Defender

Summary

The castle is under siege! Monsters are everywhere and they are spreading fear and terror amidst the people...
It's up to you, lord of the castle, to protect your cortege and banish the creatures from your grounds.
Will you accept the challenge or are you too cowardly to protect your castle and the people who inhabit its walls? If you're prepared to fight go ahead and give Defender a go!

Today's review is brought to you by Paulina, a high school student.

Test device : HTC Desire Z
Android version: 1.0.8
Root: No
Runs as of: 1.6
 
You're role as the Defender is to protect your castle and the people living in it from a pack of vicious monsters by arming yourself with your bow and arrows as well as a few other weapons.
When the game begins there are only relatively few monsters, and they can easily be slain by means of your skilled archery. The further you progress, however, the more you will be overwhelmed by creatures. The monsters must be wiped out before they reach the castle walls, because if they make it they begin to attack the walls, costing you a valuable life. Luckily you have more than just your bow and arrow to help you battle against these foul creatures.
There are big fireballs and bolts of lightning that can wipe out several monsters at once. Both can be upgraded between levels, making them even more potent. Upgrades can be bought with the jewels and coins you win for killing monsters. The better you do in a level the more rewards you will receive.

Upgrades are vital because without them you don't stand much of a chance against the monsters in the more advanced levels.

Some upgrades are only available as of certain levels.

Defender is a great time killer or in-betweener. It's fun to play and it can also be interrupted easily, and you can pick up where you left off just as easily.

Controls are relatively simple and straight-forward. In order to shoot an arrow you tap on the screen. Arrows will keep shooting if you keep your finger pressed down on the display.

Other weapons are available and can be used by pressing on one of the buttons in the bottom right hand corner and pulling it over to where you want the weapon to go off.

Defender's main screen consists of a view of the castle on the left hand side and the monsters that are coming at it from the right.
Information related to money and jewels as well as the current level being played are located at the top of the display. There's a life bar at the bottom that goes down as soon as monsters reach the castle walls.
There's a pause button and a button shaped like a house that allows you to return to the game's main menu, start the level all over again or simply resume playing.

Once a level has successfully been completed a menu pops up displaying a percentage amount of how much life you had left over, how many monsters you managed to slay and how many jewels and coins you received as a reward.
Your bounty can be invested in upgrades.

The menu's design makes it very easy to use.

I didn't experience any difficulties with the game's speed, but the first time I wanted to play Defender it froze almost straight away. Since then there's been an update and the newest version runs very well.

Defender can be downloaded for free from the Market—cool!