins. Tower placement is key. Observe where the enemies entering the portal and place towers in their path. When enemies pass through the tower green zones they can be attacked and killed as they pass through. When the tower is no longer of use to protect the portal, the user has the option to sell it in order to purchase towers that could attack enemies in other parts of the portal. Certain towers are extremely effective in killing enemies and others are much less useful. It's easy to quickly figure out which ones work best. The four towers come with upgrade transformations that make them even more effective in killing enemies quickly. Each monster has a life bar that indicates how close you are to killing them off. Tower Rush Lite is truly addictive. It is challenging and fun to play with very few interruptions. It is easy to get caught up in it and look up to find that several hours have gone by while you were attacking your enemies from towers. I highly recommend this game to people who love tower defense games and those with an interest in medieval style design. I could see users being tempted to download the paid version of the app after getting hooked on this.
Prison Defense: when good defense games go bad
Prison Defense is a strategic defense game reminiscent of Plants vs. Zombies except with police and prisoners. You play as the police trying to keep prisoners from escaping in 40 levels. Each level is set up in a similar way, there are a number of cages set up on the floor, players tap each crate to uncover either an enemy or a weapon. Players must then take a weapon they uncover and set it up on one side of the floor so it will be used against the enemies making their way from the right side of the floor. Since the enemies don't show up until after you open a cage with an enemy in it, you have a better chance of winning if you can get a weapon set up early but this is hard to do. Prison Defense is compatible with iPads running iOS 6.0. Prison Defense features different enemy types from a basic light damage enemy to a heavy tank. This adds some variety to the gameplay as you have to tailor your strategy based on the type of enemy you are facing. However, this does not make the gameplay that much more interesting as you are still doing the same things as you were before with the less damaging enemies because even though you try putting the shotgun characters behind the bigger prisoners to damage them more. It feels more like luck if you are actually successful with this strategy when you don't know what is in each cage and how much health the enemies have left. In the first 10 levels the difficulty quickly changes from very easy to extremely hard. The addition of new enemy types creates another challenge for players. They have to be very quick about their actions. Also, if they place a weapon in the wrong place the game is very punishing. Players can loss the level just by mistakenly placing one weapon in the wrong row. Each level can be played in three different modes: normal, plus, and hard. The animations of the characters feels slow in the normal mode and players can be waiting for the game to end as they watch a prisoner escape by slowly walking to the wall. The plus mode gives players a scenario they have to play through. This can include such completing the level in a certain amount of time or in fast forward, which alleviates some of the slow gameplay. This mode was one of the more fun modes as it offers a challenge that is still enjoyable and players feel accomplished when they complete the scenario. Hard mode doesn't feel very different from the normal mode, the enemies seem a little stronger, but since the normal mode is already hard usually, the difficulty feels very similar. The crates in Prison Defense are meant to give players a challenge by making them quickly open another crate that hopefully holds a weapon to use against the enemies, however, some of the crates are dangerous and contain TNT. The TNT doesn't seem to fit in very much with the gameplay as it hurts only your characters and not the prisoners. This makes the game extremely difficult if you have a great strategic defense set up and you happen to open the crate that destroys this defense. There is no way to get back that defense if you have opened up all the other crates with weapons in them and usually means the prisoners will escape. Sometimes the weapons in the cages you uncover disappear after a short period of time when you haven't gotten to set them up somewhere. One last downside of Prison Defense is that occasionally you will see a full screen ad that pops up after winning a level. This distracts from the gameplay and it is really easy to accidentally tap on the ad as you are expecting the button to continue. Prison Defense is free on the App Store and has some similarities to Plants vs. Zombies which shows throughout the game. Some of the levels are too hard for most players to enjoy and it lacks the entertainment value of a humorous theme and gameplay. I do not recommended bothering with Prison Defense.
