Who knew that a whole sub-genre to the strategy game scene would develop into a craze, the likes of which we haven’t seen since, well ever. Tower Defense games are everywhere. On your iPhone, on PSN, on your internet browser. They multiply like rabbits. After the jump, I’m going to give you my three best Tower Defense games for your laptop, iPhone and gaming console, in that order.
Check it out and let me know what you think, after the jump.
First off, in the Tower Defense (TD) sub-genre, there’s really two different types of TD games: The type that allows you to make your own path for the enemies to take and the type that gives you a pre-determined path to defend. Overall, I prefer the games that let you make your own path, but each has their own quirks and strategies.
My first pick is one of the grand daddy’s of the sub-genre. Desktop Tower Defense is a free game and if you haven’t played it, you should stop what you’re doing and check it out right here.
Desktop Tower Defense has spawned a couple of different versions in the past few years but the game play is still the same. Build cannons to defend from an onslaught of varied enemies. You’ll have at your disposal a wide variety of weapons to build, such as the freeze cannon, the missile turret, the anti-air turret, the earthquake tower, etc. Later versions added more turrets and new enemies, but the charming premise remained. You defend your desktop, literally. The backdrop is a basic desk, complete with loose change, pencils and paper. They have no gameplay value, but it’s a neat little visual as a backdrop to the game. This game is the game spawned a craze and it, in many ways, is still the best iteration in the sub-genre. Check it out.
My last two picks, on page 2.
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I have to agree especially with Desktop Tower Defense. Spent many a happy hour on that
One that I like is Gemcraft on kongregate.
Maybe I’m pointing out something people already know, but one of the great things about PixelJunk Monsters is that it can be played with 2 people. It is a lot of fun if you’ve got a friend or family member to help you.
Lock’s Quest while not a traditional Tower Defense game looks pretty good. I’ve not played it though, no DS unfortunately. But the reviews have been positive.
***sigh*** I swoon over Desktop Tower Defense. It’s simple but beautiful & the different modes keep me constantly entertained.
Two great TD games for the iPhone/Touch that I play constantly are:
Tap Defense – Which is FREE and grants you several kinds of towers and a abundance of enemy varieties. The majority of the towers require you to spend Halos to research them, Halos being attained by winning Boss battles. Great TD game for no price!
Crystal Defenders is my second choice. It costs (best guess for USD) $3.99, but it’s a TD game based on Final Fantasy. You get men instead of towers, fighters, black mages, white mages, etc. And there’s a demo for this one as well.
May have to pick up Savage Moon soon, I haven’t seen Lono logged on to PSN in about 2 weeks without that game name under his tag!
How about Pocket Towers on PickTeams.com? It’s multiplayer, which is interesting.
http://pickteams.com/#game:pockettowers
It’s pretty new, methinks.