Crystal Defenders
Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders was originally a mobile game. It was a limited tower defense clone that only stood out because it used character designs from Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and was simple enough to play on a touch screen like the iPhone. Don’t confuse simple with easy though.
Crystal Defenders for PS3 and XBLA is a combination of the 3 mobile releases: W1, W2, and W3. You can choose which version to play and each version has 4 maps. The game is purely about gameplay, and getting a high score. There’s no story, or any bonus features.
This game starts off slow but gets pretty difficult fast. It’s not like Pixel Junk Monsters or other tower defense games where the levels start off easy, and then later levels in the games get harder. Crystal Defenders is designed so that each level consists of 25 waves and the waves get progressively tougher. Chances are you won’t beat the first level on your first try or two.
The main goals of the game are to complete each map without having all of your crystals stolen. For additional challenges (aka Achievements or Trophies) you can try to perfect each map (lose no crystals) or aim to beat a crazy score.
The gameplay is as follows. You use your gold to buy units to place along a path. When you are done a wave of monsters will rush by trying to get through, as you kill them you earn gold to spend in preparation of the next wave. If a monster reaches your base it steals a crystal. Lose them all and it’s game over. You can use your gold at any time to place new units or upgrade existing units.
You can also pause and unpause the game so you have time to plan your strategies and make some moves on the fly if it looks like your about to get some crystals stolen. This also makes a more turn based like experience than something like Pixel Junk Monsters.
Each unit type has a unique attack and range. They also can be upgraded to improve attack power and range.
Some typical unit types include:
- Warriors, who are strong by not very fast.
- White Monks, who are weak but hit multiple enemies.
- Black Mages, who can use spells to damage multiple enemies and airborne creatures.
- Archers, who can hit airborne creatures and have a longer range.
- Time Mage, who can attack enemies and decrease their movement speed.
- Thieves, who don’t attack, but any enemies killed near them provide double gold.
Monsters can also have special abilities. Some will move really fast, others can steal multiple crystals, some are resistant to physical or magical attacks, some are airborne, etc.
Finally a nice feature is that each map has two summons you can use to get you out of a bind quickly. They can dish out massive damage to all enemies on screen and/or provide helpful effects like slowing enemies down. However it’s a pretty big cost because you need to spend crystals to use them.
These features pretty much carry through all the games. As I’ve said earlier W1, W2, W3 provide 4 maps each, and some unique summons/unit types/monsters.
W2 and 3 adds a feature where you can spend gold to place crystals on the map. Crystals have special effects for each character that they are close to. They can increase the attack, range or speed of those units. The range of crystals is really short but can be increased by upgrading them.
Aside from being simple my only complaint about the game is that upgrades cost ALOT. You’ll really have to budget, learn the maps, and perfect your strategy, if you want to use a lot of the better unit types, and upgrade your crystals.
All in all, Crystal Defenders is a decent tower defense game. It’s a fun strategy game, but it doesn’t really hold the interest for too long. If you’re already burned out on tower defense games this isn’t going to do anything for you, but if you want to play something different from Pixel Junk Monsters or Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord, and still love the genre, check it out.
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