April 25th, 2009
Defend the Crystals Say You?? – Square Enix’s Crystal Defenders
I have been a Final Fantasy fan for years now, playing more of them than I care to write down. When I got my iPod touch last Christmas, I was hoping to find some tactics game like the ones on the GBA and DS (and the original PS). Sadly, I found nothing.
Then there was Crystal Defenders, and to me, it was just another tower defence game on the iPod, a genre that was crowded then, and even more so now. But, my biased love for the Final Fantasy (FF) series made me fork over the hefty $7.99 (plus tax) for the download. The game was everything I hoped for, and of all the app’s on my iPod, I play it more than any other.
There are a number of similarities in all tower defence games, multiple unit types, different maps, and of course, the baddies. But there are a few unique’s that make this game great. First and foremost are the obvious Final Fantasy Tactics character models (for both you and the enemies), which are cute and friendly. Knowing the units from the previous games, made it feel like a classic FF game. The game also features the summonable monsters that we all know and love which allow you to deal massive damage to your foe’s, but at a cost.
There are 3 difficulties of game play, which are broken up into waves, each wave having 4 maps. Upon starting the game, you pick a wave and then you select a level to play. You then, like any other tower defence game, try to stop the baddies from getting through. The game features a unique scrolling system that reminds me of a joystick, and makes me believe that if other companies followed suit, we could see many classic games come the way of the iPod. There was also a recent update that added in play via landscape mode and changed the character models. The new models don’t quite look like the original Tactics models anymore(boo-urns!) but they are still pleasing and give the game a fresh look.
The price is a little steep, but I defiantly got my $8 worth out of this title. True to the Final Fantasy name, your going to get hours of enjoyment out of it, just try to get over 3000 points on every level before moving on to the next, and you’ll be challenged. This game truly is endless fun and I recommend it to anyone who loves their chocobo’s, or even just tower defence games.
As the seccond iPod app that I review I think it’s suitable for me to do a review of this app. iBlogger is a mobile iPod blogging platform. It has plug-in’s for most of the major platforms including Word Press and Squarespace. I’m writing this blog post on it and it’s actually fairly easy.