I recently supported the Stand with Ukraine bundle over on Humble Bundle and perused the list of games to see which ones I should download and play. As I looked, I came across a game called Go Home Dinosaurs! which was listed as a tower defense. It had been a while since I last dabbled in this genre so I decided to give it a go and, despite some rough edges, I found myself quite enjoying it. Since I’ve been reminded of this fascinating video game genre, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what tower defense games are, their history and a few that I would recommend.
First off, a tower defense game is where hordes of enemies travel along a path, either predetermined or developed by the player over the course of the match, by placing defenses on or beside the path. The player has a variety of defenses with some typical examples being high damage to a single target, dealing lower damage but to a group of enemies, doing tiny damage but slowing the enemy down etc. The other aspect you’ll have to keep track of is your resources which limit the towers you can place. There’s usually a way to build up resources but it tends to be slow and you must make some tough decisions on whether to build cheap defenses to hold off the early waves or try to build the more expensive ones later in the match at the cost of a weaker early defense.
While early games such as Space Invaders saw the player defending against waves of enemies, the game that’s typically held up as the originator of the tower defense genre is Rampart which introduced defenses that are placed by the player and automatically attack enemies when they come into range. Proving to be quite popular on PC, they became exceptionally prevalent with the rise of Adobe Flash and mobile gaming around the late 2000s. While perhaps not as popular as they once were, numerous tower defense games continue to be developed to this day.
The first tower defense game that I can recall playing would be Plants vs. Zombies. Developed and published by PopCap Games, Plants vs. Zombies sees you defending your garden from wave after wave of zombies with the help of various plants. The graphics are pleasant, the gameplay ultimately becomes very satisfying and challenging even if it starts out a little too easy early on and there is a wide variety of content outside of the lengthy main campaign. As an introduction to tower defense, Plants vs. Zombies did a great job and the game remains a very satisfying experience to this day.
Soon after, I ended up playing another tower defense and, as far as I’m concerned, this game remains the best pure tower defense I’ve ever played. Defense Grid: The Awakening is the epitome of the definition of a tower defense game with a large variety of aliens attacking in an attempt to take your cores, a wide range of towers to develop your defenses and a surprisingly emotional story, something I’d argue that’s rare for tower defense games. I’ve also played Defense Grid 2 and, while it remains a very solid tower defense game, I find myself still preferring the original.
Finally, I’d like to talk about two series of tower defense games that I’ve played, enjoyed and believe have an interesting take on the genre. First, the Orcs Must Die! series combines tower defense with third person shooter elements. You control a mage who is able to run around the map, placing defenses and shooting at the orcs themselves. The series has a great sense of humour and later sequels began to emphasise co-op gameplay. Additionally, the Rock of Ages video games are a VERY unique take where players compete by placing their defenses while their giant rock is being sculpted. Players then race against each other to break their opponents gate by rolling their rock through their enemies’ defenses. Besides being a little short for my liking, Rock of Ages is a lot of fun.
I feel like tower defense games don’t earn enough discussion when it comes to the gaming media or the public and, considering how great many of these games are, I think that’s a shame. Let me know your thoughts on the fascinating video game genre of tower defense, which tower defense games you’ve played, what some of your favourites have been and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.