Defense Zone is an introductory look at the genre known as “tower defense”. In tower defense games, you must stop oncoming waves of enemies from reaching a certain point on a map. The enemies must follow a predetermined pathway to reach your home base or some sort of ex-filtration spot. Your job is to place defensive turrets and other weaponry along the path in order to stop them.
If you are a veteran of tower defense games, you will find Defense Zone a little simplistic. It’s a great opportunity though, to introduce friends, family and whomever else hasn’t played this kind of game, to the genre.
On the upside, the game’s graphics are good. There are plenty of maps, each with markedly different terrains, paths, and pitfalls. As you successfully prevent enemy forces from reaching their goal, you earn power-ups and other perks that will make you stronger for the slightly more difficult battles ahead.
On the downside, the gameplay feels flat and uninteresting, especially in comparison to the giants of the genre; whose names even my grandmother and her bridge partners spout regularly.
Is the game worth it? Perhaps in the DLC developers can add more complexity. In the meantime, I would recommend giving Defense Zone‘s sequels (DZ 2 and the upcoming DZ 3) a look-see.
-Chris Roberts-
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!