Robotek Review

★★★★☆

[Begin Transmission] Maple Node access granted. Perimeter defense grid disabled. Deploying robot invasion forces in T-minus 5... 4... 3... (garbled text) WARNING! Bot-hacking in progress. Preparing forces for significant resistance.

Title: Robotek | Developer: Hexage | Genre: Action/Arcade |
Players: 1-2 | Version: 1.0 | Size: 8.6MB | Price: Free

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Squid-shaped alien robots have taken over the world, and it's up to you to win it back! Node-by-node, you'll be sending your robot forces to demolish the invaders using varied weaponry and tactics. Fortunately for you, controlling such an army requires no more technical expertise than playing slots at a casino! Technology has certainly come a long way...

Hexage is known for their quality titles, neon-graphics, and innovative games, and Robotek is no exception. Using a bank of credits (charges), you'll "buy" access to a particular node and attempt to liberate it from the enemy. There are over 200 nodes, with varied levels of difficulty. Each side has a "big guy" (you), and can summon three bot-variants for added offense/defense - drones, tanks, and droids. The goal of the game is to penetrate your opponent's forces and cut his main bot's health down to zero using a combination of calling reinforcements (moar bots), espionage (hacking, energy-drain, force field), and assault (shock, microwave, laser) tactics. Each side chooses their actions for the turn, then combat resolves... hopefully with the gigantic brilliant explosion happening on the other side of the screen.

Whereas a similar game like Risk uses dice to resolve battles, Robotek uses an interesting "slot machine" mechanic. On your turn, you'll choose a general strategy - reinforce, espionage, or assault - and each strategy has three possible actions. For example, the espionage strategy involves hacking, energy-drain, and force field. Like a slot machine, there are three columns which randomly cycle through these actions until you hit stop, ideally synchronizing all three on your desired action. The more columns that match, the stronger the matching action is, and you'll score an extra turn if you match all three! Sometimes though, you may want to split your actions for a one-two punch combo. Either way, you'll get a chance to trigger each unique action that comes up. If you roll x2 lasers and a shock, you'll blast a big-time laser followed by a normal shock. If you land all three lasers, you blast a big-ass laser and get another turn. Confused about which action does what? A quick tap pulls-up a nice little on-screen summary.

As you exchange blows with your enemy, your units will gain experience and become more powerful. In addition to unit xp, every turn that passes gives you one more credit toward using a special ability. Special abilities include things like Rapid Fire (firing a second volley) and Emergency Repairs (+30 health to your units). Finally, as you sweep the map conquering nodes, you'll gain experience of your own which converts into tokens to be spent on unique squadron upgrades. These particular upgrades enhance the general effectiveness of your bots and their actions during combat.

The Good
Robotek is a great looking game with a pulsing techno soundtrack, reminiscent of EVAC HD. You'll find a decent amount of strategy and upgrade options to keep you busy over the game's 200+ nodes, and it's casual enough to pick up for a quickie. While it may be somewhat lacking in depth for us die-hard strategy fans, the upgrade and combo-options offer a solid intro to strategy for casual gamers. Should you ever find yourself on the losing-end of the war, you can always wire Hexage a few dollars for more charges.

The Bad
Aside from upgrading your bot skills and praying for the best 3-action combo every round, there's relatively little variety as you progress. I would've liked to see some new bots unlocked as you level. The computer chooses your targets for you, and I would've liked to be able to manually-target enemies in certain scenarios. The most annoying aspect of this game is that I spent $3 for the "duel" mode, only to find that it still... just me vs the AI. You can still play vs a friend by taking turns on the same phone, but who actually does this? This game would be solid with a random online match-up feature.

The Verdict
Robotek is a solid title, especially for free, and strikes a smooth balance between casual and strategy gaming. The graphics shine, the music is great, but anyone who spends a decent amount of time playing will wonder if she's still playing the same level. Assuming you don't get suckered into paying $3 for the "duel the CPU" mode, downloading this game is a no-brainer. Add online duels with live players, and this would win a 5-star rating.

