World of Warcraft much?
After playing the superb geoDefense, my interest in the tower defence genre has grown significantly, and my attention quickly turned to the future of the genre on the iPhone. While ngmoco have taken the genre into 3D with Star Defense, Gimka Entertainment Inc. have transformed it into a 2D side-scroller of sorts, combining the best elements of the tower defence genre with elements of traditional RPGs. The result is the perfect blend of gameplay devices, and an experience that is perfectly suited to the iPhone’s touch screen. If you’ve yet to see the trailer that’s got fans of the genre all hot under the collar, the video has been embedded below to bring you up to speed.
Set in the fantasy world of Athelia, the game follows the story of a warlord on a desperate mission to defend his land from the invading factions of Orcs and Undead. An advisor to this warlord acts as the narrator to the game, and features voice overs to accompany the text. While the majority of tower defence games have little to no storyline, Defender Chronicles is quite the opposite, and offers a far more rewarding experience as a result. The RPG elements deserve an equally warm welcome, offering many of the gameplay devices you’d expect from a traditional role playing adventure. Your warlord (or Hero) levels up based on your achievements in battle. Skill points gained from each increase in level can be used to improve the skills of your hero, and a trade shop on the map screen allows for the purchase of better weapons and armour. It’s a nice feature, and one that works perfectly within the tower defence template.
Much like other tower defence titles, gameplay itself is incredibly simple: waves of enemies walk a set path as they march towards your HQ, and it’s up to you to strategically position different defenders at the most effective places on the map. Although at first the player is limited to just warriors and archers, the game soon throws in other defenders such as beserkers, halflings, rangers and mages, giving 6 in total. Each of these units (or guilds as they’re known in game) can be upgraded through five stages, and thereafter can be upgraded again, changing its appearance and increasing its strength tenfold. This costly upgrade will change the whole appearance of the guild, resetting it’s level back to one.
Navigating each of the five battlegrounds couldn’t be simpler; swiping your finger across the screen will move the camera in that direction, and pinching the screen will zoom in and out. Building and upgrading guilds can be achieved with equal ease, and requires a mere tap of the screen on the required building site. Unlike some tower defence games, guilds can only be positioned in pre-determined positions, and only a certain number are available in total. This doesn’t deter from the strategy in any detrimental way however, and knowing which site to position which guild is key to success.
Graphically the game is sound; the defenders themselves look great, and the enemies are interesting and varied enough to keep the game fresh. The hand drawn levels look fantastic, and even more impressive is the solid frame rate, which remains unaffected even when the screen is chocka-block full of enemies and arrows. The music is also superb, and in combination with the art style and narrative, gives the game an atmosphere that is currently incredibly rare on the iPhone.
Initial concerns with the game concern its difficulty settings; even on the easiest difficulty setting (casual) the game can become incredibly hard. Why developers of tower defence games are hell bent on making their games so damn difficult is one of lifes great mysteries; the inclusion of difficulty settings should allow the game to be played by gamers of all skill levels. Hopefully this is something that will be adjusted before the release of the final game.
Difficulty aside, the game really is impressive, and looks likely to give GeoDefense and Star Defense a good run for their money in the quest for the tower defense crown. While geoDefense, arguably my favourite iPhone game to date, was visually unique and incredibly addictive, it lacked the personality, narrative and atmosphere that help create the rich experience on offer with Defender Chronicles. Of course Defender Chronicles is terribly addictive too, and putting it down to write this preview was honestly a struggle. Fans of the tower defence genre, and indeed great games in general, should keep their eye firmly one this one.
Look out for the AppGamer review of the game nearer it's release later this month.
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