Island Defense is a Tower Defense game on Steam. Judging by the User Interface, it's probably designed for mobile devices as well. The game follows your standard T-D formula, but with a few added game play mechanics to help make it some what unique. The biggest addition to this classic concept is Heroes you can hire, controlling them to utilize their combat abilities and skills, and use experience gained from downing opponents to upgrade their skills and stats. I'll go in to more details on that and more later, so on to the review!

Graphics 9/10 -- Now, I'll admit the Graphics are not exactly what you would call "top of the line." That being said, they look great for the style the developers were going for. Every thing has a very bright, colorful, and cartoon-like feel to them, The heroes / enemies look great, having tons of detail, and probably had the most effort put into them. The Towers used, which are some times living units in a bunker, look good and their attacks are well drawn. All of the animations look more so like a flash game with the most polish and fluidity possible, but that just adds to the light-hearted and cartoon-ish feel the game has. I wouldn't say any of the visuals are mind-blowing by any means, but they look great for the atmosphere intended. For style and presentation, the Graphics get a 9/10.

Sound 7/10 -- The game's Sound is overall pretty average, but it does do every thing it should well enough. The music has an Action / Adventure feel to it, providing the correct level of intensity and the right vibe the game is going for. Sadly, the music is lowered in volume while enemies are advancing down the path, while the sound effects remain unaffected. This kind of takes away from the experience slightly, since the sound effects can become rather repetitive in only a short while. On the bright side, there are different tracks, albeit very subtle changes in tone, as the game progresses. The sound effects are exactly what you would expect, with your typical zaps, booms, and gun fire coming from the towers and Heroes' attacks. The Sound gets a 7/10.

Addictiveness 8/10 -- To be frank, it all comes down to whether you actually enjoy the genre of Tower Defense or not. If you do, I would think this is one of the better games currently out there among the myriad of T-D games that are constantly produced. The game play is solid, and it offers every thing a T-D game should have as well as having extra mechanics not seen in many T-D games. It has tons of upgrades available, you can replay levels to grind EXP for your heroes, and it offers plenty of different towers that do different things ( such as a Snow Machine that slows down enemies in it's range ). The enemies vary greatly, and follow the typical formula of gradually increasing in difficulty. As someone who loves T-D games in general, this is definitely a title I have played through on multiple occasions, earning the Addictiveness an 8/10.

Story 2/10 -- This score isn't because the Story is necessarily bad, but more so because there's virtually no story telling that takes place. Regardless, the game technically has a story, so it at least deserves to be mentioned. The plot of the game is also a cliche at that, but T-D games aren't really meant to be great entertainment in this area, so it hardly takes away from the experience. The game has you commanding rebel forces who are trying to take down a tyrant who rules the islands with an iron fist. That's it. Literally nothing else is presented in the form of a Story, so it only gets a 2/10.

Depth 6/10 -- I had to consider whether this score was a little too high. The game is not very long, offering only a couple dozen or so levels to conquer. The levels aren't all that long either, maybe taking 5 through 15 minutes to complete at the very most. Each level consists of about 5 through 15 waves of enemies as well, none of them being all that large. On the bright side, the game does feature a Hard mode option for each individual level, which grants a higher reward of Coins and Poker Chips. Coins are used for purchasing upgrades for your Towers, and Poker Chips are used to play a Roulette Mini-Game which awards bonus Coins, Poker Chips, or even EXP for your Heroes. The game does feature about 10 Heroes to choose from, as only 2 can be actively used at any given time. Heroes gain EXP for each enemy killed, which adds some thing of an RPG element to the game. Both the Heroes stats and passive / active abilities can be upgraded as they level up too. There are also items you can purchase between levels such as dynamite or radios for air strikes, which can be extremely useful in the right scenarios. The game doesn't have a huge amount of Depth, but relatively speaking for it's genre, it does feature more than most in the extras department. I decided on a 6/10 for Depth.

Difficulty 5/10 -- Here is probably the biggest draw back to the game over all. The game is simply too easy for it's own good. It does follow a good formula of progression in difficulty, but it's just too easy all the way through. If any thing, this game would be a great learning experience for those who are still new to the Tower Defense genre. Although the Heroes are a welcome addition in my eyes, they also break the game in terms of how powerful they are when used efficiently. Not only that, but levels can be re-played as many times as you like, allowing you to stock pile Coins, Poker Chips, and EXP. If you so desired, you could max out your Heroes levels without ever leaving the very first stage of the game in which they are unlocked ( more of them become available as you progress ). Even the Hard Mode option provided for each level, which not only buffs the opponents / increases their numbers, but also restricts how many different Towers you can use, doesn't make the game as challenging as you might want it to be. I evened out my score based on the Normal and Hard option for each level, giving the Difficulty a 5/10.

Overall 7/10 -- Once every thing is all said and done, this game is just above being mediocre. It does have a lot of cool features and mechanics, but the game could have also used a lot more Depth in terms of game play, as well as improving / increasing the Difficulty aspect. This is by no means a bad game, but it's also by no means some thing special. If you enjoy the genre, it's worth checking out, but don't worry about missing any thing if you choose to over look it.

Hope you enjoyed the review

Nice work man. Well done once again.

I enjoy Tower Defense games for some reason, and honestly this sounds like an idea I toyed around with once: a bit of an action RPG/Tower Defense mash up (unless I misunderstood the heroes part) which is pretty cool, even if it does make my idea seem less original than before. Lol

Anyway, thanks for reviewing games that haven't been covered before.