Defender Chronicles
Author: iPhone Reviews // Category:
Defender Chronicles is a tower defense game by Chillingo. $0.99
[A Modified post from TheAppEra]
Chillingo sneaks in a great tower defense app, especially for those who love the Role playing ingredients.
Combining the addictive and easy-to-learn gameplay of a tower defense game with story RPG elements, and immersive game world, Defender Chronicles delivers a brand new gaming experience like nothing you have played before. Returning to the glory days of epic battles, desperate princesses, artifacts hunting, and marvelous fantasy beasts. Travel the path of a warlord as you lead an army through the invasion of the Orc Hordes and the rising Undead.
I have been a big fan of Tower Defense games on the App Store, with this being the perfect platform for games like this. Before the iPhone the only tower defense game I played was Bloons Tower Defense. Defender Chronicles is totally different to any other game of its genre, straying away from both the open field of Fieldrunners and flat field of The Creeps and Star Defense. Instead Defender Chronicles takes the game vertically, with Orcs going from the bottom up or vice versa. It is a great concept pulled off beautifully
First of all, the Role Playing elements are evident just by the artwork alone. Everything form the campaign to the locations, the enemies and the weaponry screams RPG. There’s even a story being told (yes I admit I skipped it) in spoken word and in text as it’s being read to you. Hey the theme and presentation fits perfectly with the gameplay.
I have been playing this game from the very first build of the game and I am happy to say that is progressed extremely well to put out the final product that we see today. The graphics has progressed immensely during its production time and the many creatures that are featured in the game is quite superb. The number of monsters from what seems like the Lord of the Rings era is superb to say the least. There are a large range of maps with different backgrounds everytime.
The one small letdown from the graphics is the fighting animation. When your soldiers come up against a monster they take it in turns hitting each other until one dies. The animation in the fighting is each character taking a swing at the other, looking like nothing at all happened when they are hit. I think it could be a bit more intense then what it currently is.
The sound tends to get clustered during the game. For example, when you upgrade a warrior in the middle of a wave, the clashing of swords, enemy battle cry, or for those soldiers awaiting duties can NOT be heard. It hits a certain level, and it starts to either cut out or overlap creating excess noise. While it is a part of the game, it would be a nice to turn off the sound effects altogether. The background music is overpowering the sound effects. I would like improvements to be made to this.
The object of the game is to protect your gate while wave after wave of enemies come through the path in single file fashion. So as they trek down the path to the gate your Hero is protecting, you are supposed to set up certain checkpoints as such to slow down and kill off the enemies from crossing the gate. Once a certain number of Orcs or whatever crossing the gate, you succumb to defeat.
As the Hero, you set up the checkpoints with either warriors, archers, or halflings. As you gain gold coins, you have the option of upgrading their attack to a higher level in order to take on the tougher foes. Warriors (they look like medieval knights) change over to Berserkers with axes. Archers upgrade to Rangers. I’m not sure about the halfings and what they upgrade to since the Marshwood level is needed to be beaten to get them. And I haven't been able to do that yet. Some of the attacks don’t work on certain foes, so a mixture of arrows and swords need to be strategically placed and in time before a massive wave comes through and runs over your entire army.
There are 4 levels of play, starting in casual mode and working through veteran, heroic and master, your Hero levels up with experience. Per victory at a specific location, stars are rewarded to depict your victory’s level of difficulty. Harder levels give you less lives and the enemies are also harder to defeat. Beating harder levels will give you more EXP points as such to upgrade certain stats in the shop.
With each win or battle experience, you gain tokens to purchase weaponry to increase your Hero’s attack or defense in the Trade Shop. Those are hard earned by the way and every bit helps however small the reward is. Also you have the right or temptation to buy other soundtracks with those some tokens. Those are found in the Great Library. While I don’t understand why you would buy a soundtrack, the option is there if you decide on music over armor and a new sword.
In case you breeze through campaign mode, you have the option of a random freestyle game, extended, classic or classic extended. It’s good to have these choices if it’s too easy for you in the defaults. Customization extends the life of this game by leaps and bounds. Let’s not forget about the Fast Forward option either. When one Orc is taking its time strolling through the mountainside, hit the fast forward button to speed things up. Or for those who can handle it, leave fast forward on the whole time.
Defender Chronicles has been made to keep you playing the game long after most other games of the same genre, just because of the RPG style that requires you to play it levels multiple times. The game is currently on sale for $0.99 and it an absolute gem at that price. I would rate this game in the top 3 tower defense games along with Fieldrunners and Star Defense. For a first time developer who has had great help from publisher Chillingo to get this game noticed it is a top effort. Any RPG or tower defense fans will seriously enjoy this game!
You didn't say what version the app is at the time of review currently 1.2 in the app store. Has there been any improvement in the fighting animation?
@zen_breeze
@zen_breeze Thanks for your comment
The game was reviewed at 1.2 and the fighting animation I found to be the same. Don't let this deter you from buying the game though
This game is as a steal at only a dollar (not sure if it still a dollar). Very good game from Chillingo. Definitely one of my favorite TD games, besides the one from ngmoco and fieldrunners to name a couple.
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Pretty awesome and unique game. Some of the levels really had me frustrated after a few tries, but fun nonetheless.
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