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Super Dynamite Fishing Review

★★★★☆

Rosie needs your love like a tailgater needs a keg, and you know exactly how to give it to her... with a burnin' fuse! Using America's most efficient fishing-bait - dynamite - you'll devastate the fish population in order to win the heart of your number-one crush.


Title: Super Dynamite Fishing | Developer: Handy Games | Genre: Action/Arcade |
Players: 1 | Version: 1.0.2 | Size: 17.2MB | Price: $4.10

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Face it - fishing lures are for pansies. Those little dangly-trinkets you string on a fishing line make you feel more feminine than a kid in swim-class, and who wants to be seen with a box full of fishin' jewelry out on the open water? Instead, why not man-up and show them fish who's boss... with dynamite. Light the fuse, chuck a stick in the water, and have your pick of nature's finest.

In Super Dynamite Fishing, you play the role of Redneck Joe - a unibrowed, scruffy, and adept dynamite fisherman who craves the sweet-lovin' of one hot mama named Rosie. Since the quickest way to a woman's heart is through your own wallet, you'll spend all day "catching" and selling fish in order to buy her love... and to pay your bills. As long as you make enough dough to pay your daily bill, which grows increasingly expensive by the day, you can spend the rest on new toys (including Rosie).

Every day, you'll be given a new bill to pay, a couple optional paid missions to complete, and a comprehensive list of current going-rates for all types of fish. Pay close attention to this list, as you'll want to target the most valuable fish to get the most "bang" for your buck (har har). Head over to the weapons shop to equip your boat with the latest in mass-fishing technology, such as dynamite-stuffed squirrels and self-detonating mermaids, or pick up a new viking ship at the dock, and head out to the massacre. Your day is timed, so be quick about it.

Eventually, you'll accumulate enough cash to buy Rosie's love! Incrementally, of course, in the form of various gifts and outings. Alternatively, you could just save for a battleship - which will probably look way better on your lawn than Rosie ever could.

Controls
Navigating around the main map is a simple-affair of tap-tap-tapping. When fishing, you'll tilt the phone to move your boat left and right, and either swipe or tap to toss dynamite into the sea! The only issue I had with regards to controls was accidentally tapping on the alarm-clock when fishing, which pulls-up the menu. The ads also got in the way of shooting birds, but luckily you don't really need to do this very often.

Graphics
Dynamite Fishing is a cartoony, Flash-like game, but the style works well for the humorous theme. On my Evo, some of the background color-fills appeared a bit low-quality... which was unfortunate.

Sound
The effects and background sounds work well for the game - a nice combo of Beverly Hillbillies meets Scottish warfare. The inner-redneck in me would love to hook up a sub to my phone to really HEAR those explosions.

Options

You can toggle the sounds from your shack as well as the location names on the main map, and adjust the sensitivity of the tilt-control (recommended) via the Menu button on your phone. There's also options for "Quick Fishin" and "Go Fishin", both which simply dump you into one of your current fishing-missions. Not sure why those options were included... seems redundant.

Verdict
I've been playing my current career for a couple hours now, and have only won half of Rosie's heart... guess I'll use the other half as bait. This game should last a while, and has a decent replayability factor given the inclusion of a ton of achievement medals to be had. There's plenty of weapons to be bought and new boats to pilot, which all add a nice bit of variety. Sadly, the game seems to slow to a crawl quite frequently - usually when there's a lot of fish on the screen. Since the free-version's only drawback is an ad at the top of the screen, a little slowness isn't a big deal in the face of a great game. For those of you who really want to get into the game without distraction, you can fork-over the $4.10 for the ad-free version.

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Ancient Frog Review

★★★★☆

Enjoy the serene rainforest-ambiance of Ancient Frog as you struggle to maneuver starving amphibians into place for a tasty snack. Eating a fly has never been such hard work.


