'ElementalMonster TD' and 'Dungeon Defense' Add New Twists to Tower Defense
posted by arn on March 31st, 2009 9:41 AM EDT in News, Tower Defense, iPhone games, iPod touch gamesDevelopers keep releasing new tower defense games on the iPhone and customers keep buying them. Two interesting tower defense variants appeared in the App Store last week while we were away at GDC. While neither seem to be "must haves" for everyone, one or the other may pique your interest.
ElementalMonster TD
ElementalMonster TD [App Store] comes from Hudson and offers a mix between tower defense and card-based strategy games (such as Magic: The Gathering).
There are 50 different cards that can be obtained and you choose five to bring into each stage. The cards represent distinct "towers" (characters) that can be placed along the path to defend against enemies. Unlike normal "towers" in these type of games, these characters move and fight the oncoming enemies.
The game appears to offer a significant amount of depth and gameplay and should appeal to more hard-core tower defense fans or those who enjoy the added card/RPG elements. A lengthy forum thread has formed discussing the game's merits.
App Store Link: ElementalMonster TD, $3.99
Dungeon Defense
Meanwhile, InMotion Software's Dungeon Defense [App Store] also offers a very nicely executed take on tower defense. Like ElementalMonster TD, the game also introduces specific characters (swordsman, archer, axeman) to place onto the map. These characters actually walk up and battle oncoming waves of enemies and can take damage themselves. The goal is to protect the King who is found at the end of the map.
Whereas ElementalMonster TD has a deep system of gameplay, the primary criticism of Dungeon Defense from our readers is that it seems very light on content. There is a single map with three levels of difficulty, which can be defeated relatively quickly.
The game, however, seems very promising and there are hopes that the developers will add additional levels and deeper gameplay. This will be one to watch. See the ongoing discussion in our forums.
App Store Link: Dungeon Defense, $2.99
Everybody's talking about ElementalMonster TD, but only the US can get it. Could somebody poke Hudson and tell them there are another 200+ countries between America and Japan?
Take a look at the Dungeon Defense forum linked to in this article for a preview of upcoming content in DD.
I got it. Germany.
I got ElementalMonster TD and I'm not in the US. So far I haven't really got into it though, not sure if I like it. Dungeon Defense looks good though.
Seeing ElementalMonster just makes me want an iPhone version of Culdcept soooooo bad…. Like, really, really, really bad…
i went to purchase an itunes gift card to get it in the US store and im not staying there. got both of em, and i can say they are both very good TD games
IDK… EMTD looks good, but I think the platform's getting overburdened by too many TD games. Nice to see something different w/ EMTD, though.
Dungeon Defense is incredibly short, I finished it on hard with 2 restarts in under 1 hour, that's way too few… Only one dungeon and absolutely no variability, you won't want to play it again. It is not worth the money, imho. Maybe after some update…
Dungeon defense is a nice game, but needs more maps, and has an interesting bug: if u pause the game you can sell a minion as many times as you want for as many money as you need and only disappears after you resume the game:).
Both are terrific games in terms of animation and graphics. ElementalMonster is one of the deeper games (not just TD) you can get with its elaborate card system. Dungeon Defense is a new type of TD that has the potential to be great. It just needs more maps which the dev has said are coming. A screenshot is already in the forum thread and you can see the potential.
I'm really enjoying Elemental Monsters. Dungeon Defense is bookmarked–with more levels it looks like a worthy addition to my TD collection too.
While neither seem to be "must haves" for everyone, one or the other may peak your interest.
That should be "pique your interest."
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