Defender Chronicles is one of a spate of tower defense games for the iPhone, a platform that has proven surprisingly ripe for the genre.
What makes Defender Chronicles unique is that it adds in some role-playing elements into the equation. Like a typical RPG, the player character gains levels and can purchase equipment to buff his or her statistics. This is essential to progress in the game, as each successive map scales in difficulty in a distinctly and frustratingly non-linear manner.
Each map proceeds with the player having a pre-determined amount of gold to hire mercenaries to defend the keep, which the player character himself will defend. Initially, only two unit types are available, an archer and a knight. As enemies die, player gold increases and new units can be placed or old ones upgraded.
What distinguishes Defender Chronicles in this respect is that enemies will always follow a fixed path, and towers can only be placed at pre-determined locations. While this takes some of the strategy out of the game, determining the precise arrangement of towers often takes several plays to learn the movement of each individual unit.
The only thing that DC leaves to be desired is the voice acting, which sounds, quite literally, as if they hired Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” character to do the voices. However, as the game includes a mute function, this minor annoyance can be disabled.
If you are in the mood for a quick, casual pick-me-up, and you have access to an iPhone or iPod Touch (or can sneak your coworker’s away from his desk while he’s at lunch with your boss, you know, angling for that promotion you really want and deserve. Yeah.), pick up Defender Chronicles for a fun take on the tower defense genre.
