Defense zone 2 HD Lite

Summary

Though the principal of the game is as old as the hills (yet still very popular), the ideas behind this game are creative and new. We're talking about Defense zone 2 HD Lite, an app offering the old tower defense concept, combined with some brand-new elements. The question is how does such a game stand apart from so many others of the same genre? There are already so many award-winning tower defense games out there and their successors automatically expect to be extremely popular. Why it's worth taking a closer look will be explained in today's app test review!

Test devices: Samsung Galaxy S2 (I9100G)
Android Version: 4.1.2
Root: no
Available for versions 2.2 and higher

Tower defense games have been around for a long time. Like the name eludes, the player must repel and conquer enemy forces with the combined forces of their towers, before the opposite army barges their way into their domain. If they happen to break through, you lose some of the limited lives that you have. By conquering your enemies, you gain money, which is essential in building new towers.

Because this type of game has existed over the span of many years, some of the strategy games offer their own tower defense mode for your computer. The number of this type of app has also augmenting, that's why it's getting harder for the individual ones to stand apart from the pack.

Right when you start the game, you know you're getting into something hefty. The whole game has received a military look and the player feels as though they've really jumped into a wagging war. The various tabs and menus look metallic and hardcore. The soundtrack has 12 awesome songs, which really complement the game's action-packed fighting. The gun sounds seem real, everything has a cold and bitter feel and it has an overall awesome atmosphere. When it comes to graphics, it didn't really blow me away, but for this type of app, it's relatively rich in detail, combined with many interesting elements and nice colors.

Defense zone HD Lite is a tower defense game with many fixed paths. This means that the enemy armies travel up a prescribed trail, where towers shouldn't be placed. It's often the case the the trails belonging to the opposing forces are shown. All the worlds are set up quite differently, which means that you'll always have to come up with a new strategy every time. Special landscape conditions, like forks in the road, make it much more complicated. You can be very flexible in your choice of strategy, since you can choose from several types of towers (in the pro-version, there are a total of 9), which can be enhance during the course of the game. Improving your towers basically means making them higher and/or stronger.

But all of this is basically known to anyone who has ever played a tower game. Though in this case, there are some new ideas that make this app more tactical and impulsive. Each individual tower can receive a defined goal. What exactly does this mean? With this goal mode, you can decide which tower should attack the enemy first. Here you can choose between the strongest, weakest or next target. For example, you can notify the tower at the end of the path to attack the weakest troupes. It will then aim at the most damaged units and completely destroyed them, right before they try to barge in. This offers better strategy methods, while helping the player become more engaged, where they'll have to put more thought into the game. There's yet another really improved and extensive new element called ''hellfire mode'', which is when a tower goes into a kind of hyper mode. This can be loading automatically onto each tower and is available after a certain amount of time. If you activate it, your tower will go into this mode for only a temporary short time. It will then be able to reach farther distances with more strength and faster bullets. You realize that it's available when a green circle appears around the tower. If you're a little baffled by it at first, it will call upon air support once the gage shows 100%. This will then destroy all enemy units within a certain radius.

Steering works intuitively, as this type of game usually does when played on a smartphone. In order to build towers, you need to select the bottom tab and pull it to the location where you would like to start construction. Towers can only be placed on the the shaded areas and you also need to make sure that there is enough space between the towers. Scrolling works by swiping in the desired direction and all other actions are completed by simply tapping on the display.

There isn't much more to mention other than what is written above. This app's scope and support really impressed me. The game offers 9 different towers with enhancement options. In order to make the game more tactical and extensive, there's a ''hellfire mode'', air support and the option of provide each tower with a certain goal. The effects from the various guns and explosions are really cool to watch and create a lot of action, even for such a small screen. If there's something else that you need to do, you can pause the game. Feel like you're doing a top job? Speed up the game so that you don’t have to wait too long for the enemy attacks. The game can be cranked up to three different levels of difficulty. The hardest one was really challenging, which I give two thumbs up. Unfortunatly, in the lite version that I tested, there are only three worlds. If you would like to experience the full version with its 9 different towers (with upgrading options), 3 different levels, 4 languages, 24 awesome levels/missions and 12 different background songs, you will have to cough up 2.99 USD.

Bottom Line

I'm overly and positively surprised with what this game has to offer; it's not at all what I expected. Defense zone 2 HD Lite seems realistic and challenging every second of the way, while also making the player face enemy forces and incredible action, both rich in detail. Contrary to so many similar game out there, there are no ''super guns'' that will help you to win more quickly. Instead the player must think strategically, invest some love in the game and play close attention to everything. In total, there are 9 different towers with enhancement possibilities, 3 difficulty levels, 4 languages, 24 awesome levels/missions, 12 background songs and cool customized sound effects. When all of a sudden you need to get back to your real life, the game is easily paused. Like I mention earlier on, the lite version ''only'' has 3 levels, but you can't really ask for more from a free app. In this case, I can only give it 4 stars, the pro-version would've gotten 5. All in all, this app really enthralls the player in its own very particular way.

Defense zone 2 HD Lite leaves nothing left to wish for when it comes to steering and controls. Like it's often the case with this genre, the steering is intuitive and perfectly fit for smartphones. The menus and buttons look great with the war theme. Though the game is very hectic and action-packed, the player can remain cool with a good overview of the action.

The app left a great impression on me, thanks to its smooth pictures, even though there are so many different troupes and effects on the screen at the same time. Defense zone 2 HD Lite didn't crash once during my test.

Defense zone 2 HD Lite is available for free, however only offers a type of game demo with only 3 levels. Other than that, it's no different than the pro-version. The player can also enjoy the game for no charge at all, where they'll get a few awesome levels with all the same options. The pro-version of Defense zone 2 HD costs 2.99 USD in the Play Store. With its extensive scope and great complete package, buying it seems perfectly OK to me. But if you're not sure whether you would like to buy it, the lite version is there for you to try out.