Defender Chronicles II
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iOS
| Defender Chronicles II

One of the iTunes user reviews for Defender Chronicles II likens the game to Diablo III. At first, the comparison seems ludicrous – this is a tower/castle defence game on a touchscreen, while Diablo is the loot-powered uber-RPG that's dominating the PC charts.

After a few rounds, though, the comment makes a lot of sense. There's something almost mystically compelling about Defender Chronicles II. It's addictive and horrible moreish, and yet all you do is tap the screen. Over and over and over again.

We've all seen the setup a hundred times before: you need to stop the waves of bad guys getting to your castle by placing all manner of soldiers in the way.

It all takes place on a flat-planed, multi-levelled battleground, with enemies starting at one end and moving in set patterns towards the other. Dotted along the way are building points that let you construct little buildings, all of which house specific unit types.

Tap Tap Tap

As you'll know if you've played any tower or castle defence game before, your units will do battle with the enemy until they perish, and stopping the tide of baddies comes down to strategic unit placement and tactical upgrades.

As you kill enemies, you gain more money. More money equals more buildings, or the power to upgrade existing ones. After a couple of introductory waves, though, you've quickly built a huge arsenal of troops, and are playing the tapping game.

Tap to upgrade here. Pan left, tap to upgrade there. Tap, tap tap. With every tap you feel more powerful, more comfortable in your defences, but you know the enemy is going to push back harder.

Different troop types allow different strategies - for example, infantry can be grouped together to make a human wall, while Lizard archers pick off airborne foes. By the end of each level, the screen is a blurry, murderous mess of troops, enemies, and buildings.

Loot Point

Your team is backed up by a powerful hero who can be upgraded in between levels with loot and stat points. There's a shop to buy new gear from, and plenty of IAP to make the game ludicrously easy, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Far better, though, is just enjoying the enthrallingly simple action and get that tapping finger trained up. You’re going to need it.

Defender Chronicles II

Very simple, not hugely original, but extremely compelling tower defence fare
Score