Title: Ancient Frog | Developer: Ancient Workshop | Genre: Puzzle |
Players: 1 | Version: 1.0 | Size: 14.15MB | Price: $2.69

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For the most part, I've always viewed frogs with general indifference - except, of course, for those awesome poison-dart ones. They multiply like crazy, move en-masse over roads, croak obnoxiously, keep mosquito populations in-check, and provide treats for many residents of the South. But when you watch one simply enjoying itself, sitting on a mossy branch in the middle of a lush rainforest, it's almost zen. And it'd better be zen, since that's exactly what you'll be doing in this puzzler. Well, almost.

In Ancient Frog, you'll help over 100 positionally-challenged frogs rotate this way and that, with the sole objective of sticking their face in front of a fly. You can see this game as a training course for amphibian dining. As the saying goes, "You can lead a frog to a fly, but you can't force it to eat." Lucky for you, all your frogs are apparently starving.

Using your finger, you'll tap one of the frog's four feet to lift it up, drag, and place it over any of the available footprints. By dragging and dropping your frog's appendages, you'll effectively (and slowly) be moving him into position to snap-up the fly. It sounds simple, but it gets really hard rather quickly. You see, there's a specific "dance" each frog will have to do in order to properly align itself, and each level joyously reminds you just how many placements it takes "normal" people to accomplish the task (par). If you align the frog under or within par, good for you. If you're like me, this won't happen very often. Should you make a mistake, you can always undo by swiping the screen, and should you get stuck, you can always ask for a hint.


Controls
To move a frog-leg, tap and drag the foot to another placement-pad. Controls work fine, for the most part, aside from a minor "fat finger" annoyance - it's tricky to see beneath your finger on some moves. Often-times, you really won't understand why a foot isn't allowed at a certain spot, but you just have to roll with it.

Graphics
Serene and atmospheric are two words that come to mind. The graphics are really quite pretty, and use realistic renderings of actual frogs, lily pads, and branches to add to the "natural" feel of the game. While you're pondering which move to make next, shadows gently dance over the background giving you a nice sense of depth and realism. The frogs themselves are quite well done.

Sound
Aside from a distinctive "pop"-effect that happens when you stick a frog-foot to a new location, Ancient Frog is pure relaxing ambiance. The din of the rainforest - complete with birds, monkeys, and crickets - provides the background music in this game.

Options

Not much in the way of options, I'm afraid. You can toggle sound on and off, and that's about it.

Verdict
Ancient Frog strikes a fine balance between insanely frustrating and environmentally soothing. The graphics are beautiful, and there are more than enough levels to keep you busy. I found myself growing weary of doing the same dance over and over and over again, but according to the Market comments and other game-review sites, y'all don't seem to mind much at all. Should you find yourself getting hopelessly frustrated, leave the game on, set the phone down, turn off the lights, and pretend you're in the rainforest. Awmmm.

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Pinball Ride Review

★★★★☆

Take a fast ride through the dark, neon-streets of Sometown as a small, shiny chrome ball in this energy-laced, street-themed pinball iPhone port.


Title: Pinball Ride | Developer: Massive Finger | Genre: Arcade |
Players: 1 | Version: 1.0.1 | Size: 18.2MB | Price: $0.99

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Pinball Ride does one thing and it does it well - pinball. Playing through the story mode, you'll spin your way through bonuses, multi-ball rounds, flashy lights and achievements - driven a pulsing electro-house soundtrack. While there is but one board in this game, the graphics are slick and the controls are responsive enough to make this a great little title.


Controls
Shoot the ball by dragging the stick-shift back on the right side of the screen, then releasing it. The flippers are triggered by tapping either side of the screen. Controls in Pinball Ride are responsive, and do well to keep-up with the fast pace of the game.

