Star Defense Review

Category: games, tower defense
Price: $5.99
App Store Link: [Full] / no lite version

Review: Like it
Replay Value: High
Recommendation: Apart from it's 3D environment and spherical maps, Star Defense is just your basic tower defense game. While the game is fun and enjoyable, there's definitely better available on the App Store. That said, if you've already exhausted games like, ElementalMonster TD, Sentinal: Mars Defense, Fieldrunners, Crystal Defenders, the Creeps and Geo Defense and are looking for another Tower Defense (TD) to get you through the day, Star Defense will fill the gap.

Star Defense is ngmoco's first attempt at a tower defense game. Since its original announcement several months back, Star Defense has managed to generate a great deal of hype. This is partially because of high expectations for ngmoco, the first gaming publisher to receive a grant from iFund, and partially because of ngmoco's past success on the App Store with well known games like Rolando, Topple 2, and Word Fu. With Star Defense's release (un)coincidently coming alongside the announcement of the new iPhone 3G S earlier today at Apple's WWDC '09, it's time to see if ngmoco's new app can meet its expectations...

...And sadly, I'm going to have to go a against the grain. While the app was well received by ign.com and met mixed if not somewhat favorable reviews at the popular iPhone gaming site touch arcade, I found that Star Defense did not live up its hype. In fact, side from the 3D environments and spherical (or cubed) maps, there isn't much here that hasn't been done better by a previously released iPhone tower defense app. If you take those honestly trivial details away, you're left with nothing more than a simple and basic tower defense app. Even the trailer for Star Defense makes it look more exciting than it actually is.

That said, just because Star Defense doesn't live up it's hype doesn't make it a bad game. In fact, as a basic TD, the game is quite fun (hence the "like it" rating). The controls are solid: touch swipe, pinch zoom, two-finger rotate, and drag 'n drop towers. The graphics are very good (though not as good as some reviews have given the game credit for in my opinion). The enemies and towers are well balanced. There's a very decent amount of playtime in campaign mode, as well as an endless mode with facebook/twitter leaderboards. The problem is that these are starter ingredients for any decent TD, not the unique selling point. For Star Defense, the only truly unique selling point is the 3D spherical maps, and even this concept doesn't come without it's problems. While we're on the subject, Star Defense has its fair share of problems.

First of all, the 3D maps are really nothing special; hypothetically, they're just flat maps wrapped around a sphere or cube, and all this does is prevent the player from seeing the entire map at once. I realize that's supposed to part of the fun, but again, as the games only unique selling point, it's not that impressive. Second, the game is missing a lot of standard features that have become widely expected in TD games; this is a major no-no since the tower defense genre is so prominent in the iPhone gaming community. These features include lack of any kind of tower placement grid. This means players have to "eyeball it," which is very hard, if not unrealistic, on a map you can zoom and scale. The lack of grid created planning problems for me on more than one occasion during play through. Sadly, another missing feature is the coveted fast forward button, so players have to prepare themselves for sitting through slow waves and/or repeated waves from failed missions. Another issue some players make take with the game are the noticeable tower limits in the right hand corner of the screen. Admittedly, these limits seemed to affect gameplay very little, but based on historical precedent, players don't like feeling limited. Additionally, there's no advanced upgrade system other than tower upgrades (i.e. no interest on your currency; no decisions on what towers to unlock; no gems gems to earn and spend after a perfect round)--nothing to give the game that extra depth. Finally, what happened to all the cool com-voices from the trailer? They are mysteriously absent from most (if not all) of the game. It's situations like this that great such great hype for an average (and then subsequently) disappointing game. These implied that there would be some kind major story arc or plot line to accompany the game, which simply isn't there.

Overall, Star Defense didn't live up to hype and anticipation surrounding its release. And while I don't think it's very to simply judge a game on the hype proceeding it, I do think it's fair to hold expectations for the app against similar previously released apps. Keeping in mind that ngmoco is one of iPhone's premier developers and publishers, I think it's also fair to hold high expectations for any ngmoco title, and frankly, Star Defense fell short of both sets of expectations. I know people want to jump on board because it's ngmoco--heck, I did, too--but again, being completely honest, if a friend new to iPhone TDs asked me to recommend some good TDs, this one would be towards the middle/bottom (excluding the unrealistically under-professional apps of course). games like, ElementalMonster TD, Sentinal: Mars Defense, Fieldrunners, Crystal Defenders, the Creeps and Geo Defense would come first. But if you're a gamer who's exhausted all those other TDs and are looking for an new one to temporarily satisfy your appetite, Star Defense can definitely fill that gap.

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Gameplay Video:

What I'd like to see in future updates: Interestingly enough, Star Defense in one of the first apps to publicly acknowledged its 3.0 ambition, meaning the developers have already promised future content obtainable through Apple's new In-App Purchasing System (met with mixed feelings by many). What we'd like to see in some of that content and upgrades: Optional placement grid; fast forward button; use of shake/tilt controls (something many might expect from ngmoco); more towers; advanced reward systems; add in a plot line, some cinematics, and if nothing else, those cool comm voices from the trailer!

~M@