The Squadron is one of those games that wow you the moment you look at the screenshots on the app store. The promise of blending path drawing with tower defense creates an air of mythical game mechanics. Does this blending provide a magical experience, or does it go down in flames?

The Squadron combines path drawing mechanics with a bit of tower defense. Draw a route for your planes while defending an ancient artifact in the center of the screen. To help you on this mission you will acquire fighters and bombers throughout your gaming session. When the enemy becomes too much, you can use the power of the artifact to nuke the enemy from existence.

Of course it cannot be that all simple. The planes at your disposal have varying qualities. Heavy bombers will take out tiger tanks as though they were punching through wet Kleenex. All that power comes at the cost of crawling across the screen at a snails pace.

There is also the air traffic control to take into consideration. Two planes are fine and dandy. Five or six will have you scrambling to keep each plane in its own area. Inevitably the game gets the best of you and you forget a plane that has gone rogue. Thus ends the tale of two war birds.

Currently there are two maps to play on. The details in the two map areas you play are spectacular. The first scenario takes place in a forest. Dirt paths look as though they were trampled through the forest, while areas around the artifact contain remnants of ruins destroyed long ago. The trees carry an almost photo-realism that really makes the stage pop.

The second scenario takes place in an aquatic setting. This is where the little details really shine. The water flickers and moves as though a gently breeze were blowing on a sunny day. The ocean floor is visible as the ocean meets the islands. The same tree details from the forest carry over here.

It is exciting to dream about what the developers will kick out next. Even the menus carry a rusty metal plate and rivet look. Text that appears to be ripped out of a 1943 battle plan round out this stellar presentation.

All that graphical splendor comes at the cost of framerate drops. Don’t set off a nuke unless you are prepared for your iPad to feel the fallout. The game comes to a crawl while the smoke clears the screen. This leads to planes crashing into one another and a big kick to the face of the presentation. The framerate issues only exacerbate this frustration when the enemy finally kicks your ass and the game comes to an end.

The Squadron provides a lot of promise. The game released with one map, and a free update provided a totally new experience with the second map. Let’s hope the developers continue to kick out more content to take this game into the halls of gaming addiction fame. The Squadron is available for your visual pleasures now on the iPad. Look for it to drop on the iPhone and iPod soon!

There are two genres of game that the app store has never lacked for: match three puzzlers and tower defense.  With the exception of a select few (GeoDefense being my personal favorite), I won’t even bother to look at a tower defense game, unless it comes with the endorsement of either Steve Jobs or Jesus Christ.  Why do I do this, you ask?  The answer is simple really: every single game is a clone of the last.

Really, one of the few evolutions to the genre since its introduction is snazzier visuals, once again using GeoDefense as my example of perfection.  The melding of the Geometry Wars aesthetic with a the traditional game mechanics were nothing short of magical, but of course I have NEVER been one to exaggerate… One thing remains consistent, however: if you stripped away the pretty exterior, under the hood it had the same nougaty center of any other tower defense game.

A core mechanic that I always felt held the genre back was the lack of enemy variety.  Once you learned the correct method for dispatching each of a game’s ten or eleven different breeds of baddie, the teetering house of cards that was the difficulty would suddenly collapse, with most of the challenge dissolving as well.

Now imagine a world where there it is possible that a player might NEVER see the same enemy type twice.  That day has finally come, with the release of Evolution Defense on the app store.  So how many enemy varieties are there?  Would you believe me if I said sixteen MILLION?  Here is the developer, Adduce Studios’ official explanation:

The viruses are coming! They’re evolving rapidly and they’re out to attack you – with more than 16 million possible combinations of virus DNA, the threat is almost never-ending as viruses evolve new strengths and special abilities. Only you can stop them – by strengthening your defenses through intelligent placement, continuous upgrades and exposure to fighting viruses, you can build the immune system to fight these virulent foes. You’ll need all the tools at your disposal to stop them in time before the infection level becomes critical and you are overwhelmed.

I have to admit that I am extremely skeptical about there actually being sixteen million different units.  This must be the product of some mathematical trickery where a slight modification to the appearance is counted as a new unit type, while their actual properties and strength levels remain the same. I remain willing to be convinced, however.

All of that said, the game also includes a fully featured multiplayer mode as well, so that alone might make it worth taking a look at.  However, I left the best for last, because the game is available for the steep cost of absolutely nothing.

So why don’t you join me in gazing over these screenshots and wondering to ourselves, “What’s the catch?”