Graphics
Beautiful. The visual style of this game reminds me of Grand Theft Auto - dimly lit streets, neon lights, and gang fights. Lights on the board glow and cycle, and the story-screens add a nice bit of variety. Even when zoomed-in to "flipper view", the game runs smooth as silk.

Sound
The background track in Pinball Ride is a bumpin', energetic electro track that keeps the pace heated and the player engaged. Flipper and bumper sounds are good.

Options

In addition to volume sliders for sound and music, you can change the view (top-down or flipper perspective), and change how the story screens appear during the game. In my opinion, flipper-view is a must, and adds a nice layer of immersion. There's also a slew of achievements to... well, achieve... in-game, which you can browse in the Achievements window. The game allows you to create a profile and track your high-score.

Verdict
Pinball Ride is a solid pinball title, and great to have around for a quick pick-up game. The graphics are slick, the soundtrack is awesome, and the controls are responsive. I only have two minor gripes with this game. First, the ball-animation does lag on occasion, and ever-so-slightly, meaning you probably have to have a more modern phone. Also, I'm dying for some new tables. Why they didn't include another table or two is beyond my imagination, because it would've (in my humble opinion) made this game 100% solid. Nevertheless, for 99c (current intro promo price), I can't imagine why anyone would turn-away from this game.


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Squibble Review

★★★★☆

An evil scientist has captured you, poor octopus, and you're desperate to escape the lonely confines of his attic-level laboratory. Using the power of your sticky, stretchy tentacles, you must make your way back to sea.

Title: Squibble | Developer: Mass Habit Games | Genre: Action, Platformer |
Players: 1 | Version: 1.0 | Size: 5.9MB | Price: $2.91

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A mad scientist has captured your cutesy, albeit deranged-looking octopus-self and locked you away in the attic of his mansion! Using your amazing brain-capacity (don't forget, there was once an octopus who predicted soccer finalists) and your two  prehensile, sticky little tentacles, you'll need to make your way from the lab back to the ocean... where, I'm guessing you'll get eaten by a shark.

In the span of 20 levels you will swing to-and-fro using your tentacles, be launched like a mollusk out of a slingshot, crawl along the floor (if you're lucky), and avoid traps all along the way to the big, glowy "Exit" sign. Squibble plays like a platformer, in that you rely on various platforms and pillars for motion (octopi crawl rather slowly), but also involves a "puzzler" aspect in that you should probably do some planning before you affix your next suction-cup. Squibble is a rather stretchy and bouncy octopus, and if you're not careful, you'll find him rebounding-off some wall and into a spike-pit. Spikes are bad.

There's nothing really in the way of power-ups in Squibble, or options for that matter, but you will be encouraged to collect as many water-drops as possible before you exit stage-right. Water-drops are similar to the coins in Super Mario - the more you find, the better your score. You can always replay a level and try to best yourself if you're a perfectionist or simply masochistic (or both), and there are a couple bonus levels for you to try your luck at if you want a change of scenery. As far as health/lives are concerned, you'll begin each level with a set-number of hearts depending on the difficulty level you select. I've been playing on "normal", and find myself dying on a fairly consistent basis - so be warned.

Controls
The pre-game tutorial complicates things a bit, to tell the truth... Essentially, you'll use your thumbs (landscape-mode only) to tap on various platforms and parts of platforms, thus affixing one of your sticky appendages to it. With a second-tap, either on the same or a different platform, you'll affix your other tentacle. At this point, you must disregard everything you know about octopi with regards to number-of-tentacles; you only get two.

Once you've got both arms attached, you "go wobbly", and the larger the stretch between suction-cups, the more reactive Squibble becomes to movement. You can move yourself around to get water-drops (by holding Squibble and dragging), then let-go to launch like a slingshot. Or, for a more methodical and "safe" mode of transportation, continue tapping more platforms to get your swing-on. As the tutorial will tell you, you can un-hook a tentacle first by tapping where it connects to a platform, but I find it easier just to keep moving.

