Warp Defense: Engage!
Written: Oct 05 '09
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: challenging, decent music, retro graphics, deep gameplay
Cons: unresponsive controls, no customization, limited replay value, graphical slowdown
The Bottom Line: It's not Fieldrunners, but it's a decent tower defense game at a decent price.
|
|
|
| kjell1979's Full Review: Warp Defense for iPhone |
If you're a fan of tower defense games, then the iPhone is the device to get. But I'm all over games that are free when they normally cost money. Such was the case a little while ago when Warp Defense appeared on the iTunes app store for free. So I picked it up. Why not?
Gameplay
Warp Defense is your standard tower defense game. The goal is to prevent your enemy shapes from reaching the goal. These enemies travel along a set track. You get 100 lives where different shapes take away more lives. You have at your disposal 6 different types of towers you can place alongside the track and 3 different types of mines you can place on the track itself. These towers can shoot any enemy that isn't the same color as your tower. Therefore, you must use a whole array of different towers to make sure that one colored enemy doesn't break through your defenses.
Your towers are quite varied in their ability to repel enemies. Some towers shoot single shots, while others shoot in multiple directions, some slow down your enemies, while others fire projectiles that incur splash damage. These towers can also be upgraded to become more powerful in terms of increasing their range, shot speed, or the power of their weaponry.
You only have a set amount of money to place towers. Money is earned by shooting enemies. Each hit will earn you one credit. Certain towers are good for some functions while others are good for different ones so you have to choose carefully in picking which towers to place at different areas of the track in order to optimize your spending. At the end of each level though you receive a bonus for the money you do not spend for a given round. So the larger your bank account at the end of a round, the more bonus money you get. Ultimately, it's the right tower placement combined with your ability to bank the most money possible that allows you to succeed in this game.
There are 3 different difficulty levels and 5 different tracks you can play on. You get trophies for reaching milestone levels on each map and difficulty level. Warp Defense is very challenging and provides you with a decent mental workout trying to keep your base safe. Sadly, there isn't much in terms of customization you got with a Desktop Tower Defense and there isn't any online play or any variation other than a simple vanilla tower defense game set in a retro space theme. Still, the gameplay is deep enough to impress me.
Controls
The controls from a logical standpoint make perfect sense. You drag towers and mines from the right hand pane onto the track. You can highlight towers whereby you can upgrade them or sell them with the touch of a button. There are also buttons to speed up or slow down the action on the track. In practice this doesn't work so well. So often I try to drag towers from the right only to have it not pick it up for me. This is especially frustrating with mines you have to place in an emergency because a few enemies got by your defenses unexpectedly. Finally, the buttons on the control panel are kind of small such that it's hard to correctly press the button if you have a big finger like me.
Graphics
The graphics are the same retro graphics are reminiscent of Geometry Wars or other game that I like to call one dimensional. That is the shapes are made up of thin colored lines that break apart their connections when hit by a projectile. The game is rather amazing to watch especially when you get gobs of enemies on the screen at once. Still, that's also the scenario that reveals the worst graphical aspect of Warp Defense which is the slowdown when it's filled with gobs of enemy projectiles and turrets. There are just so many moving parts that my iPod gets overwhelmed by everything that's going on and just slows down incredibly. But despite that one issue, I'm still rather pleased with the graphics.
Sound
The audio is pretty decent. The music is a futuristic light techno. It's nothing hardcore, but it sets the mood of the game really well. There really is only one theme that plays for the entire game, which can get really annoying or monotonous, but it's a decent tune. The sound effects are right out of an 80's game, which fits well into the presentation of the game. Where this gets crazy and somewhat out of hand is when you get tons of enemies exploding on the screen at once. What happens in that situation is that there are so much sound effects it drowns out the music and kind of turns into a munge of sound. It's awesome in kind of a whimsical way, but it can get kind of overwhelming for your ears at times too.
Replay Value
There is a fair amount of replay value in Warp Defense. There are three different difficulty settings and 5 different maps to play on. However, once you get a gold first place trophy on all of those maps Warp Defense becomes a rather boring game you might never play again. But the key to this game is getting those gold trophies and trust me, it's no easy task. There's plenty of challenge from even the medium difficulty level such that it's going to take you a while to accomplish this task. Tower defense game pros might polish this game off in just a few hours, but for those looking to see what the tower defense genre is all about; this is an inexpensive gateway to these games.
Overall Warp Defense is a nice little game that has its share of flaws. For 99 cents, it's hard not to give my stamp of approval to tower defense fans or those looking to see what that genre is all about. This is also a good game for those looking for good value. This game should occupy your time for a good 99 cents worth and more (though it's still on the app store for free). For those looking for more polished games or more modern graphics, this might not be the smartest purchase even at its cheap price. Even though I got it for free, but I would be glad to pay a buck for this game.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
kjell1979
|
 in Games |
 - Top 500 |
|
Location: Oxford, Mass
Reviews written: 288
Trusted by: 348 members
About Me:
Smack! Smack! Sugar Smacks! Give me a smack and I'll smack ya back!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.