Anomaly 2 sports a September 16 release date for PS4
Anomaly 2 will arrive on PlayStation 4 in North America on September 16, 11 Bit Studios announced. The reverse-tower defense game will reach the next-gen system one day later in Europe. As of February, the game was expected to launch in the spring. As the sequel to 2011's Anomaly: Warzone Earth, the game takes real-time strategy elements into battle in its single-player campaign as well as a "tower offense versus tower defense" multiplayer mode. Anomaly 2 is available on a number of other platforms: iOS, Android via Google Play and PC, Mac and Linux via Steam, reaching the latter in May 2013. It will cost $14.99 (€13.99) on PS4. Head past the break for a video of the next-gen version in action. [Image: 11 Bit Studios]
Sentinel 4: Dark Star is a tower defense star
Strategy and upgrades are at the forefront in Sentinel 4: Dark Star, a tower defense game that challenges players to think on their feet in campaigns. There are 26 maps in the game, each with their own interesting challenges. Some of these challenges include limited locations to set turrets up at and other unique strategy requirements. Sentinel 4 is compatible with iOS devices running 5.1.1 or later. There are two modes in Sentinel 4: campaign and endless. Each mode can have one of four difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard, and psycho). Easy mode is a nice introduction to the gameplay and enjoyable for people new to tower defense type games or those just wanting to play a less challenging level. Medium mode is a good intermediate mode and a stepping stone in difficulty between easy and hard. Enemies become stronger in hard mode and this increase in strength seems natural, adding a new challenge. This is especially noticeable if you are replaying a level you recently beat in one of the easier modes. In psycho mode, each enemy is much stronger and they take a lot more hits to be taken down. It is much harder to get a good defense started and also harder to continue building up that defense. Sentinel 4 rewards players with more weapons, upgrades, and enemy types when they continue to beat levels and progress in the storyline. There are four categories for the weapons (turrets, path, sentinel, and stronghold). The turrets are the basic line of defense for your base and they become stronger the further along in the game you get. The next category of weapons is path, these are droids that can be used in the middle of pathways to block enemies from progressing very far without being damaged. Sentinel weapons are used by the sentinel to attack enemies with more powerful blasts and repair structures and turrets. Finally, the stronghold weapons are similar to the sentinel weapons but is usually stronger and takes longer to charge. All of these weapon categories can be upgraded with anything from auto-repair to increased range and duration of attacks. The upgrading in Sentinel 4 is a lot of fun and enhances the gameplay considerable as it makes the strategy more important. Sentinel 4 features stunning visuals and effects as well which accents the gameplay nicely. The way the lava moves is visually interesting and the lighting looks very natural with the setting of the game. Level progression flows very nicely and fits well with the storyline. However, even though the story fit with the gameplay, defending the base seemed more exciting. Each commander you pick has its own special abilities. For example, the Hyperion, which can be unlocked after completing some campaigns, has the ability to convert enemies killed within its range to energy to charge up your Sentinel. You can upgrade each commander's strength, guns, and tech capacities each with their own benefits depending on how you will be using the commander. Depending on what the level's layout and enemy patterns are, you have to be prepared to adapt your strategy and be conservative with your efforts as a lot of the time you will be limited in your resources and have to make tough decisions. When a level has more than one gate protecting the Sentinel, sometimes you have to make the conscious effort to let the first gate fall in order to protect another area that is getting overrun if you only have enough money to build one turret. Building strong but agile strategies is crucial in this game and with so many options for upgrades Sentinel 4 feels more challenging and addictive than some other tower defense games. Sentinel 4: Dark Star is available on the App Store for US$4.99 and I would highly recommend picking up this addictive game.
Flaregames working on tower defense series Fieldrunners' next wave
Mobile developer flaregames is co-developing its take on tower defense series Fieldrunners after signing a deal with its creator, Subatomic Studios. Flaregames CEO Klass Kersting told PocketGamer the follow-up is in early development, but he added the team will "stay true to the brand and help create a fun game that both hardcore fans of the two original games, as well as new players, will love." Kersting said the existing Fieldrunners games still collectively see hundreds of thousands of daily activities from their playerbase. Subatomic's original Fieldrunners effort also won Best Art and Best Mobile Game awards at the IGF Mobile Awards in 2009 and followed lanes to the DS and PSP, so flaregames' adaptation has a bit of a reputation to live up to. [Image: Fieldrunners 2: Subatomic Studios]
Swords and Soldiers carving up Wii U on May 22
Swords and Soldiers HD, Two Tribes' hi-res port of Awesomenauts developer Ronimo Games' first game, will launch on the Wii U eShop next Thursday, May 22. The game will arrive simultaneously in North America and Europe, and will cost $2.99 (2.99 euros). Two Tribes announced the HD port in March, years after the game's first arrival on Wii in North America in June 2009. Swords and Soldiers HD will retain the original game's levels while featuring both Wii Remote and Game Pad touch-screen controls, a multiplayer mode and higher-resolution visuals. The tower defense game has found a home on many platforms, including Steam in December 2010 and PSN in September 2010. [Image: Two Tribes]
