iPhone Tap Defense Review: Top of its Game

iPhone Tap Defense Review: Top of its Game
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RTS

The real-time strategy genre has not had as many incarnations on the iPhone as some of its more popular competitors, but those who play RTS games tend to be just as rapid as any type of gamer. Series like Command and Conquer and Warcraft (before it was turned into a vomit inducing Everquest retread) served for the kind of gameplay that made methodical battle more addictive than adolescent Ritalin. Those games existed on a level of unparalleled complexity, but there are still creations that use similar concepts with winning simplicity. Tap Defense uses the idea of base fortification and creates a game that will offer more hours of persistent gameplay than almost any other games available for the iPhone.

Tap Defense: The Game

Tap Defense gives you only one location, but that is all you need. At one end is the gate to Heaven and the other the gate to Hell. From Hell creatures of different types walk along a path to Heaven. Your goal in Tap Defense is to stop them from reaching it. To do this you put up defensive towers of different types. In the beginning these are just arrow, bomb, and water canon towers, as you progress through levels you will be given more options. You buy them with the gold you accumulate through killing the creatures and completing levels, and then place them in strategic locations. As they walk through they are bombarded with attacks from the towers, hopefully killing them before they reach their goal. At times special characters, mainly the Devil, will parade his way through, and depending on how much damage he receives you can get “halos” which you can then use on research to make different tower types available and get better interest rates on your gold. More than this you can upgrade the towers you have already created to make them even more effective in situations. This can affect their range and power, as well as their ability to slow enemies and hit surrounding targets. Each creature has its own speed and number of hit points, and some are resistant to certain tower types.

Perfect Simplicity

As you hear about the different layers to Tap Defense it sounds complicated, but really the interface soon becomes relatively simple and is a canvas for your own creative strategy. Should you update a number of bomb towers right at the beginning? Should you save up for an earthquake tower? How much should you fortify the middle? The game ends up being extensive and engaging, and this is only amplified by multiple difficulty settings.

One of the Best

There is really little bad to say about this game as a whole, especially since it is part of what began the tower strategy game craze on the iPhone.There are some advertisements at the bottom, but they are so small that they are not really distracting. The game is free from iTunes and because of this may be one of the best deals you are going to find for your mobile. The most recent version of Tap Defense now offers multiple formats of gameplay, ranging from quick play for simple gameplay to a sixty level endurance mode. Tap Defense is one of the best iPhone games out there.

References

  • Source: author’s own experience.
  • Photo: Logo from screenshot of Tap Defense.

This post is part of the series: Application Reviews

A series of reviews for common iPhone applications.

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  6. Review of the Remote iPhone Application
  7. Have a Drink on Your iPhone Using the iPint App
  8. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
  9. Pocket Reference
  10. An In-Depth Review of Mobile News for the iPhone
  11. Smack A Toon Lite: A Mild Amusement
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  14. Taking it Old School: Arcade Hoops Review
  15. Darts App Review: Skip the Bar and Throw Darts on Your iPhone
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  19. Time in the Night: Night Stand Review
  20. Tube Time: i.TV Review
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  22. Measuring the Swell: Surf Report Review
  23. iBoredom: Tic Tac Free
  24. Spiritual Warfare: Tap Defense Review
  25. Find Your Way Through Mazes with the Labyrinth iPhone Game
  26. Free Recipes on Your iPhone: Big Oven App Review
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