I am a fan of Tower Defense games and Dungeon Defense by InMotion Software does not disappoint. At first I was thinking this was a Dungeons and Dragons kind of game until I fired this baby up.
I am not a fan of role playing games so I was very happy to see that this was a Tower Defense game instead. I was also very pleased to find out that this is different from the flood of TD games on the iTunes store.
The overall goal of the game is to prevent enemies from reaching the end of the path and draining all the energy from the Dungeon King, however this is where most TD games and this game take a different path.
There is no back-story at all, just a dungeon and a pathway and “X” markers where you place your evil skeleton guys.
After loading Dungeon Defense up you are presented with four options, start, resume, credits, and help. I choose the help file and found it to be extremely adequate at explaining how the game operates by showing a video of what each icon stands for and how to build up your skeleton army. After watching the help video I was ready to jump in and defend my Dungeon King.
The game starts with a dungeon with a pathway to the King. You will have 25 rounds where you must protect the King. There are green “x” markers for you to place you skeleton army guys. At the beginning of the game you are given 200 in gold to spend on your army, unfortunately the 200 gold is only enough for two skeleton swordsmen.
There are three different types of skeleton army guys you can create, swordsmen, an archer, and an axe man. After creating your skeleton’s you can upgrade them once you have gathered up enough gold coin from killing enemies. There are no towers in this game, only green X’s on the ground where you place your skeleton army.
The place that the skeleton is placed becomes its spawn point, when your skeleton is killed it will lay on the ground until time expires and then regenerate on the green “x”. If your skeleton survives the round it will still return to its spawn point and regain some much needed health while waiting for the next round of enemies.
Upgrading your skeletons is easy as a touch that brings up a small menu where you can upgrade, revive, or sell. Each unit can be upgraded 2 times and the final upgrade grants a special ability. The swordsmen gain a double damage attack, the archers shoot fire arrows that do splash damage and the axe men appear to go into a rage but not sure what that “rage” does?
Unlike most TD games the skeleton army guys do not change in appearance when upgraded, this is something I would hope the publisher’s change because in the heat of the battle, you cannot tell which skeletons need upgrades.
After getting into the game and the enemies start coming out of the woodwork the goal is apparent that you need to protect your King! The King is stationary however he can shoot once he is attacked. The King’s attack is not powerful at all and one should not rely on the King saving his own rear end!
The King also has two special upgrades- you can slow down the enemies or choose haste and speed up your skeleton army. Once the King is destroyed it is GAME OVER so make sure that you surround the King with some highly upgraded skeletons once you have the gold coin to do so.
The graphics in this game are pretty good overall. This is a top-down view game meaning you are looking down into the dungeon. The game does allow for you to pinch the screen to zoom in. The characters are pretty good looking as well, they have fluid movement, and when a skeleton is killed it will fall into a small crumpled pile of bones.
Overall I would say the game is pretty fun, the fact that it is a different take on TD games makes it interesting to play and adds some different types of strategy. I think that there are some upgrades that need to be done and from the look of the game’s description on the iTunes store the upgrades are on the way. The publisher has listed that they have submitted two additional levels to Apple for approval and that they are planning on adding a scoring system.
The Good
Different take on tower defense games
Good graphics
Fun characters that are different from most tower defense gamesThe Bad
Only one level right now more planed for future upgrades.
No scoring, but that is coming in a future upgrade
Skeletons do not show that they are upgraded.
New map and icon just came out!
Downloading it now!
I’d have to wait till they make more improvements before investing in this.
This game looks sexy…if a game could look sexy, and they don’t. But one level? Come on!
Btw the skeletons do show that they’ve been upgraded, it’s the circle underneath them that shows a roman numeral ( “I”, II” depending on which upgrade). The circle is also colored according to which upgrade it is (silver,gold). You probably meant bodily differances.
I will love to play this TD game especially with the skeleton armies fighting against humans.
I havent played a TD for very long time. This game might just change my impressions of Tower Defense games.
I will be atleast the tenth person to say this I know but: only one level! While it looks good and uniue approach on td games, with 1 level (currently) imo it doesn’t look worth the price. Once they add the extra levels I’m sure I’ll change my mind…
Here’s to iPhone td games!!! They rock!
Then again it does have nice graphics, and with the next two levels update (and the labyrinth level in the works) the price could go up to $4.99 and compete with sentinel and fieldrunners… Perhaps it is really worth $2.99 currently. I’ll go ahead and pick this one up soon.
i rly like the intensity of td games, and this one takes it on with a diff’t approach
Thanks for the review! This looks pretty cool. I have to say I love TD games. I also love that this one takes a different approach. Nice graphics. This will be one to watch!
looks really awesome! No scoring and only 1 map is too bad but at least they’ll be adressed in an update.
it has potential. the update should help a lot.
Looks pretty fun but only one lvl? Really? I mean they should of taken more time to put in more lvls before submiting.
I like the unique take on the tower defense genre…but only one level?
I’m all for this game, but I’m not for the way it was put out. Only 1 level asking for users to take a risk so they can fund building more levels… I bet it’s a fun game, I just dislike the way some devs do things.
The addition of levels has been promised, as well as a pricing structure which will be sure to disappoint most. The game itself looks like a blast though.
I’ve been watching this genre a lot lately trying to decide which would be the best first purchase. This one appeals to my inner D&D geek, I must say. But especially being new to TD games, I’d think different looks for your upgraded guys would be absolutely essential.
This is probably one of the most original td games out there. The fact that your skeletons can move around and respawn is such a great feature. I hope that the developers focus on making sure the player can tell which skeleton is what level.
Sounds cool but I agree upgraded ones should look different. I like the whole revive and heal aspect.
The game looks quite good, but I’m not sure at the moment how much the developer will invest in the game (i.e., further updates) before they abandon this project.
Actually, the devs has already mapped out their next update which should be on the iTunes page. You can also view screenshots at their Web site.
I’ve been playing DD for a little while, and visually, it’s one of the most unique looking TD games available. The shortcoming is the one map, but the devs are planning a new update with more maps and enemies.
Td games are soooo good on iPhones.
Wow, by level 6 that looks likes it’s getting pretty intense. It looks great and is probably fun, but it is however still just another tower defense game. I haven’t even had a chance to play one of my tower defense games yet, cause I have other ones that I’m still playing.