Swords and Soldiers coming to Wii U in April
Swords and Soldiers, the tower defense game that first appeared on WiiWare in June 2009, will now see a release on the Wii U eShop in April. While the first game was created by Awesomenauts developer Ronimo Games, fellow Dutch studio and Toki Tori developer Two Tribes teamed up with Ronimo to upgrade the game and optimize it for Wii U. Swords and Soldiers will be playable using either Wii Remote on televisions or via the Wii U GamePad with a "custom touch scheme." Players can use both play styles in the game's multiplayer mode as well. Two Tribes boasted "high-res HD graphics" for the Wii U port, which will arrive at the end of April. Ronimo Games is currently developing a sequel to the game, Swords and Soldiers 2, which was announced in February. Two Tribes cut its development staff and effectively "rebooted" the studio in January. [Image: Ronimo Games]
PSA: Dungeon Defenders is free on Xbox Live
Those itching to cast spells, hack away at enemies and level up will be happy to learn that co-op action RPG Dungeon Defenders is free on Xbox Live for Gold subscribers through the end of the month, March 31. The Trendy Entertainment-developed tower defense game took the place of Civilization Revolution in this month's Games with Gold program offerings, first launching on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in October 2011 and receiving four DLC packs in the time since. Microsoft's Phil Spencer recently addressed concerns related to the Games with Gold program and the comparisons to Sony's PlayStation Plus program that it frequently receives. Spencer said the business for Microsoft's two-free-games-per-month service is "fundamentally different" from PS Plus, and stressed that players are able to keep the free games they download after their Xbox Live premium subscriptions run out. Trendy Entertainment announced a sequel to Dungeon Defenders in March 2013, which is still scheduled to launch this spring, according to the game's website. The developer also revealed cross-platform online shooter Monster Madness Online in December. [Image: Trendy Entertainment]
Report: Defense Grid 2 constructing lines to defend Xbox One, PS4
After Hidden Path Entertainment found funding for Defense Grid 2 with Kickstarter and an investor, the studio scheduled its tower defense game to reach PC, Mac and Linux for the first half of 2014. However, a recent Polygon report revealed that defensive positions will also be held on Xbox One and PS4 consoles, due to a partnership between Hidden Path and publisher 505 Games. It was not specified whether the console versions will launch alongside the PC, Mac and Linux editions. Maybe 505 Games will take a page out of the tower defense strategy guide and neatly space each release months away from each other, in an effort to evenly distribute damage to fans' wallets! Or, you know, maybe business strategies can't always be translated well from video game tactics. [Image: Hidden Path Entertainment]
Curve Studios leads a Titan Invasion on Sony systems this summer
Curve Studios will bring a game bundle called Titan Invasion to PS3, PS4 and Vita early this summer. The pack includes two arcade-style games from UK developer Puppygames, Titan Attacks and Revenge of the Titans. Titan Attacks is an arcade shooter in the same vein as Galaga and Space Invaders, though Curve Studios says it includes "modern features, new strategies" as well as online leaderboards and an upgrade system. The game features over 100 levels, spanning five worlds. Puppygames' other creation, Revenge of the Titans, is deemed a thematic sequel that mixes real-time strategy and tower defense elements together. Both Titan Attacks and Revenge of the Titans are available for $9.99 on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux. The Titan Invasion bundle will be Cross-Buy compatible on all three Sony systems. [Image: Curve Studios]
Firearms, futuristic spaceships and lots of explosions in Naughty Kitties
Naughty Kitties is an action-strategy game that combines two of everyone's favorite things: kittens and high-powered weapons. As the player, you and your cats must keep your spaceship -- yes, spaceship -- alive as it cruises along the skies and takes down alien enemies. Your ship can be defended both by its built-in weapons and your kitties, which can be perched on specials areas of the vessel. Each cat performs a different task -- from firing on enemy ships with rifles or guided missiles, to repairing your own vessel after it's been hit -- and each can only perform their duties for a short period of time before needing a break. The game quickly becomes a focus on resource management as you replace offensive and defensive assets on your ship and activate your large main weapon at certain intervals. It's a mix of tower defense and real-time strategy, and manages to feel fresh and different despite familiar themes. There are a few different game scenarios to tackle and a host of offensive and defensive cats to unlock, along with upgrades for each. It's a very deep game, which you might not assume given its extremely cute animation and overall aesthetic. The game does fall victim to a bit of the "pay to win" mentality with various in-game currency and items available for purchase with real-world cash. I found it quite enjoyable to play without spending a dime, but it's clear that dropping a few bucks will make you more powerful instantly. Naughty Kitties is free, and even if you only play it a few times, it's worth a download. If you're willing to toss a few bucks in, you'll find the game to be a wee bit easier, but it's definitely not required.
