I have an admission to make. When I first heard of Tower Defense games, I was like "dafuq? I don' even know." I thought it was a crappy idea. Then, I played Cursed Treasure: Don't Touch My Gems. Then, I played Gemcraft (1, 2, and Labrynth). Then, I played Defend Your Honor. Then, I played Kingdom Rush. Oh, my God, did I play Kingdom Rush. I played the shit out of Kingdom Rush. I just started playing Radiant Defense on the Kindle Fire, and I'm liking it a lot. But by and large, most tower defense games aren't fun enough. They're tactical exercises, but they kind of look like crap and play like yawn and they're just not cool. But, I figure you guys in GLGland are awesome and you probably know a lot of cool things that I don't, so I'm here to ask: what are the best tower defense(ish) games that I haven't played yet? Because for some reason, despite my initial hate, I'm afraid I'm kind of hooked. BTW, I don't care who you are, Bloons everything sucks balls. Big, hairy Bantha balls.
Vector TD is pretty epic. And it plays in your browser. Tiny Heroes is a good TD game if you have an i-device. Master of Defense is a ~5 year-old shareware title, but probably one of the richest TD games. If you use Chrome, you can play Field Runners (mostly) for free via google play. I wouldn't pay for the full version - but Field Runners 2 is coming out soon... If you have a PS3 you can play Pixel Junk: Monsters (and get the expansion!) - it's a very slick TD game. I still hold a few world-records on some maps. Finally, Defense Grid on Steam is a fine, fine game. And hey - if you back the Kickstarter for Defense Grid 2 you get a free copy of it (via Steam) immediately (before the Kickstarter even ends!) - Go check it out! If you like it, you might just even leave your pledge in for DG2... (and once you start backing Kickstarters - why not throw more love at Kaiju Combat!?!)
Cursed Treasure is amazing, I like onslaught (google, first result?) for the fact that it's brutally hard.
Defense Grid is a brilliant, traditional style TD with added bonus of an amusing (for a while, at least!) AI narrating as you play. Oh and it runs on gamebryo engine so it shouldn't hurt your eyes to look at the screen while playing, either. Dungeon Defenders is worth a mention too, though it mixes your tower defending up with rpg elements such as controlling a character during battle phases that gains xp and levels, and upgradeable gear. If this is a good thing or a bad one is muchly up to personal preference.
Sanctum is great if you like to mix your TD with some FPS. I like TD/am not so good at FPS, so the higher difficulty on Sanctum was unbeatable for me. If that isn't a concern for you, Sanctum is fantastic.
It might be better if you got a few pals to play it with, do avoid public games, though. I don't think I'm exaggerating much saying DD online community is a few notches WORSE than say.. HoN community. DD is the only game I've played so far where you find people who get their highs hosting games, just so they can kick people. Wow. Anyhoo I'm playing it solo and having lots of fun with it so far. From what I hear going it solo becomes less and less viable (read: impossibly difficult) as you get to the harder DLC levels though.
Mhm, "Tower Defence" games. I've played quite a few of them back in the days. The one I remember right now is "Immortal Defense", and there is also the "Gemcraft" series. "Defense Grid" is nice too, but it irks me a bit with its standard segregation of ground-based and air-based enemies.
Gonna second the Defense Grid and Dungeon Defenders recommendations. I bought Sanctum during the summer sale but haven't played it yet, so I can't recommend that atm.
Dungeon Defenders also has that absolutely shocking DLC model. I think it's a £10 game with something like £40 of DLC now. It is kinda good, yeah, but I struggle to recommend it unless you have a dedicated group of friends and a tolerance for that art style.
Bloons tower defense 5. It's a great timewaster, although if you get far enough into the free play levels, you'll eventually either die or crash flash.
Rarely do I suggest iphone games, but Geodefense is a true gem. I've sunk many hours into it while waiting for buses or during boring lectures.
Another interesting game in the genre is Warzone Anomaly Earth, where the roles are swapped and you control a team trying to get through alien turret defenses in one piece. Might not sound like much but its actually quite fun plotting the optimal route for your units, what types and upgrades you want, and trying to keep the units alive with your field repairs and other tools.
Definitely an interesting game. I'm not sure if links to offsite content is welcome here, but I've done a sort of vlog/review about that game here. I've given it a pretty decent score Another game that comes to mind is Revenge of the Titans. It's a bit out of the ordinary as there's no set path for the enemies to follow, but it's got a great visual style and plays out rather nicely. There's another review for it on my youtube channel that I just linked to if you are keen.
