Has anyone else played the recently released Square Enix game that is Crystal Defenders? I just purchased the Xbox Live version recently (and I hear it's on the iPhone/iPod Touch too) and I have to say I'm addicted stupid. The game is simple yet engrossing - who knew such a simple game mechanic as defending a road would be so compelling? It's like Zuma on all kinds of steroids.

Little did I know that apparently Crystal Defenders is part of a growing genre in so-called "casual" downloadable gaming - that of the "Tower Defense" game genre. I hardly knew that this sort of game was a trend, let alone a single game like Crystal Defenders. I'd be interested in exploring this genre further, and I heard from a friend that this sort of game originally started as a free game on Newgrounds, and has since been copied and made into countless mutations.

So, I'd like to know more about the "Tower Defense" type of game. What are some good ones you'd recommend, and why? Where can I find them? Why do you think they're so darned good?

Go to Kongregate, they have a ton there. Gemcraft seems to be a really good one.

Hoboy. There are so many tower defense games, I don't even know where to start. Lemme go find some stupidly addictive ones.

Edit: Go look for Bloons Tower Defense. They have 1 to 3.

Editedit: Actually, just go google "tower defense", and you'd find many many good games.

481,000 tower defense games to choose from.

You'd have to tell me what you liked about that one to find similar, though. All the ones that matter have their own quirk.

Generally, if I'm playing that genre, I'm playing GemCraft.

EDIT: Desktop Tower Defense is amusing too.

Something tells me I am entering a world of pain.

But it hurts so good.



As for why I liked Crystal Defenders...well, the primary draw was that it was based in the Final Fantasy Tactics universe. I do admit I like my Final Fantasy Tactics (though most of the numbered Final Fantasy games can go suck it, IMHO). There's also the fact that it has FFT-like mechanics in terms of what the types of "towers" do, the sorts of bad guys, and upkeep required (such as leveling). But I also confess this is my first Tower Defense game. So who knows, I may find something better (though if Crystal Defenders is this addictive, I certainly hope I don't find one much more than that).

You're starting to sound like you'd like Gemcraft.

Become a druid or mage in Lusty, then meld a road and try and keep all the other people from getting to you. That'd be another game.

Gemcraft is awesome, yes.

I'm not sure of the origin of Tower Defense, but I first experienced it playing Warcraft 3! Some TD's there were pretty cool, some had quite unique concepts (Power Towers!)

GemCraft is the best Tower Defense game out there, hands down.

I love TD games and played loads of them on kongregate, but the DTD 1.5 was the one I loved, I played that sooooo much...

Lusternia Group Scores for Tower Defense 1.5

If you have a DS, then Locke's Quest is awesome. It's like a TD mixed with an RPG. You have a "build phase" where you build walls and towers, and then there's the combat phase, where all the monsters come at you, but you also have a character that can run around and fight them in melee. Only thing is, the baddies actually attack your towers rather than walking past them. But it's still incredibly fun.

If you have a PS3, then PixelJunk Monsters is probably one of the best TDs I've ever played. Blows Gemcraft out of the water. You have a little guy that runs around to actually transform trees into your towers, and you can stand by them to dance and upgrade them. But you also have to run around and pick up the gold dropped by monsters and gems to unlock new towers or upgrade existing ones. It's a lot of fun, aaand it's local multi-player, which is fantastic.

Savage Moon for PS3 is also a lot of fun.

Go to Kongregate and search for Reverse Tower Defense or find Starland multiplayer Tower Defense.

Being that FFT is my favourite game... ever, I DL'ed Crystal Defender. Though it is like any other Tower Defense game, I love it because of the FFT themes. Can't get enough. I play for hours on my iPhone.

Tap Defense is the other free iPhone tower defender app. It is a little more straightforward than FFT-- namely because resistances plays less of a part. That and you can pick resell units.