One thing you will need to master in this game is latching-on to a platform in mid-flight. To do this, use one thumb to pull Squibble back into launch-position and hover your other thumb over a target platform. Just as you let Squibble fly, tap the other platform to stick. If you get the timing right, this tactic will help your game immensely.

The controls and physics really define this game, and I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive and tight they felt. It's pretty solid, control-wise, and reminds me a bit of Angry Birds.

Graphics
Again, like Angry Birds, Squibble does the vector-style, cartoony approach to graphics - and pulls it off quite well. The objects and backgrounds are crisp and colorful, albeit a tad simplistic.

Sound
Nice job on the sound, I must say. Squibble squeaks like a dog-toy when he/she/it hits a surface, and exclaims in pain when spiked. However, it's the fun, pseudo-gypsy background soundtrack and atmospheric sound-effects that really stand out to me.

Options

Not so much. You can toggle the sound and select a difficulty level, and that's about it for options! Not that it really needs any... Squibble's appeal is in its simplicity.

Verdict
I feel like Squibble might automatically have some appeal to fans of Angry Birds, due to the control-scheme and physics, and definite appeal to everyone else. The controls are tight, the game runs flawlessly, the physics add a nice twist, and it's a great blend of action and pause-to-think. Squibble's also not very easy (in my opinion), so it'll provide a good bit of game-play before you move on. I would have liked to be able to zoom, and also drag the screen around to plan my next reach - but perhaps that would've made things too easy. Over-all, this is a fun game to play, but a tad expensive given how few levels there are.

PS: I've been informed by the developer that they will be regularly releasing new bonus-levels for all paid customers!


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Star Traders Review

★★★★☆

Take a trip on the way-back bus with this complex, retro-style, text-based space RPG from the Trese brothers. Choose a profession, hop on your ship, and let the galaxy be your playground!

Title: Star Traders | Developer: Cory Trese | Genre: RPG |
Players: 1 | Version: 2.31 | Size: 3.4MB | Price: $1.99

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Let's first admit up-front that I'm a die-hard, pen & paper RPG fan. I also love things that take me back to the old-school roleplaying days, where MUDs and ASCII maps were king, and your imagination did all the talking. I first saw Star Traders in an AndroLib recommendation list after reading-up on some other Android roleplaying games, and it piqued my curiosity. What's followed has been a strange and compelling addiction that I just haven't been able to shake.

Star Traders is somewhat of an open-world, "sandbox" type roleplaying game. Your role is that of a ship's captain whose profession, combined with his allegiance to one of several galaxy-Nations, helps you vie for reputation, wealth, and power. The definition of "success" in Star Traders is in your hands, and you will choose one of seven professions which best reflects your philosophy. Explorers travel the reaches of the galaxy searching for rare goods and artifacts which can be sold at the market for hefty rewards. Merchants make their living by buying large quantities of common goods from local Exchanges and then re-selling them to more remote outposts for a decent profit. Bounty Hunters pursue hit-man contracts, often travelling to remote locations to find and destroy a rogue pirate and his ship. And Pirates roam the galaxy looking for a tasty merchant or smuggler to disable and board with the hopes of landing a nice stash of goods... or even better, a brand-new ship!

In addition to your profession, you will swear allegiance to one of six Nations, belonging to either of the two dueling factions that vie for control over open-space: The House and The Syndicate. As you complete contracts, engage in combat with other ships, or participate in the various faction-wars that continuously rear their ugly heads, you will gain and lose faction. Faction garners Reputation, which provides perks such as better prices for goods, better rewards for contracts, and less enemy ships breathing down your neck at every turn.

