Stunning visuals and a unique charm reminiscent of the Wii’s ‘de Blob’ give Jelly Defense from Infinte Dreams a little more sparkle than the average tower defense game.
The central core gameplay strays little from the tried and tested tower defense formula, with the well-matched difficulty level keeping the game challenging yet very playable. Throw in a few sly, but sparse, touch screen mini-features (i.e. picking up coins by tapping them rather than having them magically wired to you as in most tower defenses), and Jelly Defense is a solid title, a must-have for tower defense fans and whilst at a reduced price (currently $0.99 as a launch promotion), a fine investment for the general iPhone gamer.
Even from the game’s menu interface, the gloriously slick visuals put you in the mood for a laid-back and slightly silly experience, which is made far sweeter by the surprisingly steep learning curve the game introduces; by the fourth level, you’re finding it quite a challenge to keep the evil jelly things from taking at least a few of your crystals (the equivalent of lives.)
Towers look cool, particularly the funky red/blue mixed tower, and the incorporation of a colour scheme into the gameplay, meaning that only red or red/blue towers can shoot red enemies and only blue or red/blue can shoot blue adds an extra layer of depth into the placement of your towers, and to which varieties you concentrate your resources on; fill the map with red/blue dual towers and upgrade them to max power in the hope that they can deal with anything, or create strategic zones of blue machine guns and red catapults? It’s like being Jellius Caesar. (apologies.)
Bottom Line: Particularly whilst at the bargain price of $0.99, Jelly Defense is great fun, with beautiful graphics, accessible (but challenging) gameplay, nice touch screen integration and healthy replayability. Once the price goes back up, probably only a definite buy for tower defense buffs; hopefully, most of the world.