Editor’s Note: As part of our continuing mission to involve local folks and indie developers in our reviews and site commentary, we invited members of the Alaskan Apple Users Group to review a game or two. Here’s the first:

Reviewer: Chris Tofteberg, AAUG Member
Product: Ever Defense
Platform: iPhone & iPod Touch
Price: $1.99
Company: OrientMaple
Verdict: Buy it if you need a new challenge
Pros: Action packed tower defense game. Different approach to tower defense gaming.
Cons: As tower defense games go, this one is extremely difficult.
Review copy provided by developer.

It seems that the iPhone was designed for tower defense styled games and not the other way around. There is no shortage of tower defense (TD) games for the iPhone (this is the kind where you build up points or energy to build stations that defeat approaching baddies that want to get in your home base) but Ever Defense is a bit different from the others out there.

For one, it’s hard. Really hard. I’ve played this game for hours and have yet to beat it. One of the challenges is balancing the number of power generating towers against those that destroy the approaching baddies. Compared to some TDs out there the weapons are somewhat sparse but this does not in any way hinder gameplay. Ever Defense is more strategy based and less build-em-as-fast-as-you-can than other TDs out there.

As with all TDs, you have a base that you’re protecting. You have a variety of towers that you can build to help defend that base. Ever Defense offers a miner tower to collect power, two towers (laser and tesla) for killing baddies and a freeze tower that does no damage but slows the baddies. The challenge lies in balancing how and where you build these. Too little power and your destroyer towers don’t have enough energy. Too few destroyer towers and the baddies get you.

Gameplay is fairly straightforward. Select the tower you want to build and place it on the play area. It is somewhat frustrating that you can only build in areas within the home base or concentric circles of areas with towers that you build. Lots of strategy required.

There are some options that are available should things go awry as they often do. You can repair your towers, use some temporary power to shock the baddies, or you can sell your towers to get money to build elsewhere. With Ever Defense, you’ll find yourself doing any or all of these frequently.

Ever Defense uses OpenFeint to submit your high scores globally and see how you stack up. Many iPhone games are using OpenFeint these days to provide this service.

While I wouldn’t recommend this game to someone new to the TD type of gameplay, I would definitely recommend it to those that have played others, beat them, and enjoyed them. Ever Defense will challenge your strategy skills more than other TDs out there.

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Title: Bone Bone
Developer: Orient Maple
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Promo Code Supplied by Developer
Review Platform: iPod Touch & iPad
Written and Recorded by: Michelle Lopez

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Developer/Publisher: Longtail Studios
Genre: Tower Defense
Price: Free ($0.99 In-App Purchase to unlock zombie faction)
Acquired: Free to Download, Reviewer Compensated for In-App Purchase Content
Verdict: I loved this tower defense game like zombies love brains.
Pros: Plenty of free content, with a worthy $0.99 add-on; it’s one of the first tower offense games, and it’s implemented well along with tower defense elements; mutliplayer over Bluetooth and via hotseat
Cons: No online multiplayer

Gundead Defense finally did it – it showed that there’s a way to do a tower offense game. It can be done, folks. Longtail Interactive created a tower defense game that also puts you on the offensive. Gundead Defense is refreshing for what it does for tower defense, and the base price of free ain’t bad either.

Gundead Defense requires you to plan and strategize your key resource of cash with the offensive and defensive phases of the game. The defensive elements work just as you expect them to – enemies travel down a path, and you must put up defensive units around the path to take them out, upgrading the units against stronger foes, and collecting cash from killing enemy units. That side of the game is basic tower defense. How do the offensive elements of Gundead Defense work, anyway, you might ask? Well, the game is divided into turns, and each turn you get a certain number of unit points that you can spend on up to 5 offensive units, that you send out in hopes of reaching the enemy base and damaging it. As you get more unit points with each turn completed, you can summon more powerful offensive units to go out, and you can also spend your money to upgrade their speed, health, and defenses to increase their odds of reaching the enemy base.

I hate it when that happens to me.

So Gundead Defense requires you to spend your cash wisely – you don’t want to spend all your money on defensive unit upgrades lest you not have any to beef up your offensive units. You also might not want to send out as many powerful units as you can, as you don’t want to give your enemy more resources than you should, as that could make it a lot harder to protect your own base. This is a game of balance, and often a war of attrition, as you try to see how long you can hold out until you can send some great offensive waves to weaken the enemies. My typical strategy was to not worry too much about reaching the enemy base until the 8th turn or so when I could afford to send 2 waves of the most powerful unit, which I would then max out on speed, health, and defense, and this tended to work fairly well for me on most levels. My defenses would consist of tunneling a bunch of powerful units near where the enemy creeps would come out, to try and stop them from getting too far, only placing units further down when needed. You’ll find your own strategy to succeed in the game, but this had a high rate of success for me.

