Jelly Defense Review

There's certainly no shortage of tower defense games on the App store with the mighty Plants vs. Zombies still ruling the roost, but what about trying something different? Jelly Defense definitely wins in terms of looks and music. Located on a planet inhabited by a series of jelly based creatures of both the good variety and the bad, everything is quirky yet distinctive. The music is similarly unique and fun, with a very catchy vibe going on. What's not quite so different from the pack is the gameplay behind these delightful aesthetics.

Following typical tower defense tropes, each level consists of the invading jelly forces marching along windy paths in their quest to reach and ultimately steal the player's gems that form the base. A series of pre-defined spots are available for placing defensive units that can fight back. Each unit comes in one of two different colors, either red or blue, which relate to how they can attack. One color units can only attack other units of the same color, with the exception of towers that are half red and half blue. Each unit has a limited range too which can create trouble. Basic upgrades are possible as well as the option of researching new types of jelly, each of these options adding considerable pressure to the player's limited finances.

You see, Jelly Defense is far from an easy tower defense game. It's actually very unforgiving after the first few levels. Success is mostly down to placing the right tower in the right slot at the right time with not much room for error. The sluggish nature of defensive units compared to the speed of the enemy does nothing to help matters. There's still fun to be had for the patient gamer but much time will be spent figuring things out through trial and error rather than strategical thinking. Each level provides increasingly longer waves of fighting which in turn extends the stage and opens up the opportunity to fail more so.

While Jelly Defense is pretty formulaic, it is fun for a time, until the difficulty level ramps up and players step away out of frustration. It's unfortunate as early levels are quite fun but trial and error does not make a great game, it just annoys.