If you’re a fan of tower defense games, like I am, you’ll find Toon Tactics TD (out now, $1.99) at once familiar — perhaps too familiar, which could make it hard for the game to stand out. Luckily, Toon Tactics does offer a bit of newness.
As is usual with tower defense games, you’ll place defensive towers — troops, in this game — on a map to protect one or more bases. In Toon Tactics, you can only deploy your troops in fixed positions, marked by green squares. Of course, each unit will cost a certain amount of money, both to hire and upgrade, but you can move troops at no extra cost. Troops can also suffer damage from enemy attacks, and you can pay to heal them.
One drawback of Toon Tactics is the limited number of troops: only six, each of which offers a maximum of four upgrades. However, the game makes up for this with a ton of random pick-ups. This is the bit of newness I mentioned above. You can get up to two slots to hold picked-up items, which include bonus cash, spike traps, tower repairs, air and land mines, etc. In addition, you can use accumulated cash to pay for various extras at the start of each game, such as double lives and more money.
The random pick-ups make Toon Tactics a fast-paced game, because you’ll want to use each item you collect as soon as possible in order to grab another. If you pick up the next item (a red mystery box) before you use what you already have, it will replace the previous item. Apart from the random pick-ups, boss fights add another level of challenge.
Despite the extras Toon Tactics offers, I didn’t enjoy the game as much as I hoped. Perhaps the pace was too frenzied. Also, because the pick-ups are random, it reduces the strategic component of the game. I would have preferred a greater variety of towers too. Overall though, Toon Tactics is a well-made tower defense game, with great graphics.
Verdict
Toon Tactics TD is a fast-paced and challenging tower defense game that should not disappoint.