What follows your character creation is a turn-based game where you'll move your ship around on a simple grid-type map, run from point A to point B to complete contracts, and stop along the way to harvest resources from planets or to fight other ships. As you follow your whims around the galaxy, you'll be gaining experience from your actions, which you can use to raise your captain's Attributes and Skills. You'll need to manage your ship's fuel consumption and crew morale, and continually upgrade and buy (or steal) new ships to stay ahead of the competition. But trust me, this is an extremely over-simplified summary of this game. There are so many factors to your success or failure that you'll simply need to read the guides before you get a handle on how to play (well).

Lucky for you, Cory has created a Player's Guide, and out of my interactions with him as well as my own play-experience, I've assembled a Cliff's Notes version of my own that should help you get started.

Controls
Star Traders has a simple control scheme: tap to move your ship and open menus, swipe to scroll the galaxy map.

Graphics
Basic. And when I say "basic", I mean basic... think early, space-combat PC games circa 1990. The backgrounds for the maps are decent, using some photo-realistic images of nebulae, planets, and stars, but the rest is highly simplistic. While the core of the game is its mechanics, this game could really take-off with some modern polish.

Sound
None. There are no sound-effects nor background music, but strangely, I haven't even thought about it until doing this review. I would certainly love to hear some techie, synth-like "taps" and beeps when navigating around the menus, and a spacey, minimal background score would add some nice flair.

Options

When creating your character, you can select game difficulty - ranging from basic to impossible. Normal mode gives you a fighting-chance, which seems to be almost entirely gone once you hit Insane. Within the game itself, you are allowed the options of disabling the star field (background), disabling auto-scroll when your ship moves, and setting the number of xp that triggers your Training notification.

Verdict
Star Traders has come a long way since its inception, and after many clarification and feedback email threads with Cory (the developer), I can safely say that this is likely one of the best retro-RPGs you're going to find on the Market to-date. But don't kid yourself - this game is complex and deep, requires a whole lot of reading, and probably won't appeal to many new-school gamers due to its lack of sound and shiny graphics. You'll need to do some reading before you have any clue what the hell you're doing, but once you get the hang of it, it just might keep you coming back for more. I'm giving this game a 4-star rating, but it's a low-four in that it really could use some polish in terms of sound and graphics. But, despite its lack of snazz, it's a really fun little game.


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Click to download PlayDroid's exclusive Star Traders Game Guide

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Grave Defense Review

★★★★☆

Nuclear war has left the world ravaged, plagued by horrific mutants and the undead. It is the year 2022, and as part of the Brotherhood, you must defend humanity against the scourge - tower defense style.


Title: Grave Defense | Developer: Art of Bytes | Genre: Strategy, Action |
Players: 1 | Version: 1.3.0 | Size: 6.4MB | Price: €1.25

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You've likely played tower defense games before - mostly involving wee-little robots, shrimp, bad graphics, and highly-predictable pathing - but if you want a real test of your abilities, give Grave Defense a whirl. A combination of highly-polished background art, varied entry/exit-paths, and frustratingly difficult (yet addicting) gameplay make this defense game stand-out from the pack.

The formula of tower-defense games is well known in the mobile gamer community - enemies come at you in waves, starting in one corner and leaving in the other, following a single winding path the entire way. Your job is to plop-down turrets and keep them upgraded in order to prevent any of the baddies from reaching the end. Should some monsters get-through, you'll quickly find your life dwindling to zero.

Grave Defense tweaks the standard tower-defense formula, for better or worse, by allowing multiple paths for the waves to follow; one wave may start in the upper-left and leave at the lower-left, and the next may start in the lower-right and end in the upper-left. While this new dynamic offers varied gameplay, it can get awfully frustrating since you don't really know where to build your turrets. During the first couple waves of a level, when cash is tight, mis-placing a turret or two may just leave you with no choice but to restart. After a few tries, however, you'll get a good idea of where to concentrate your turrets, and what areas you can leave alone for a while. I find that this new twist, while more difficult, forces you to strategize turret-placement much more than a typical 1-way tower defense game. You'll need to look at your turret coverage radius and find choke-points where, regardless of where the baddies come from, they'll likely stumble-through.

