Apellius: February 2011

Desktop Defender is a Tower Defence Facebook app. But instead of all the towers being available when players begin the game, players unlock towers with in-game "coins" that they earn by playing games, daily depending on how many friends play, or by buying with real-world money. Players are scored based on their performance, with a multiplier for difficulty levels, and compete for the high scores.

Pros: "classic" game with refined gameplay, unlock & upgrade towers with coins, unlock "boosters", leaderboard

Cons: low exp rate (slow earning rate)

The best thing about a Tower Defence Facebook app is that Tower Defence is a classic, tried-and-true genre. After all the many years of Tower Defence games, developers know what works and what doesn't in a game.

What differentiates Desktop Defender from other TD games is that, there is some consistency between games. Your starting setup is saved between games, and more advanced towers are unlocked before starting the game using the in-game "coins" that you get mainly from playing games.

Unlocking & Upgrading

Unlocked towers are unlocked permanently, but the fact that the most interesting towers are only available after earning enough keeps you playing. In most TD games, the only obstacle between you and victory is points. But in this game, everyone wants to get on the leaderboards. And you have to keep playing before you can get the awesome towers that let you do that. You can upgrade towers, too - upgrades are quite significant, and can completely change your strategy.

Desktop Defenders gameplay

Another interesting feature is the "boosters" addition. Powerups range from freezing all the enemies on the playing field to automatically killing the two with the highest hipoints. There's even a booster to make enemies harder for a period of time, but giving you a 50% score bonus for each one killed. Boosters, like the towers, must be unlocked, and they add some variety to the game.

Score: 9/10

Desktop Defender isn't anything particularly innovative or original, but Tower Defence is a tried-and-true concept, and Desktop Defender adds to it. The unlocking of towers and boosters is a good addition, and they did a good job of keeping me playing. The leaderboards can really only be reached by people with all the best towers and boosters, but as far as Tower Defence goes, this is one of the best places to do it.

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