Lee Gustin Creative Design - Freelance Web, Print, and Brand Design

Tower Defense (TD) games are strategy games/apps where you have access to different “towers” or turret guns (such as machine guns, flame-throwers, rocket launchers, etc.), and your objective is to stop different types and sizes of enemies from getting into your base. Some of them are open-field (you can place your towers anywhere on the field making your own path for the enemies to go through) and some are path oriented (the enemies follow a set path).

The “big guns” in the TD app world are The Creeps! and Fieldrunners. I own both of these apps, and they no doubt belong on the top of any strategy/TD lover’s list of games. But what about the games that have been “flying under the radar” and have not gotten as much mainstream attention as they should be getting? Well, here are a handful that deserve some more attention. They are all excellent games, both in the TD realm, as well as general strategy games.

Gemcraft

Gemcraft started as an online TD game (as a lot of iPhone TD games do) that has been played over 90 million times. The goal in GemCraft is to combine the magic powers of 8 gem types each with its own special abilities. You can use Pure gems, or combine gems together to craft new and powerful multi-color gems with both their strengths. Use gems in towers and traps to wipe out hordes of monsters preventing them from reaching your mana crystal.
More info at iTunes

Bloons TD4

Featuring a whole host of new tower and enemy types, Bloons TD 4 is the long awaited sequel to Bloons TD. This time the monkeys are serious and are ready to take down the enemy from the land, air and sea. Utilizing a new ranking system you can build up your experience and gain access to even more powerful towers and upgrades. Call in mortar strikes, deploy the monkey aces and harness the power of banana farms as you bid to take down the enemy in true bloon-popping fashion.

I must warn you, Bloons TD4 is a very addicting game! You’ll find yourself saying “just five more waves, then I’ll put it down,” only to have your phone warn you with the “20% battery life” message two hours later haha. The developers have been updating the game with new maps and features fairly regularly to keep their users happy!
More info at iTunes

Pew Pew Land

Pew Pew Land features 48 fun and cartoony levels, 13 of which are unlockable. It has a great choice of towers as well as a diverse array of creeps, including super huge bosses. A really cool and new TD feature, is the ability to play with a friend (some of the later levels are extremely hard). You can even share your scores easily with Twitter or Facebook (a nice addition for any game, bragging rights)
More info at iTunes

4Towers

This game has a similar feel that GeoDefense/Swarm had as far as graphics go. You are only allowed four towers, but you can combine towers to create more towers with more powers/attacks. This fun concept plus a great soundtrack makes this a great game.
More info at iTunes

Tower Defense®: Lost Earth

For some reason Com2uS decided to register a trademark for the name “Tower Defense.” Them doing so meant they had huge faith in the game, or they were just plain crazy (after all, if it’s THE tower defense game, it naturally comes with high expectations). As it turns out, the game really delivers and it one of the best I’ve played to date. With gorgeous graphics, nine towers, dozens of increasing harder levels, super attacks and four game types (standard, survival, gathering, attack); this game sure lives up to it’s hype.
More info at iTunes

Defender Chronicles

This one is my favorite of all TD games I have played. It not only is one of the only ones that has a side-view 2D platform perspective (think Super Mario Bros.), is also introduces a “general” which you can level up and outfit with different pieces of armor which boost your stats. Of course you can level up the general in any way you please, depending on the type of player you are. Highly recommended! (Hopefully Defender Chronicles 2 will be coming out soon, as this game hasn’t been updated in awhile)
More info at iTunes

7 Cities

Coastal tower defense, you build towers next to waterways to destroy invading ships. Towers can gain experience to get more powerful. The graphics are impressive and the creeps come in a wide variety (boats, monsters, treasure chests with cash). 7 Cities even lets you choose a variety of upgrades for each tower. Instead of the tower just getting more powerful, you can choose to increase its fire rate, gold collection, etc.
More info at iTunes

Doodle Defense

The childish “doodle” games seem to be hit-or-miss with gamers. Doodle Defense definitely needs some content updates (only five maps and five towers), but what it does have it does quite well. The graphics are simple, but I feel that simplicity allows you to focus on the strategy needed to beat the levels, instead of ogling at how pretty the pixels are.
More info at iTunes

Crystal Defenders

Yea, I know it’s a bit on a expensive side, but then again what app from Square Enix isn’t haha. I snagged this gem when it was on sale (SE normally does huge sales on all of their games when they release a new one) and have loved it’s combination of Final Fantasy and Tower Defense! Instead of using traditional “towers,” you use characters from the Final Fantasy universe such as a black mage, thief, dragoon, etc.
More info at iTunes

Besiegement

Besiegement is definitely not a graphical powerhouse, but it surely delivers in the area of replay value. It has both open field maps, as well as path oriented maps, and plenty of both.
More info at iTunes

If you have a tower defense app that you enjoy playing that I did not mention, please leave a comment and let me know, as I love finding new TD games Thanks

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