Colony Defenders TD2 is a straightforward flash tower defense game. No cheesy gimmicks, no earth shattering gameplay changes. Just placing towers to kill bad guys.
I have mixed feelings about the prolificness (it's a word if I say it is) of tower defense games. On the one hand, I really like the genre as a whole. But on another more realistic hand, I'm not a fan of the rank and file tower defense games. It's been done already. If there's nothing remarkable to offer, I'm just going to go play Gemcraft or Kingdom Rush.
So, let's start with what can set Colony Defenders apart. It has nicely laid out damage, range, and resistance tables. It's not super complicated, it's easy to comprehend, even in the heat of battle. And I like that there are out of level upgrades combined with in level upgrades. I definitely like that style because it gives you motivation to slowly build you general power, but also rewards you for slogging through long levels. It's not rare or unique, but the game would be fairly unplayable without it.
Even on fast forward everything happens slowly...
I do actually really like that there are two currencies (and neither of them are premium!). It adds a nice little layer. You build new towers and advance big upgrades with money, and you give smaller upgrades with crystals. And you can use money to get crystals faster. So the strategy it adds is a nice touch.
It does seem moderately strange to me though. We have countdown timers for skills, money, and crystals. All 3 are completely separate from each other, and ultimately at different stages of the game some or all of them may be superfluous. If you max your towers (they can only be built on pre-defined plots) then you can't use money for anything but upgrades. If they're all fully upgraded (which happened to me, especially on the early levels) then money is worthless. And if you max our your crystal gaining speed, then you can't do anything else to help the war effort. You're basically waiting for the level to end.
Hooray! 3 stars...I never have to play that level again!
Ultimately, there just isn't enough to do. I love games like Gemcraft because there is one meter, and it's health and money and everything else. It means you're managing that the entire time. Sure, you may run through the motions, but then there are almost countless places to put new towers and advance your gems. Here, if you max out your locations or your towers, that's it. Later on, you have a bit more to do because you can level everything up farther. But it still slogs on.
My opinion is that this game is an unnecessary addition to the Tower Defense genre. It doesn't do anything to advance the core gameplay of it and it really just feels stale and boring. Each level is a chore. And I have plenty of chores already.
Scorecard:
Category
|
Score
|
Time Value
|
3
|
Money Value
|
10
|
Originality
|
2
|
Ryplayability
|
3
|
Fulfillment
|
3
|
Final Score
|
4.2
|
Let me know what you think of Colony Defenders TD2! (if you choose to play it)
Until next time,
Ryan
Pictures courtesy of ArmorGames
Pictures courtesy of ArmorGames
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