Castle Doombad is a tower defense game with an evil, vertical twist
There are already too many tower defense games on the App Store. There are great ones, good ones, OK ones and bad ones, and there are plenty of each category. Castle Doombad -- the latest from the always solid Adult Swim Games -- proves it deserves to exist two reasons: First, rather than adopting the familiar top-down viewpoint that most tower defense games utilize, it's presented in a two-dimensional castle with multiple floors going up. And second, you play as the villain. Awesome. Each level of Castle Doombad revolves around a captured princess, and it's up to you to make sure she remains captive. She produces "screams" at regular intervals which act as in-game currency to buy traps and barriers. You place these obstacles wherever you think they'll best be able to hold off the heroes who are attempting to rescue the damsel. These mechanics are the same as many games in the genre, but they are presented in a fresh and fun way. The 2D nature of the levels presents unique challenges as well, such as heroes who use ladders to skip entire floors of your castle. Don't expect to load the first floor of your fortress with traps and relax; you'll need to build traps and spawn minions almost everywhere to ensure the princess remains under lock and key. There's a surprising amount of depth to the game, and you can try out various strategies to see which works the best for you. For example, sometimes it's best to pick off each hero as they enter your castle, while other times it pays off to place a barrier and build up a huge group of them before wiping out the crowd with a single trap. Regardless of your approach, it's quite satisfying to watch the tiny knights and other rescuers meet their demise at your hand. Adult Swim Games hits another home run with Castle Doombad, and whether you're new to the tower defense genre or a seasoned veteran, it's definitely worth the US$2.99 price of entry. You don't get many chances to play as the villain these days, and even rarer is it this much fun.
The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot traps you for hours of fun
It might sound like a bad thing, but my favorite part of playing Ubisoft's The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot is logging into the game. I just love it when I get past the loading screen that warns "closed beta" to see who has attacked my castle and how the attackers fared during the attempt. Usually they have just blown past my defenses and humiliated me, but thanks to a wonderful replay feature, I can see exactly where my castle is at its weakest and can adjust accordingly. Every player in the game gets a castle like mine. They're all floating in the sky, chock-full of riches that are up for grabs as long as the attacking player can get past the castle's defenses. The gameplay is nothing really new. We have been playing castle defense or action-based puzzlers for a long time, but The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot delivers everything in such a polished, unique-looking package that it gets props for being unique. There's much more to the game, but you'll have to get past my glue traps to read the details!
Tower of Elements 2 funded on Kickstarter
Now that Tower of Elements 2 has matched its funding goal of $10,000 for release on PC, Max and Linux platforms, we can start preparing for a different kind of war. Claiming victory in its battles will rely more on a player's organizational and leading skills than how many experience points they've poured into an attack attribute. Tower of Elements 2 will be a hybrid of real-time strategy and puzzle elements, asking you to juggle the direction of your capital while pummeling opponents with match-3 elemental spells. Players will organize the elemental tiles within 50 towers across 10 regions in the game, casting spells down lanes toward opponents depending on wherever a match is made. Towers won't all be designed the same way, however - while one may equip you with two long rows of tiles, the next might have a smaller, diamond-shaped space for the elemental ammo. Some towers will contain special tiles that are locked or frozen into place too, so players will need to get creative. Decisions made in the capital will determine the qualities a player's followers display. Depending on its leadership, the capital will reflect one of four culture traits; Martial, Druidic, Republic and Elemental. Tower of Elements 2's pitch page also explains that capital will allow players to "construct and upgrade buildings, grow your population, research spells, construct implements of war, recruit elite troops and much more." At the time of this writing, Tower of Elements 2 has gathered $4,278 more than developer Frogdice's funding goal, but stretch goals are "coming soon" should you be interested in helping fund its development. The funding campaign will conclude on January 5. Tower of Elements 2 is planning on a February release for backers, with a public release following "a month or two later." Frogdice's previous project, Dungeon of Elements, was successfully funded in June and was released on schedule.
