Gabrielle's Sweet Defense
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Gabrielle's Sweet Defense

Our Review by Lee Hamlet on February 28th, 2014
Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar :: BITTERSWEET
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Help Gabrielle keep those pesky kids away from her desserts in a playable, but ultimately predictable tower defense game.

Developer: Natsume Inc.
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
App Reviewed on: iPad Mini Retina

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarhalfstarblankstarblankstar
Playtime Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

After trying her hand at a couple of other iOS genres, the dough-eyed little madam is back with a defense game in Gabrielle's Sweet Defense. In order to stop those bratty kids from getting at all of the desserts in Monsterville, Gabrielle requires the help of her dispensable minion friends to protect their delicious stash. It's downright mean when one thinks about it.

If players are familiar with a certain other tower defense game that involves the undead and some particularly vicious plant life, they'll feel right at home with Gabrielle's Sweet Defense; if that home was less polished and in need a bit of spring cleaning, that is. There's a money counter at the top of the game screen, which when filled to a certain extent will allow players to put a monster onto their patch to carry out a counter-attack. Patient players will build up a larger amount of money and be able to command more powerful allies, at the expense of time of course.

One thing I have to address is the scaling issue when playing on an iPad. Although it won't be noticeable on an iPhone, certain in-game text looks blurry, while menus in particular look fuzzy on a larger screen (and that's just on an iPad mini Retina). It doesn't effect the playability of the game, but it certainly made me second guess the ol' 20/20 vision.

Gabrielle's Sweet Defense is an acceptable tower defense game with a curiously addictive quality, but ultimately it lacks the finesse needed to detract away from what is now a tired (and in this case slow) gameplay mechanic. Coupled with the iPad scaling issues, there are simply other games that do this kind of thing better. Kids might love the characters and colorful themes, but even they might tire of Gabrielle's Sweet Defense sooner rather than later.

iPhone Screenshots

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Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 1 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 2 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 3 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 4 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 5

iPad Screenshots

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Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 6 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 7 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 8 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 9 Gabrielle's Sweet Defense screenshot 10
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