What Gundead Defense’s unique format also allows for is multiplayer play – you can either play over Bluetooth, or in a hotseat mode. The hotseat mode works slightly differently than in the Campaign, as player 1 selects their creeps, then passes to player 2, who sets up their defenses as the creeps come out. If/when the end of the turn comes, they then pick their creeps, and player 1 sets up their defenses, and the game alternates until a player wins. A tip if you’re player 1: don’t spend all your money on creep upgrades the first turn, so you can make sure that you are able to buy defenses.

Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin' world go 'round!

However, you will likely spend most of your time in Gundead Defense’s campaign mode, which provides 7 levels and a story where you control a young man named Cubby as he goes with Uncle Duke and his gang to get money for his family, but a zombie uprising occurs and you must fight off the zombies to try and stay alive. Where Longtail expects to make some money off of this game is in the Zombie campaign, available via In-App Purchase for $0.99. This campaign has you playing as a character killed in the Human campaign who becomes a zombie, and rises up to get his revenge against Cubby. The zombie campaign is worth picking up if you’re a fan of the main game, as the storyline is very tounge-in-cheek (you know, for a game featuring zombies in the wild west), and as well as providing 7 more levels to play, it also unlocks the zombie faction in multiplayer. The zombies have a different set of defense units, so your strategy may be mixed up some when playing as them. I found playing as the zombies to be a lot more fun than playing as the humans, particularly thanks to the cut scenes and their ridiculous units that you get to use.

Gundead Defense is a ton of fun as a fresh twist on tower defense. The concept of zombies in the wild west is indeed quite wacky, but the game has some fun with it, and the implementation of tower offense elements gives the game a freshness that other tower defense games don’t have. Plus, the game is free! If you’re a tower defense fan, Gundead Defense is definitely worth a look, and the zombie campaign is worth picking up if you need more. I would love to see an online multiplayer mode added to take on strangers around the world in the game, but the local multiplayer options are great, and there’s a quick play mode available if you bore of the campaign. If you like tower defense or zombies, I recommend giving Gundead Defense a try. What do you have to lose? It is free!

Into The Blue, an amalgamation of some of the iPhone’s most popular game genres, now has a Lite version available for you to check out and examine for yourself. Read our review, then download the Lite version to see what this interesting title is about.

Do you like tower defense? Do you like zombies? Do you like the wild west? Do you like free games? If you answered yes to any of these, then it might behoove you to check out Gundead Defense – a free tower defense game that takes place in the wild west, that has you trying to survive a zombie onslaught,  tower defense style. There’s quick play, campaign, and even multiplayer modes for your enjoyment. Because Longtail Studios need to pay the bills, there’s a campaign that you can purchase for $0.99 that lets you play as the zombies (and unlocks the zombies in multiplayer). Gundead Defense is now available on the App Store!

Developer/Publisher: 2D Rockers
Genre: Twin-Stick Shooter/Tower Defense/Path Management
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: A game with flaws, but a solid effort.
Pros: A brilliant amalgamation of some of the most popular iPhone genres
Cons: Your fingers will obscure the screen.

Into the Blue is not a game based off of the cinematic masterpiece starring Jessica Alba and Jessica Alba’s bikini. No, Into the Blue for the iPhone is something far more interesting. Into the Blue is the ultimate iPhone genre mashup; this is what would happen if a twin-stick shooter, a tower defense game, and a path management game met and had some kind of baby in a universe where 3 beings create a baby. Also, all 3 beings are games and have offspring that are also games. In this universe, Into the Blue is what they would have created.

The story of Into the Blue has you controlling a blue army, fighting a pink army that wants to mess you up. Why? Probably because of the fact that everyone’s glowing very bright, and it’s either radiation that has created a wild case of Hulkamania, or the glowing planet has made everyone mad with rage over a lack of sleep. Regardless, you must ward off the enemy pink army while shooting at your enemies from your turret, managing your resources, and navigating your resource transporters around to pick up more crystals to upgrade your weapons, buy new transporters, defense towers, or powerup weapons.

But how does it all work, I say that you ask me. Well, sir or madam, it requires a lot of fingerwork. You shoot by putting your finger (or fingers, as of the 1.1 update) on the screen in the direction you want to shoot. You have 2 options – either the ability to have a crosshair on screen showing where you’re shooting, or just placing your finger(s) where you want to shoot. You also have your resource transporters that you must navigate by drawing a path for them, a la Flight Control or Harbor Master. The challenge comes from managing multiple resource transporters, which you’ll need to do in later missions when you have to collect resources quickly before enemies come in to overwhelm you. You can only have one transporter at your base dropping off resources and healing it, so you’ll need to manage the paths properly to make sure that you don’t just send them off past the base into the random abyss when you were expecting them to be at the base. The tower defense elements come from not only having Torpedo Towers that you can purchase to put up at the edges of the level, as well as the resource management aspects common to those games.

