Tower Defense: Lost Earth Review
Price: $2.99/$4.99 Universal
Version: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS
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Tower Defense: Lost Earth is in many ways a typical tower defense game. There are plenty of towers to utilize, a number of different hostile threats to annihilate, lots of winding paths for them to mindlessly file into and a base (sometimes several) that needs protecting. The one addition (as far as I know) to the formula is the inclusion of both tile-blocking growths that can be destroyed for resources and special resource-gathering towers that can be built on specific tiles to routinely gather the precious purple stuff. It also touts forty levels spread between five different areas (arctic, desert, etc...), so there's little danger of running out of stuff to do. Even if each level is completed, every stage can be replayed on one of three difficulties while special awards can be earned through various actions. Outside of the campaign, there's also a special challenge mode featuring online leaderboards. Completionists will have a field day with this one.
It's also an incredible-looking game. I know it makes me sound like "one of those people" when I say it, but the visuals are really what drew my attention to it in the first place. The graphics strike that perfect balance between stylized, cartoony and serious. Each turret looks colorful and distinct, telling the difference between stock and upgraded placements is a snap... heck, they're even fun to watch as they tear hostile alien creatures to shreds. It also supports "pinching" to adjust the zoom; whether it's in order to get a better look at the battlefield or just to ogle the great-looking critters and critter-blasters.
Aside from these minor gripes, Tower Defense: Lost Earth is a fantastic game. One that genre lovers and armchair generals should not miss. Even people who don't generally care for tower defense games might want to give it a try or at least check out the gameplay video below. It's certainly won this jaded nitpicker over.