PSA: Landlord, tower defense hybrid Unholy Heights now on Steam
Humans are awful, and Unholy Heights would like to prove this to you on Steam for $3.99 by simulating the attempted murder of peaceful monsters via waves of humans. When you aren't using tower defense strategies to address the threat the human race provides, Unholy Heights works as a landlord simulator. Your tenants are monsters, sure, but they're monsters with needs and feelings. They'll need to eat, go to work, find somebody to love and be satisfied enough with their room to stay the night. If you don't cater to their individual desires, there might not be enough tenants to summon when the humans come a rabblin' to your property. The game's Steam page notes over 20 different monster species and a quest system to unlock new furniture and creature types. It also suggests that monsters can be romanced with "inappropriately shaped erotic cakes," meaning that there's true potential for the best path to romance since Viva Pinata's interpretive love dances.
Extraterrestrial RTS Final Horizon coming to PS4 and Vita
Eiconic Games, the UK developer behind Total Recoil, recently announced its new project, Final Horizon. Described as an "extraterrestrial RTS," the game will come to PS4 and Vita at an as-yet-unannounced date. Final Horizon Creative Director Simon Credland wrote in a recent PlayStation Blog update that the game is "the evolution of tower defense," in that enemies won't crawl "slowly in single file from left to right" like other games in the genre. The game's insect-like robots will "move in an alien way" and will challenge players with missiles, pulse beams and other weapons.
Free for All: The Castle Doctrine takes griefing and grieving to a new level
The Castle Doctrine, the new pseudo-MMO by indie star Jason Rohrer, asks players to fill the shoes of a paranoid home owner who needs to protect his wife, kids, and home at almost any cost. Even the title of the game is based on a law that states that a person has the right to use force to defend personal space or abode, which should help you understand what Rohrer is trying to create. If you look at his official blog, you'll find out that his family was the victim of a dog attack while living in a New Mexico neighborhood. His experiences led to the creation of this art project. In the game, players build up home defenses but also try to break into neighbor's houses, dodging menacing dogs and traps. Imagine a game that plays a bit like tower defense with permadeath: If you are unsuccessful in breaking in to a house, you have to start over with a brand-new home and family. Of course, the title has brewed plenty of controversy, especially considering that you can play only as a man and that the highest in-game payout comes when you murder someone else's wife. The game is a man-on-man murder simulation where the woman and children are all property.
Rise and Shiny: Farm Fortress
Farm Fortress is a pseudo-MMO or social game that concentrates on pitting players against waves of enemies and even other players by utilizing protective barriers, weapons, and traps that are paid for with cash stolen from enemies. It might sound a little strange at first. I didn't really even enjoy the game until the lightbulb went off and I started to really plan out my strategy for defending my farm fortress. Farming is one way to make money, but in my experience so far, the best way to get cash is to invite waves of monsters to attack your farm or to attack other players. Both activities can be surprisingly simple at first but quickly grow into a challenging job. But that's the fun of it! Over the week my farm grew into a pretty formidable fort, complete with turrets and indestructible walls.
Review of WoW TD 2 for StarCraft II Arcade
WoW TD 2 is a tower defense map for StarCraft II Arcade. Designed by player PinkyBlue, it is playable even if you only have the StarCraft II Starter Edition, which is free. An interview with the designer can be found on the StarCraft II blog. There are two difficulties to choose from for WoW TD 2: normal and hardcore. You can play the game cooperatively or by yourself. When you first enter the game, you choose the difficulty and what your tower builder is going to be. They range from a basic energy builder with no benefits up to an ArchAngel that can attack enemies as well as build units. Most of the "towers" in the game are WoW-related units. Night Elf Archers, Orc Warriors, Goblin rogues are a few of your choices. The Night Elves are females that even have their bouncy idle animation.
Fieldrunners 2 finds a path to PS Vita this summer
Subatomic Studios tower defense sequel Fieldrunners 2 will launch on PS Vita sometime this summer. The PS Vita port will be on-hand at Sony's booth during E3, for sampling ahead of its launch this summer. Fieldrunners 2 is the sequel to iOS hit Fieldrunners and made its debut almost a year ago today. Fieldrunners 2 has been quite the success, quickly earning $1 million in sales a few months after its debut. Following last year's iOS launch, Fieldrunners 2 was ported to Steam in January of this year and sprinted on over to Android back in April.%Gallery-190311%