The controls are where things get tricky in Into the Blue. Most of the time, you’ll be shooting, unless you have very tiny fingers, you’ll frequently be obscuring where you’re shooting, making accurate aiming a challenge as you can’t see where the enemies are precisely at. You may also wind up covering your resource transporters out in the field with your fingers, making it tricky to manage everyting and keep an eye on it. Moving the resource transporters around is easy enough, just draw from the location of the transporter to where you want to go. The line turns blue if the stopping point is on the base or in a crystal mining field, so you know right away if you’re navigating to where you want to go. Learning to compensate for the shooting controls is going to be your first major challenge in this game.

Your second major challenge? Actually conquering the missions. This is a game that demands more strategy than you would think. You need to formulate a plan of where you’re going to send your resource transporters, managing the timing of when they come in and go out of the base, and making sure you kill enemies as quickly as possible to protect your transporters (and your base as well) from harm, especially as in most missions, if you lose your trasnporters, it’s game over. There are only 8 misisons in the game, but they’re challenging enough to where figuring out how to beat them will take some time and planning in order to master them. As well, there’s an endless Survival mode, and a Hyper mode, which is the same as the endless mode, except the game gets progressively faster with each eliminated wave of enemies. There’s OpenFeint for high scores, including leaderboards for each level and each difficulty setting; I salute you, 2D Rockers.

Into the Blue is a game that’s frustrating and rewarding. It’s frustrating when it seems like a challenge is insurmountable, but eventually you will discover the solution to the missions at hand. The game isn’t impossible, just challenging. The controls are frustrating, especially as shooting makes your enemies difficult to target, but you’ll learn to live with these controls. This is the first game to mseem like it would play better on the iPad, with the additional screen space the iPad would provide for you to aim without obscuring what you’re shooting. While I initially had ideas on how to improve the game’s controls, the more I played, the more I realized they fall apart, so what we have here is the best possible solution.

Into the Blue had me hooked at times even when I was frustrated with it. Given the imperfections, and relatively short length that only 8 missions provide, it’s hard to give Into the Blue a full recommendation, but the combination of seemingly disparate genres is ingenious, and is done about as well as it possibly could have been. Into the Blue is a great idea, and a solid game.

Developer Xoobis and Publisher Chillingo have announced its upcoming tower-defense game, Zombie Wonderland. Described as a mix between time management and survival horror, but with less time management and horror, Zombie Wonderland is really all about one things: killing zombies. Set in the quintessential village of Niceville, a zombie outbreak has begun and Chuck, the zombie cleaner, is called in to clean up the mess.

Zombie Infestation? Dial 1-800-blast-a-zombie!

• Aunt Lilly’s Home
o Aunt Lilly found out that the zombies are starting to get cocky, eating the pumpkin on top of the scarecrow, thinking it was a large human head. She lives in a small cute home, with a garden and a small patch of land where she plants vegetables.

• Joe’s Bar
o Joe’s Bar is really close to the cemetery, so Joe is used to people drinking their guts out and not paying, giving as excuse the fact they didn’t have a life. But since the zombies ate the neon cowboy figure on top of the bar, he asked for Chuck’s help to clean up the messy undead from his property.

• Jake’s Bodyshop
o Jake called to ask for help, as the undead were drinking gasoline and running around in flames, disrupting the roosters’ wakeup call with all that light.

• Olaf’s Funeral Home
o The manager of the small funeral home in Niceville is worried that all their clients are disappearing in the middle of the night. But worse than that is the fact that they keep coming back. And they are hungry.
After a couple nights hunkered down inside the office, he decided that enough is enough and called Chuck to help keeping the clients inside the tombs, resting in pieces.
Chuck’s bad guys list

• Greenies: the regular crowd, rotting, mumbling, slow moving, brain eating undead.

• Meanies: larger zombies, slower but deadly, packing a heavy punch that destroys all around him.

• Flamies: Zombies on fire. They run around screaming, and setting other guys on fire on contact! Great fireworks display when shot. Be careful not to get too close, they burn!

• Grannies: Old ladies that decided to stop by for tea. Not herbal tea. Eyeball tea more likely. Their scream is bone chilling and can destroy anything in range.

Combine Tower Defense with Card Strategy, and what do you get? Bippity Boppity Boo! Oh, wait, no. You get Hudson Entertainment’s Creature Defense for the PSP and PSP Go. We have no clue how fun this game will be, but for $8, it doesn’t have to be TOO perfect. The artwork (below in our fancy schmancy gallery) seems to say that it’ll be pretty to look at, at least. Enjoy!