Set in the year 2022, during the aftermath of a global nuclear war, you'll be fending-off wave upon wave of creepy, mutated... things. Weapons at your disposal are of the military-variety, and include mini-guns, vulcan cannons, rocket launchers, freezers, Tesla coils, and harpoons. Each turret can be upgraded a handful of times for maximum effectiveness, but choose your turrets wisely as you'll need to fight ground as well as air-based mobs! If you've packed your map full of ground-only weaponry, you'll be SOL once those weird bat-things come cruising-by. Upgrades, while an integral part of every tower-defense game, are a little too numerous in Grave Defense. Getting a turret upgraded to maximum power requires upgrading over and over and over again... which is time-consuming and distracting, given everything else requiring your attention. What's more, the game doesn't even extend a little courtesy by pausing while you mull-over turret statistics! In a game with so many options and dynamics as this, an auto-pause would have been very, very helpful.

In addition to placing and upgrading turrets, you'll encounter one-use drops from random mobs. You must tap the drop quickly, or else it'll vanish before your very-eyes! Annoying, really, since a drop seems to last only a fraction of a second - way too fast, in my opinion. You'll find the typical cash and health drops, both which barely nudge you ahead ($2 is almost not even worth the effort), as well as pulsing land-mines and explosives. The speed at which these drops vanish, coupled with the meager rewards (cash and health) really make it hard to justify distracting yourself to get them.

Finally, you'll encounter a "boss" monster here and there that'll really give you a run for your money. I've tried to kill Dracula (level 4) several times now, and lost miserably without fail. As if fending-off fourteen waves of creeps isn't enough trouble, lose to Dracula and you'll end up restarting the entire level all over again. Did I mention that this game was hard? and I've only been playing on Easy. Frustrating? Yes. But it's terribly addicting.

Controls
Tap tap tap. Tap to buy turrets, tap to fast-forward, tap to upgrade, and tap to pick up the lame drops. One thing that this game doesn't let you tap are mobs, in order to focus your fire! I couldn't believe this feature was left-out, but there you have it. You can't select a mob to assign priority. Bummer. You can also swipe the screen from side-to-side to scroll the map, but (on my Evo, at least) you'll only discover a small sliver of hidden space.

Graphics
The maps are absolutely gorgeous, if not a bit too cluttered. The mobs and turrets blend-in a little too much, but you get used to it. As you slay hordes upon hordes of creeps, the paths start to become covered in green goo - a fun little effect. Gun-barrels flash, Tesla coils sparkle, and freezers... well, freeze. Mobs, on the other hand, could use an overhaul. Creatures seem fairly basic in contrast with the pretty maps, and warrant a bit more polish; especially the plain-Jane health bars.

Sound
Sound and music in Grave Defense is a bit lacking. Background music sounds tinny, and some creeps squeak like a mouse when you kill them - a strange sound to hear escaping from a mutant-anything.

Options

The Options menu allows you to toggle the music and sounds, enable a grid-overlay on the map (why?), and toggle "Big view" - a feature which scales the purchase/upgrade overlay for bigger screens. There is a High Scores leader board (requires data connection), News panel (for updates and review links), and Community (message board). And what's more, if you get tired of the campaign, you can jump into a game of Survival, pitting you against wave upon wave of creeps until you just can't take it anymore.

Verdict
Grave Defense is, by far, the most pretty and challenging tower-defense game that I've played to-date. It's hard. Really hard. Even on Easy. But you'll find yourself hooked in no time, laying waste to creeps left and right with your giant gun-turrets of doom! While there are some serious annoyances - no pause during purchase/upgrade, lame cash and health drops, no ability to focus-fire on a mob, tinny music and sound, and no vibration if you take a hit - I still have to give it 4 stars. But beware, this game will suck your battery dry! Definitely worth your money, all 14 levels of it.


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